“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE REPORT: ENZO TEMMERMAN, SHAWN BUSHNELL, KURT NICOLL & GARY JONES SHINE

Lonnie Paschal (51) had a moment of distraction and ended up on top of this berm in the Over-60 Intermediate class. No Harm! No foul!

Unfortunately, the front tire bit into the soft dirt and twisted to the right. Lonnie to his credit hung on even though the bike was about to go over the berm on its side.

Lonnie tried to get off the merry-go-round, but in this photo his right knee has buried itself in the berm and his body is being thrown outward.

No need to see any more sequence shots, Lonnie is going down the backside of the berm. To his credit, he got up dusted himself off and rejoined the race to salvage a third overall..

PHOTOS BY DEBBI TAMIETTI

As amazing as it may seem, 263 riders showed up to race at “Saturday at the Glen” on what was a rather typical race day. Nothing special was happening. Perhaps it was the close proximity to the Mammoth Mountain Motocross coming up in less than two weeks, that had racers looking for a SoCal track with features that would help them at Mammoth.  It was a typical June day, cool in the morning and hot by 10:30 (with temps that would reach 97 degrees). The large turnout didn’t deter “Saturday at the Glen” from running  its normal fast moving and complete program that guarantees the riders that they would be out of the heat by 2:00 pm. The Saturday races don’t want riders to have to wait through endless motos with less than 10 riders on the track—they run multi-gate starts and combine like-speed classes in wave starts. This Saturday, the 263 riders, from Pee-Wees to 450 Experts, were housed in only eight races. Glen Helen’s proprietary races offer long motos on a real motocross track with a sensible design.

The entry fee is only $30 ( if you pre-enter), and the gate fee is only $10 per person. Because the races are held on Saturday, the program is designed to get the race program done by 2:00 p.m. (that way the riders have time to clean and work on their bikes so they can go riding on Sunday).  The races rotate between the Arroyo track one week and the National track the next week—this week it was the National track. Glen Helen holds 25 “Saturday at the Glen” races a year—and the series won’t hit the halfway point until the upcoming July 6 round.

RUNDOWN OF SOME WINNERS

Enzo Temmerman (21) came down from Visalia to win the 450 Expert class with a 1-1 score. There was a healthy number of racers at “Saturday at the Glen” who came to use the big hilly track as preparation for the Mammoth Mountain Motocross in two weeks.

Shawn Bushnell (58) won the Over-40 Expert class with a perfect 1-1 score and returned directly to the starting line for his back-to-back Open Expert race, which he also won.

Toby Yakel (195) was fifth in the Open Novice class with a 2-7, but even though he won the first moto of the  250 Novices a DNF in moto two left him in 12th overall.

DR.D’s Caleb Tetangco (124) won the Supermini class and the 85cc class. It was 97 degrees at Glen Helen on Saturday, making double classing it a test of endurance.

Alison Bushnell (13) won the Women’s class with a 1-1 score over a top five of Adrianne Spiker (2-2), Catherine Roome (3-3), Emily Cloud (4-4) and Tatum Juhnke (5-5).

Gary Jones (88), who is the current Over-70 World Vet Champion, won the Over-70 class at “Saturday at the Glen.” However, his arrival in the “Saturday at the Glen” Over-70 scene drove most of the Over-70 riders back to the Over-65 class. Of course, the two classes normally start on the same gate, so no one got away from him.

Josh Fout (28) didn’t have to go to Canada with Josh Mosiman this weekend because the Canadian-based Yamaha 101 team was taking care of every thing for Josh. Instead, Josh Fout raced MXA’s 2025 KTM 450SXF to the win in the Over-30 Expert class.

Val Tamietti (31) won the Over-65 Expert class with a 2-1 score to Bob Rutten’s 1-2. He then raced the Over-60 Expert class and went 5-4 for fourth overall.

Luther French (21) swept both motos of the Over-60 Expert class on his Yamaha YZ450F.

Kurt Nicoll (44) is a seven-time World Vet Motocross Champion (two times in the Over-40 Expert class and five times in the Over-50 Expert class). He was also the runner-up in the 500 World Motocross Championships four times.. Kurt easily won the Over-50 Expert class on Saturday.

