“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN:” ONLY ONE WARM-UP RACE LEFT BEFORE THE WORLD VET CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS

32 riders fit nicely into Glen Helen’s Talladega first turn.

Dominic Desimone (133) swept both motos of the 450 Expert class.

PHOTOS BY DEBBI TAMIETTI, JON ORTNER &. MARK RIKER

Glen Helen’s “Saturday at the Glen” races have always been used as a warm-up race for the World Vet Championship. Originally they called the last warm-up race before the World Vet the “Octobercross,” because it is held at Halloween time. There is a lot of history in the World Vet,  41 years ago it consisted to two major Expert classes; Over-30 Expert and Over-40 Expert. Then in 1988, they added the Over-50 Expert class. It wasn’t until 1994 that the Over-60 Expert class came to be. It took them another eight years before they added the Over-70 Expert class in 2001. The reason they added the 80-year-old class was because  the winners of the original Over-50 and Over-60 classes were able to continue winning in the older classes, so it seemed inevitable that there would eventually be a need for an Over-80 Expert class (with Lars Larsson winning three straight —2021, 2002 and 2023) to go with his two Over-70 titles (2011 and 2012) and one Over-60 title (2001).

Kurt Nicoll (2) won the Over-50 Expert class with a 1-1, and tried to win the Over-60 Expert class, but had bike troubles. 

The original World Vet Championship was held in one day. Tom White felt that out-of-state and foreign riders were at a big disadvantage against the SoCal riders, who raced and tested on the Glen Helen layout all the time—so Tom added a Saturday race. The Saturday motos were not actually considered to be part of the World Vet, but just a practice day to help visiting riders get accustomed to Glen Helen’s hilly circuit, long lap times and every changing dirt.

This year the World Vet will introduce a new three-day race schedule with the first moto on Friday, second moto on Saturday and third moto on Sunday. The money paying Pro classes will be allowed to race two motos on their special days. Everyone else has to race three motos. This should help with congestion at staging and give the track crew time to work on the racetrack before it deteriorates.

 

Tatum Brownfield (365) went 2-1 to take the victory in the Women’s class over the 1-2 of Holly Breck

Shawn Bushnell finished second overall in the Over-40 Expert class and came back in the Open Expert class to go 4-3 for third overall.

Dennis Stapleton (184) plans to race next Saturday’s “Saturday at the Glen” race to get ready for the Over-40 Expert race at the World Vet that starts on the following Friday.

Hollan Russell won the Open Expert class with a 1-1 and took the 250 Expert class with a 2-1 .

Dominic DeSimone (133) won the 450 Expert class, while his dad Phil was fifth in the Over-60 Experts. 

Noah Gordon (41) went 1-DNF in the 250 Expert class.

Amari Arnold (42) not only won the 250 Intermediate class, but came back later in the program to win the Open Intermediate class.

Alison Bushnell (13) bounces back and forth between the Women’s class and Over-40 Intermediates. This weekend she chose to race with the men and finished just outside the top ten.. 

Will Harper (7) has a Stark and a KTM, but decided to switch to a Yamaha YZ450F. He is recovering from double knee replacements.

Holland Russell (93) blast through the sand section over by the REM cliff.

Caleb Tetangco has transitioned out of the SuperMini class to the big bikes. Caleb went 2-2 for second overall in the 250 Novice class on a Kawasaki KX250. 

Doug Frankos (710) swept both motos of the Over-65 Expert Class over former Baja hero Bob Rutten.

Bob Rutten went 2-2 in the Over-65 Expert class and came back to go 1-1 in the Over-70 Expert class.

Marc Crosby (33) went 4-4 in the Over-65 Intermediates.

Ricky Richards (45) put a 3-4 score into second place in the Over-40 Intermediates. 

Bulgarian Vladimir Kovax (40) came to America to race the World Vet in the Over-70 class. At “Saturday at the Glen” he went 4-4 for fourth in the Over-70s.

Kyle Knauss (313) went 4-1 to beat Caleb Tenagco’s 3-2 and Tristan Leidholdt’s 2-4 for the gold in the Open Novice class.

Gus Gonzalez (22) battles with Jake Thomas (921) in the Over-30 Novice class.

Mike Monaghan (34) had an AMA Pro license back in the 1980s and still has a lot of speed, but he chooses to race a 125 two-stroke against the 450 four-strokes in the Over-60 Experts, even though he had been winning the Over-60 Expert class when he was on a four-stroke.

Jake Weltmer (244) swept both motos in the 85cc class. 

Polish racer Arek Kruk (79) went 4-4 on his Stark in the Over-50 Expert class. Kurt Nicoll won the class with Bill Sauro second and Arek Kruk third.

Ed Guajardo (27) took the win in the Over-60 Expert class with a 1-2—helped no doubt by Kurt Nicoll’s DNF’ed  in the second moto.

Jon Ortner (28) was second in the Over-60 Experts with a 4-1.

Max Groom (959) made his return to racing a success with a 1-1 in the Over-30 Expert class.

2025 “SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE SCHEDULE

If you are looking for a racing organization that offers long moto, low cost and  a very consistent race schedule—this is it. “Saturday at the Glen” motocross will race again on October 25, November 15, November 22 and December 13.

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

2023 “SATURDAY THE GLEN” SCHEDULE
Oct 25…World Vet Warm-up race (National track)
Nov. 15…Arroyo track
Nov. 22..National track
Dec. 13..Season finale (National track)