REM GLEN HELEN MOTOCROSS RACE REPORT: A TALE OF FOREIGNERS, HIGH TEMPS, BUMPS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE & CREATIVE LINE CHOICES

Photos by Dan Alamangos and Ernie Becker

Kids, don’t try this at home. Justin Jones (42) can’t always get his long legs through every corner. Sometimes he has to stick them out of the way.

Some days at the races are tough, some are easy and some are off the Richter Scale. This week’s REM race was brutal?not just because it was hot, the track layout uber-technical or the competition tough. Nope, it was incredibly rough…and this from a track that pushes roughness to the highest degree. The REM track is the origin point of the fabled SoCal square-edged bump (back to the days when it was the Arroyo Cycle Park in the 1970s). These sharp, abrupt and jarring bumps are never ending ? and apart from air time, there is no respite from the pounding they hand out to a rider’s legs…and once the legs get tired and the riders start sitting down the real punishment begins.

Colton Aeck (526) and Justin Jones fought hard for the 450 Pro win, but one mistake in moto two ended Aeck’s chances.

Also compromising this weekend’s race was an unusual amount of cheating, with riders cutting corners, skipping sections of the track and taking inventive lines that cut feet or even yards off of hairpin turns. It got so bad at one point that the scorers in the tower radioed to the starting line to have an official stand in the middle of the cheater’s favorite shortcuts to block their path. REM vows that this behavior will not be tolerated and the cheaters can expect a major crackdown with one-lap penalties assessed on any rider who leaves the dedicated race surface.

Adam Enticknap (722) was third in the 450 Pro class behind Jones and Aeck.

As always the 450 Pro riders didn’t seem to pay any attention to the choppy terrain as Justin Jones, Colton Aeck, Adam Enticknap, Marcus Ovegaard and Brett Hottel battled for the top five spots. In the first moto, Aeck and Jones dueled all the way to the flag, with Aeck managing lappers with just enough aplomb to keep the son of four-time 250 National Champion Gary Jones at bay. Enticknap was unfamiliar with the REM regimen and settled for a safe and sane third with Ovegaard fourth, Josh Dierks fifth and Hottel sixth.

Ryan Surratt.

In the second moto, Adam Enticknap got his chance to lead the field. Enticknap led for several laps as Aeck and Jones squabbled over second place, but soon enough they were squabbling over first place as Enticknap was relegated back to third. Jones would use his tall lanky body to absorb the pounding better than anyone else and Aeck would eventually make a mistake that allowed Enticknap to pass him for second. The overall win went to Jones (2-1), Aeck (1-3), Enticknap (3-2), Marcus Ovegaard (4-4) and Brett Hottel (6-5).

Ryan Surratt laid waste to the 250 Intermediate class with an easy 1-1. Nathan Cernicky was second with a 3-2 that edged out a rapidly improving Kordel Caro’s 2-3. Danny Gross was fourth and Ciaran Naran rounded out the top five.

THE THREE BIGGEST CLASSES OF THE DAY

In a Swedish Showdown, Marcus Ovegaard (864) and Kristoffer Palm (127) pair off in the Pro race. Palm would finish third on the 250 Pro class, while Ovegaard would get fourth in the 450 Pros.

Although the Over-50 Novices edged out the Over-50 Intermediates and Over-40 Novices by two riders, all three classes were jam packed.

Over-40 Novices: Scott Fichter’s 2-1 was more than good enough to hold off a top five of Kendall Stanley (4-2), Gavin Antill (3-4), Joe Sutter (8-3) and Kenard Lipscomb (5-6). First moto winner Joe Pena backed up his first place with a 14th in moto two for 7th overall.

Ed Foedish won two classes, but had to fight hard in both the Over-50 Experts and the Over-40 Pros to secure the wins.

Over-50 Novices: Shy Moshe’s 2-1 defeated Russell Brown’s 1-3, while the top ten was rounded out by Ray Glover (5-2), Mike Phillips (3-5), Dave Halverson (6-4), Paul Dobereiner (4-6), Brian Underdahl (9-7), Anthony Rose (10-8), Angel Montoya (12-10) and Kent Reed (14-9).

Alan Julien won the Over-40 Expert class and the Vet Intermediates.

Over-50 Intermediates: Steve Donovan didn’t win either moto on his way to victory in the Over-50 Intermediate class. Donovan was the only class winner not to win a moto. Jeff Fahy went 1-3 for second, while Randy Skinner went 5-1 for third.

With friends like these you don’t need enemies. Mike Monaghan (left) decided to help Dan Alamangos beat the oppressive heat by throwing water on him in the middle of the moto. We aren’t sure how throwing water in Dan’s face was all that helpful.

OTHER REM WINNERS

In the Novice classes the winners were Evan Woolsey (125 two-stroke), Ryan Moore (250 Novice), Bradley Cole (450 Novice) and Scotty Walker (Vet Novice).

Jeff Mason, Mark Hall and Jon Ortner throw up chunks of Glen Helen dirt.

In the Expert classes Gary Jones swept both motos of the Over-60 Experts, Robbie Wageman won the 85 Experts and Alan Julien won the Over-40 Experts.

Just when you think no one is looking ? snap! You are captured cheating. Ernie Becker (35) may have been pushed inside the cones or he could have been shading the edge of the track. Either way, Becker is this week’s “Greg Groom Creative Line Award” winner. The irony is that he is the photographer who snapped the photos of Michael Leib cutting the course last week.

Ed Foedish came over from Scottsdale, Arizona, to win two classes. Foedish used a 2-1 to win the Over-40 Pro class in front of Brett Miller, Randel Fout and Kevin Barda. Then Foedish came back to win the Over-50 Experts with a 2-1 over Jon Ortner’s 1-2, Dave Eropkin’s 3-2, Mike Monaghan’s 5-3 and David Blunk’s 4-5.

Bradley Cole (14) won the 450 Novice class.

This was the last weekend for the Kuwaiti National team to race before heading home to the Middle East. Although the three-man team was missing one rider after a crash at Pala left Faisal Al Sharqawi in the hospital with a dislocated hip. But, Abdullah Shatti and Moaath Alansari came back to race REM for the second week in a row, even though they professed that they had never seen a track so rough in any races they ever competed in at the Arab National Championship. They both improved on last week’s performances.


Dennis Stapleton (blue shirt) discusses the ins and outs of American motocross with his Kuwaiti riders before the day begins.

REM races again next Saturday, July 13, on the Glen Helen National track (since the REM starting line will be used for staging of a hillclimb event). For more info go to www.remsatmx.com.