“SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” UNVEILS 90% OF THE WORLD VET TRACK TO A PACKED HOUSE OF RACERS

PHOTOS BY DEBBI TAMIETTI & MARK RIKER

MXA’S ace photographer Debbi Tamietti shot this crash sequence at the bottom the Mt. Saint Helen downhill. Debbi said, “I was shooting a photo of Blayne Thompson (777) when I spotted Belgian Seth Priem (125) crashing and I  switched my focus from Blayne to Seth as Seths’s YZ125 did a full-end-over-end dance. First, with Seth being ejected and then his bike doing spectacular and relentless twists and turns as though it wasn’t done with Seth yet.” Some how, Seth is under his bike at the moment of impact. 

His bike flew over him just before he hit the ground and then seemed to backtrack to make sure that Seth paid for tucking the front on the steep downhill. Seth Priem races the FIM MX125 class in Europe.

Finally, the bike zeroed in on where Seth was curling up in a fetal position. Then, it amazingly flipped 180-degrees upside down and glanced off the hapless Belgian before flipping one last time, where it pirouetted into Seth’s back.

The whole ordeal lasted about 10 seconds before the bike drilled Seth one last time as it flopped over next to Seth at the bottom of the downhill, where the stunned flagmen was still out of position to do any good with is yellow flag—luckily, the flagger at the top of the 22-story hill was waving his flag aggressively enough to alert the riders to the danger below.

Then, photographer Mark Riker ran out into the “danger zone” and helped the confused Seth Preim get his bike and body off the track and over to the EMTs. When asked what he was thinking when he ran out into traffic to help the dazed rider get out of harm’s way, Mark said, “I wasn’t thinking, I was just going to the aid of a rider who needed help.”

As for Debbi Tamietti who was shooting about 50 feet up the hill, she said, “When I saw that Mark Riker (left) had pushed the fallen bike and rider off the track and that the flagger was just standing with his hand in his pockets watching, I put my camera down and did what I could to try to slow the oncoming racers down.”

Glen Helen holds a couple World Vet warm-up races before every year for several reason. (1) Glen Helen wants to test the all-new World Vet Championship track layout. It features a very long three-minute lap time layout and Glen Helen likes to make sure that it is designed to be challenging for fast riders, yet still safe for slower riders and older age groups. (2) This week’s “Saturday at the Glen” race was the second test layout in the last two weeks and both times the track featured several new features. And guess what? When it is opens up again for a Vet-Only practice on Thursday October 30, they will have added even more sections to keep everybody guessing. (3) The extra test track race days are held to help out-of-state, foreign and any new riders a chance to learn the ins and outs of a race track with five big hills .

This is the view looking down the valley from the Canyon section of the World Vet Track. From here you can see the the two-story scoring tower, the Museum (next to the starting line) and the flag pole on the top of Mt. Saint Helen.

This year’s World Vet Championship is the 41st Edition and will have a totally new  race schedule. Instead of racing on Saturday and Sunday and having to squeeze the 1200 riders into a congested starting area, they are switching to a three-day race schedule (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Riders will race one of their three motos each day, with the World Vet final results coming from the combined three-day score. Only the Pro classes and the World Cup racers will get all their racing done with two-moto days—this includes the Pasha 125 Open Two-Stroke Pro classes (125 Pros, Over-30 125 Pros and Over-50 125 Pros.

Dennis Stapleton  (184) throws up a smoke screen of roost in one of the sandy section of the track.

Hawaiian Brian Mederios (934)  swept both motos of the 450 Expert class on his Kent Reed-sponsored Kawasaki KX450.

Kurt Nicoll (2) had a massive lead in both motos of the Over-60 Expert class at the “Saturday at the Glen” World Vet Warm-up race. It is only fitting since he is the current Over-50 World Vet Champion. He wanted to race last year’s Over-60 Expert class, but his 60th birthday was after the day of the race and no one is allowed to race if they aren’t the correct age on the day of the race. They check everyone’s drivers license, passport or birth certificate on day of the race—Kurt  missed the cut-off by  two weeks.

Pete Murray’s 4-2 was good enough for third overall in the Over-60 Expert class and he did it on a GasGas MC125 two-stroke.

Jett Bushnell (41) has moved up from the 125 Novice class to the 250 Novices with the addition of a Triumph TF250-F.

Ed Guajardo (27) went 3-3 in the Over-60 Experts, but came back to win the Over-65 Experts with a 1-1.

Nico Espana (31) put together a 2-5 score in the Over-60 Expert class to get a fourth overall. Here, he is chasing third place Ed Guajardo (27) down a drop-off.

Jon Ortner (28) went 5-4  for fourth in the Over-60 Expert class.

Former Hollywood Stuntman Will Harper (7) went 2-2 behind Rick Rueske’s 1-1 in the Over-70 class. Will is recovering from double knee replacement surgery, which accounts for how far away from contact with the ground he keeps his left leg.

Former TM importer Ralf Schmitt flew in from Holland to be at Glen Helen on Saturday racing a Fantic. He went 5-4 in the Over-50 Experts and  7-4 in the Over-40 Intermediates —which is actually against World Vet rules (you can move down to a younger age group— Like from 50 to 40, but if you were an Expert in your older age group, you have to be an Expert in any group you moved to.

Marc Crosby, the “Dentist to the Stars of Motocross” is another rider nursing an injured leg. He reinjured it in practice, but still raced his two motos for third overall in the Over-65 Intermediate class.

Jordan Johnson (6) went 9-5 to finish seventh in the 125 Novice class.

Leo Guesser (12) went 3-3 in the 450 Novice class, while ahead of 250 Novice winner Tristan Leidholdt (26) and Denver Ethridge (412).  Brazil’s Fabricio Schincariol (300) took the 450 Novice victory with a 2-1.
  Ryder Turner (23) was second overall in the 250 Beginner class with a 2-2.

Some how Ryan Pekarek (59) got so tangled up in his bike that two flagman had to unravel the pieces to get it off of him in the 125 Novice class.

WHAT’S LEFT OF THE 2025 “SATURDAY AT THE GLEN” RACE SCHEDULE

If you are looking for a racing organization that offers long motos, low cost entry fees and  a very consistent race schedule—this is it. “Saturday at the Glen” motocross will race again on 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
Nov. 15…Arroyo track
Nov. 22..National track
Dec. 13..Season finale (National track)