“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE REPORT: DENNIS STAPLETON, JAMIE ELLIS, PRESTON TILFORD & JOSH FOUT DOMINATE

PHOTOS BY DAN ALAMANGOS, RICH STUELKE & JODY WEISEL

The “Saturday at the Glen” motocross race is now the real deal as they held their second ever-race this Saturday and have three more scheduled in the next three weekends. After 35 years with the original race promoters, the transition to Glen Helen running the races was smoothed over by the fact that all of the former REM employees (starter, finish flag man, score girls and track people) were the same. With the same people in the scoring tower and at sign-up, it was like nothing had changed—except for the big sign on the scoring tower that announced “Saturday MX at the Glen.”

Dennis Stapleton (184) came to the Glen to break-in his 2022-1/2 Husqvarna FC450 before the summer season of Mammoth Mountain, the 450 Nationals and Loretta Lynn roll around. He won the Vet Pro class.

That wasn’t the only noticeable change, because Glen Helen also lowered the gate fee for “Saturday at the Glen” to $10 per person, which meant that even if you brought two people with you it was still the same as the previous $30 per bike. Of course, if you came by yourself, you saved $20 at the front gate. “Saturday at the Glen” also lowered the entry fee from $50 to $30 for riders who pre-entered (and $40 for post entry)—saving another $20 over the previous price. Additionally, they fixed the PA system, painted the scoring tower and made several changes to the race program that riders had asked for after the first race—most significantly an Open practice at the beginning of the practice schedule to help break-in the racetrack faster and no more parade laps before each moto. Additionally, Pee-Wee, 65cc and 85cc classes were added to the program for the first time in several years—and 32 mini racers showed up this Saturday.

Former Vance and Hines racer Preston Tilford (66) won the 450 Pro class. He enjoys one of the local trees.

Because it rained the day before the Saturday race, Glen Helen was concerned that it would be very muddy if it rained again on Friday night, so they rain-prepped the track, which meant less ripping and manipulation of the soil. Of course, it didn’t rain on Friday night and the track surface was perfect for practice and then more hard-packed than usual after that.

Preston Tilford obviously like trees, because in this photo he rockets through another lonely forest. The trees in the background are separated by Glen Helen’s stockpile of sand waiting to have the rocks screened out of it.

As always there were lots of interesting riders at the Saturday races. They included 125 two-stroke hero Pasha Afshar, former Suzuki Amateur coordinator Cole Gress, Speedway racer Randy Skinner, the Fouts (Randel, Josh and Logan), O’Neal clothing founder Jim O’Neal, MXA’s Dennis Stapleton, Twisted Development’s Jamie Ellis, DOC Racing’s David O’Connor, Saddleback star Val Tamietti, Australian Dan Alamangos, 6D’s Robert Reisinger, ProRide’s Phil Cruz, MotoPhoto’s Rich Stuelke and ESR’s Ron Schuler. Plus, Luther French, Michael Carter, Kevin Barda, Jody Weisel, Marc Crosby, Greg Groom, John Caper, Dave Eropkin, Joe Sutter, Ed Guajardo and Luc De Ley.

Dennis Stapleton (184) tries to match Preston Tilford’s love of trees, but he has got to get a lot closer.

Sit back and enjoy MXA’s photo gallery of action shots, and we apologize to Debbi Tamietti for not running any of her photos, but if you aren’t at the track it’s hard to get anything usable (although we did enjoy the shot of traffic on the 210 freeway). Actually, Debbi couldn’t make it this weekend, but that didn’t stop Val from showing up. Dan Alamangos, Rich Stuelke and Jody Weisel filled in for Debbi between their races. We hope they did her justice. Enjoy!

In the distance are 10,000 foot tall peaks, but all these riders care about is the 40-foot peak in front of them. They get a pretty good view of the first turn once they are airborne.

Best of all, for those of you in Europe, the other 49 states and parts unknown, ace photographers Debbi Tamietti and Dan Alamangos were there to document the first-ever “Saturday at the Glen” motocross. Sit back and enjoy what “Saturday at the Glen” looked like—and maybe make plans to race here in the future. 

Josh Fout moving a little dirt on his way to second in the Vet Expert class and/or first in the Open Experts.

This is what Josh Fout (155) looks like from the front. He is on MXA’s 2022 Yamaha YZ450FX off-road bike.

MXA’s Jody Weisel (192) strong arms his 2022 Husky FC350. He has run number 192 since the late 1960’s—it was his AMA road race number. (Inset) Jody’s 1968 Suzuki twin sat in his living room until Lovely Louella put her foot down.

Twisted Development’s Jamie Ellis (40) won the Over-40 Intermediate class in a clean sweep.

