“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE REPORT: LIPANOVICH, MEDEIROS, STAPLETON, FOUT & THE BUSHNELL’S

Sean Lipanovich (505) went 1-1 in the 450 Pro class, but you can see how little breathing room he had over Brian Medeiros in the background.

PHOTOS BY DEBBI TAMIETTI

MXA’s Brian Mederios (934) has spent a lot of time racing MXA’s 2025 450cc motocross bikes—originally to put time on them leading up to the MXA 450 Shootout, but since then he is working on making  improvements. This week it was the 2025 KX450. Brian went 2-2 in the 450 Pros.

MXA’s Dennis Stapleton is in his 40s (184) and happy to be there with the World Vet just around the corner. On Saturday the Over-40 and Over-30 Experts made an impromptu decision to go with the Pro gate to make it a little tougher. Dennis won the Over-40 Experts and worked his way up to third  (if he had been scored as a 450 Pro). 

Josh Fout (28) took the Over-30 Expert victory with a 2-1 when Dakota Garner DNF’ed the second moto. 

Dakota Garner (261) took the first moto win in the Over-30 Experts, but didn’t score in the second moto.

Shawn Bushnell (25) split moto wins with Dennis Stapleton, but Stapo’s 2-1 beat out Shawn’s 1-2. Shawn also finished second in the Open Expert class.

Alison Bushnell (35) swept both motos of the Women’s class and came back to finish second in the Over-40 Intermediate class.

Jett Bushnell (31) went 2-2  to place second overall in the 125 Novice class.

Bode Bushnell (699) went 2-2 for second in the 85cc minicycle class..

Ollie the dog has an instagram page called olliemxpup. His owner, Michael Lewis, takes him to lots of motocross events so Ollie can get his photo taken with as many famous motocrossers as possible. Ollie wanted a photo with MXA’s Debbie Tamietti for his instagram. She joins Jalek Swall, Aaron Plessenger, Ryan Villopoto, Roger DeCoster, Troy Lee, Broc Glover, Ken Roczen, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Johnson, Dylan Ferrandis, Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence on Ollie’s page.

Luther French (21) went 1-1 in the Over-60 Expert class.

Val Tamietti (31) won the Over-65 Expert class with a 1-1, but was most proud of his second overall in the Over-60 Experts with a 2-2.

“Smoking Bob” Pocius (153) had two major accomplishments this past Saturday, he went 4-3 to get third  overall in the very tough Over-60 Expert class and he quit smoking a couple weeks ago and hasn’t cheated yet.

Poland’s Arek Kruk (79) took the Over-50 Expert win in front of a top five of Michael Carter, Alan Julien, Richard Ellis and Pasha Afshar.

Australian Warren Strange has raced the Dakar Rally, Finke Desert race and finish second in the Australasian Safari, but he wants to get back into motocross and came to Glen Helen to try his hand at it. Warren went 1-3 for second in the Over-50 Intermediate class.

Warren Strange (left) would have been right at home with the MXA guys, but all of  MXA’s Aussies are injured. He had to settle for Jody.

When Bob Rutten showed up on the starting line for the first Over-65 Expert race on his KTM 450SXF, the guy next to him said, “You aren’t going to race with a flat front tire, are you?” Bob thought the guy was joking, but when he looked down his tire was flat. He rushed back to his van and unloaded his trusty Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke and made it back to the line before the gate fell. He got a third overall with a 4-3 behind behind Val Tamietti (1-1) and David Eropkin (2-2).

Mike Monaghan (34) insists on racing a YZ125 in a class full of 450 four-strokes. He went 3-4 for fourth.

Where’s Waldo? While “Saturday at the Glen” was racing on the Arroyo track, the SoCal Vintage MX Classic was on the National track. This was the wackiest race of the day as every rider wore a Gary Jones jersey.  Yamaha was the sponsor of the SoCal Vintage MX Classic this year and they wanted to honor Gary Jones who won them their first-ever National Motocross Championship back in 1971. Grant Langston won this 50 Anniversary race and Gary Jones was second.

Randy Skinner (383) has now taken almost six months off from his major concussion and actually finished both motos this weekend.

Mark Crosby wanted to race MXA’s 2025 KTM 350SXF for quite awhile, but it couldn’t be ridden because it hadn’t been to the studio or had its action video shot yet. Jody finally gave him the go-ahead to race it. He loved it, but it is always tough to race a bike with less than 3 hours on it.

Tim Hoole (40) went 1-1 to win the Over-65 Intermediate class over a top five of Jim Hanson, Pete Vetrano, Marc Crosby and Mic Rodgers.

Richard Hurtado (100) came to race, but he only made it 50 feet off the line before being involved in a crash. The former fireman and EMT knew right away that he broke his femur.We wish him a speedy recovery, but both he and we know better.

Although “Saturday at the Glen” has a class for riders Over 70 years old, most of the Over-70 riders choose to race in the Over-65 Intermediate or Novice classes. That is where most of their racing buddies are. Mic Rodgers (115), who is over 70 went 6-5 for fifth in the Over-65 Intermediate class.

Catherine Roome (111) was third in the Women’s class behind Alison Bushnell and Adrian Spiker.

Damian Custodio (22) won the 250 Intermediate class with a 1-1.

Caleb Tetangco (124) swept the 85cc class on his DR.D Yamaha YZ85.

Hudson Evensen (64) styles over this jump on his way to a 3-6 day in the 50cc class.

Tony Alessi is trying to keep it fun for daughter Mavis (6). Mavis went 1-2 in the Pee-Wee class, but got beat in the tie-breaker when Logan Shelton went 2-1.

Nicolas Waters (H20) was third in the Over-50 Intermediate class.

Pete Vetrano gets ready for his moto. Pete runs Moto-Man Distributing and has been the TM, Scalvini, Vertemati, VOR, LEM and Rinaldi tire distributor to name a few. Pete went 3-3 in the Over-65 Intermediate class..

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 October 19 on the Arroyo track and October 26 on the National track (as preview race of most of the 2024 World Vet track). 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

UPDATED 2024 “SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” SCHEDULE
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…Arroyo track
June 1…Arroyo track
June 15…National track
July 6…Arroyo track
July 27…Arroyo track
Aug. 3…National track
Aug. 24…Arroyo track
Aug. 31…National track
Sept.14…National track
Oct. 5…Arroyo track
Oct. 19…Arroyo track
Oct. 26…National track (World Vet Warm-up race)
Nov. 16…Arroyo track
Nov. 23…Arroyo track
Dec. 7…Arroyo track
Dec. 21…National track