THE REST OF THE GANG

There are a lot of fathers and sons racing at “Saturday at the Glen,” but this is the only father-in-law/son-in-law duo. John Caper (left) and Jim O’Neal (right) raced the same class with Jim going 2-2 and John going 3-3.

Here is the son-in-law, John Caper (44)  leading his wife’s father, Jim O’Neal (127), down the back straight.

Hollywood stuntman Will Harper (7) raced his Stark Varg in the first moto of the Over-65 Expert class. The highlight was his holeshot, but the established front runners in the class ran him down and passed him on their old-fashioned internal combustion machines. For the second moto Will decided to race his old fashioned internal combustion KTM.

Justin Muscutt (816) went 2-3 in the 250 Expert class behind Tristan Alvarez and Cody Brownfields.

George Kohler (left) drove down from Carson City, Nevada, to hang out with his old racing buddies and spin some laps at his old stomping ground. Jody (right) gave him a GasGas MC350F and some spiffy new gear to race in, but George insisted on racing in his ancient Hi-Point Champion leather boots (just like someone else he knows).

George Kohler (88) quit racing and moved to Carson City five years ago. He was a three-time REM number one rider (1984, 1996 and 2003). Amazingly, there were seven former REM number one riders at “Saturday at the Glen” this weekend—between them they accounted for 12 years worth of number one plates at Glen Helen. They included Alan Olson (1995, 1997), Jody Weisel (1998), Randy Skinner (2001, 2012), Marc Crosby (2005), Val Tamietti (2017, 2018) and Dave Eropkin (2019). 

Bill Sauro (311) went 2-2 behind Over-50 Expert winner Kurt Nicoll.

Mark Crosby (38) switched from racing his KTM 450SXF to racing MXA’s GasGas MC250F in the Over-65 Intermediate class. He says he’s faster on the 250 than he was on his 450. He went 2-2 on Saturday.

Now here is something you don’t see every day. On his way to first place in the “Modified Mini” class for Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha play bikes, Logan took time to blow a kiss to photographer Debbi Tamietti.

Max Lee (50) has his weekends free now that he’s no longer the Troy Lee GasGas team manager and spent the Mt. Morris weekend racing at Glen Helen. Max went 2-2 in the Open Expert class.

Emily Cloud and her dad bought this 1979 Yamaha YZ125 as a “basket case.” They rebuilt it together and raced it for the first time at “Saturday at the Glen.” Emily is 18, just graduated from High School and has enlisted in the Navy, where she will join their Nuclear Department. Saturday was her last race before shipping out.

Jaxson Boyd (17) would work his way past Brayden Tillery (162) in the second moto of the Yamaha PW50 class to take the win with a 2-1 over Brayden’s 1-2.

Bryan Roberts (4), leads Pete Vetrano (37) and Adrian Spiker (70) through a bermed corner. Glen Helen has become a lot sandier since the winter rain washed the decomposed granite down off the surrounding mountains.

2024 “SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE SCHEDULE

If you are looking for a racing organization that offers long motos, low cost and very consistent race schedule—this is it. “Saturday at the Glen” motocross will race again on June 15, July 6 and July 20. Pre-entry is only $30 ($25 for minis). Post entry is $40 ($30 for minis) on the day of the race. The Gate fee is $10 (per person). You can sign up for the next “Saturday at the Glen” motocross as late as the Friday before the next race (or just show up in person on race day). For more info go to www.glenhelen.com

2024 SATURDAY AT THE GLEN RACE SCHEDULE (UPDATED)
Jan. 13…National track
Jan. 20…Arroyo track
Feb. 3…Arroyo track
Feb. 24…Arroyo track
Mar. 16…National track
Mar. 23…Arroyo track
Apr. 13…Arroyo track
May 4…National track
May 11…National track
June 1…Arroyo track
June 15…National track
Jul. 6…National track
Jul. 20…National track
Aug. 3…Arroyo track
Aug. 24…National track
Sept.14…Arroyo track
Oct. 5…National track
Oct. 19…Arroyo track
Oct. 26…Arroyo track
Nov. 16…National track
Nov. 23…National track
Dec. 7…Arroyo track
Dec. 21…National track