“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE REPORT: A TRIPLE DIGIT DAY WITH 250 RACERS BRAVING THE HEAT

J.P. Alvarez  (192) swept all four motos of the 450 Expert class and Open Expert class.

PHOTOS BY MARK RIKER

Benny Breck (318) was third overall in the 450 Expert class behind J.P. Alvarez and Sean Lipanovich. Benny also raced the Open Expert class, finishing behind J.P. Alavarez with a 2-2 score. 

The AMA National riders at Hangtown weren’t the only racers facing 100-degree temps in California last past weekend. Glen Helen thought that the high heat warnings and frantic weather reports would scare a large number of racers away from the track. Surprise! 250 racers showed up for what turned out to be a typical Summer day at the races—even though it won’t officially be  Summer for a couple more weeks. The morning started out cool and cloudy, but as the hours ticked away, the heat index shot up into triple digits.

Kurt Nicoll (2) won the Over-50 Expert class and then came back a few races later to go 1-1 in the Over-60 Experts. Even though it was over 100-degrees quite a few racers decided to double class it.

Luther French (21) had a stranglehold on the Over-60 Expert class until Kurt Nicoll turned 60-years-old last November. Luther went 2-2 on Saturday.

Pete Murray (7) joined J.P Alvarez , Kurt Nicoll and Shawn Bushnell, as Expert-level racers who chose to ignore the heat and race two classes. Pete was 4th in the Over-50 Experts and third in the Over-60 Experts.

You wouldn’t think that  racers born in 1965 or earlier, would be so competitive, but this is how close Alan Jullien (70), Pete Murray (7) and Kurt Nicoll (2) were on Saturday.

The riders  were thrilled that the Glen Helen track crew had mellowed out the $100,000 MotoFest jumps, rolling whoops and super big downhills to make the layout much safer for the regular guys. The track crew watered the track at regular intervals throughout the day to keep the dirt in primo condition.

Shawn Bushnell (35), another double classer, went 1-2 in the Over-40 Expert class and went 4-5 in the Open Expert class.

Alison Bushnell (13) won the Women’s class, which started in the second gate behind the Over-65 Men’s classes. She came from the second gate and passed all of the Over-65 Novices, Intermediates and Experts. For the second moto, they moved Alison up to the first gate with the 65year-old racers and she got the holeshot and won by over-15 seconds.

The SoCal winter weather had been a weird combination of four days of cold followed by three days warm, the temperatures rotated days all the way through March, April and May. At “Saturday at the Glen” it was 100-degrees, but a couple days later it was 75 degrees and “June Gloom” had set in. Luckily, on any given day it starts out cool and gets hot around 11:00 a.m.

Nick Neys (92) won the Over-30 Expert class with a 2-1 over Nick Burson’s 3-2. He then got fifth in the Open Expert class with a 6-4.

Caleb Tentangco (124) went 3-4 in the Open Novice class on a DR.D YZ125.

Derek Haller (262) won the 450 Intermediate class and finished second in the Open Intermediate class.

Bam Bridges (17) finished 8th in the Open Novice class.

Dylan Hyde (522) was 11th in the Open Novice class.

Chad Panek (231) took the win in the Over-30 Novice class and, in the process, he wore his skid plate down.

Kenny Safford (101) went 1-1 to win the Over-60 Novice class.

After going 3-3 in the Over-65 Intermediate class, his buddy told him after the moto that “some guy came out of the second wave to catch and pass all of the Over-65 riders.” Marc replied. “That’s not true. It wasn’t a man, it was a women.” And then he introduced his friend to Alison Bushnell.

Irish rider David O’Connor (30) went 6-5 in the Open Intermediate class. The “Open classes” are extra races where riders can ride a second class if they want to.

Scott Murphy (733) went 3-4 to get third in the Over-50 Novice class. Greg Martin (51) was second with a 1-3.

John Caper of AXO, Renthal and Mechanixwear fame has been racing his 2018 CRF450 for the last 8 years, but he did a little research and showed up with a brand-new 2025 Husqvarna Heritage Edition and loved it.

Pasha Afshar (L7) raced his 2025 Fantic XX125 to 8th place in the Over-50 Experts.

Cyprian Macara (73) finished right in front of Pasha in the Over-50 Expert class.

Ricky Richards (45) was a diehard Suzuki racer, from two-stroke through four-strokes, but decided to switch to Husqvarna. 

Pete Vetrano (37) was the TM importer twice through the 1980s and 1990s, but once he wasn’t the importer he switched to Husqvarna to race in the Over-65 Intermediate class. Pete was second in the Over-65 Intermediate class. 

2025 “SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” SCHEDULE

If you are looking for a racing organization that offers long motos, low cost and a very consistent race schedule—this is it. “Saturday at the Glen” motocross will race again on June 21 , June 28 and July 19. Glen Helen’s wants every rider to pre-register on the internet to speed up the program. 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