Stephan Moore’s powerful blast of sand makes sure that no one is close behind him before going up the canyon. Moore was second in the Over-40 Intermediates behind Jamie Ellis

Ireland’s David O’Connor raced his “Andy Jefferson Replica” KTM 366SXF to third in the Over-40 Intermediates behind Stephen Moore and Jamie Ellis.

Kevin Weston (22) was fourth in the Over-40 Intermediates.

Storme Hawks (16) went 1-1 in the 125 two-stroke Novice class as he continues to work his way up through the classes. 

Tyler Nichols (55) went 1-2 in the 450 Intermediates, which sound good, but Sterling Cogar went 2-1.

Robert Resinger (96) and Ed Guajardo engaged in the two-man duel at the front of the Over-50 Expert class. But Robert still had time to smile for the camera (at least we think he’s smiling) because his 2-1 beat Ed’s 1-2.

Ed Guajardo (27) isn’t falling for this trick again as he ignores Corby Reutgen’s helpful advice on which side to lap him on.

Val Tamietti (31) banks off the wall as he heads out back to the parts of the upper track that no one but the ridersa ever see.

This steep little hill comes right before an even steeper left-hand downhill that lead to the sand straight in the canyon. This is the back of the Over-50 Expert pack.

Dave Eropkin (811) battled with Val Tamietti over third in the Over-60 Expert class. Dave got the spot by a single point.

Greg Groom went 5-3 for third overall in the Over-60 Intermediates. He did have a little problem in the first moto. See below.

Greg Groom (right) stalled in this banked left-hand turn, allowing his arch-rival Marc Crosby (17) to cruise on by while Greg looked for his Suzuki RM-Z450’s kickstarter.

Kevin Barda (852) brought his Suzuki RM250 two-stroke to “Saturday at the Glen” and went 5-1 for third in the Over-50 Experts. Here, he is trying to figure out how Arek Kruk found an outside line.

Arek Kruk (790) surprised the Over-50 Experts by winning the first moto and managed to get second overall with the second moto 4th. Eddie Davis won the Over-50 Experts with a 3-2.

Over the last year, since returning to motocross, former Saddleback specialist Luc De Ley (97) was a very successful Over-50 Intermediate. Too successful, which got him moved the Over-50 Experts. They dropped him at first, but he kept working at it and this week he stayed in contact with the front runners.

All year long, Bruce Ashmore (111) has been playing bike roulette by switching back and forth between his Honda CRF450 and Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke. This week he showed up on a KTM 450SXF and went 2-2 in the Over-60 Intermediates.

Luther French (2) rarely makes a mistake, but this muddy corner got the best of him. It rained the day before the race, but only this corner was muddy (because it is at the bottom of two hills). Luther recovered to go 4-3 in the Over-50 Experts.

Speaking of mistakes we’re not sure how this rider ended up facing in the wrong direction. Nick Reisinger (96) and Drake Pfeifer (774) split on both sides of him.

With Lars Larsson back home in Sweden for the summer, MXA lent his Husqvarna FC450 to Jim O’Neal—who was a little leery of racing a bike with 13 on the number plates. Lars always said that 13 was his lucky number because it was the day he met his wife. The yellow blotches are flowers between the camera and the bike. 

John Caper of O’Neal, AXO and Mechanixwear fame has fought back from major injuries. He’s happy to still be racing. John went 11-10 in the Over-50 Intermediates.

You may remember Cole Gress (19) from when he ran the Suzuki Amateur program back when they were a powerhouse with Eli Tomac, Ian Trettel, Davi Millsaps, Nico Izzi and Tyler Bowers. He won the Over-50 Intermediate class with a 3-1. Here, Cole tries to fend off Open Expert winner Josh Fout (155).

Gabriella Sanchez (76) and Evin Perrault (25) battle for air superiority in the Beginner class.

With loose dirt on the face, this big hill was a little challenging, but the big drop over the top was very challenging.

Sean Veritch (2) went 1-2 for second behind Taylor Mesa’s 2-1 in the 85 Beginner class.

Dakota Ramos (27) went 2-2 in the 7-8 50cc Pee-Wee class. Bryson Rowney (99) went 3-3 and Tate Rondon (92) was fifth with a 5-5. 

With his dad and brother full-time racers, it was only logical for Logan Fout (601) to want to race his first-ever motocross. He didn’t have a minicycle, so his dad plopped him on a Yamaha TT-R125 and sent him to the starting line. Logan loved it.

“Saturday at the Glen” motocross will be racing for the next three Saturdays in a row—April 30, May 9 and May 14. To pre-enter for any “Saturday at the Glen” Click Here to see the pre-entry sign-up system. Pre-entry is only $30, post entry is $40 on the day of the race. You can sign up for the next “Saturday at the Glen” motocross on as late as the Thursday before. For more info go to www.glenhelen.com.

 

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