STINGRAY & THE LATVIANS AT REM GLEN HELEN

On Mar 13, 2016 Last updated Nov 24, 2019

Photos by Dan Alamangos and Debbi Tamietti

Mike Ray Craig, know as the Stingray during his factory days, came out of retirement to have fun racing at REM. Photo: Dan Alamangos

When the skies opened up on Friday afternoon and poured it looked like the road into Glen Helen would be flooded and REM motocross would have to cancel. But, REM motocross promoter sent out a Facebook flash by mid afternoon on Friday saying that the motocross race was on. Saturday’s race day was sunny and pleasant with excellent dirt.

Latvian Davis Ivanous (600) was the spearhead of Latvian domination at REM Glen Helen’s Pro classes. Ivanous won the 450 class, while Karlis Sabulis cleaned up on the small bikes. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

Although the El Nino winter storms have been hammering Northern California and all points east, SoCal has sat in a summer-like bubble of beautiful weather. On a normal year, REM would have had to cancel a couple races because of inclement weather, but this year it has always worked out in REM’s favor. If it rains, it rains the day before. If the wind blows, it blows the day before. Even this week’s dire warning about the big El Nino thunderstorms came and went in under two hours.

R.J. Wagemen was the odds on favorite to win the 450 Pro class, but it didn’t happen because of a bad second moto. The top five in the 450 Pro class were Davis Ivanous, R.J. Wageman, Dominic Desimone, Justin Muscutt and Brian Medeiros. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

It what must be some kind of record for a weekly motocross program, the vast majority of riders at the track were old. We don’t mean old as in over 30 or even over 40. At this week’s REM race 37% of the riders were over the age of 50. Out of REM’s ever-efficient six-moto program, there was a moto for the Over-50 Experts, Intermediates and Elites; a second moto for the Over-60 Experts, Over-65 Experts and the Over-60 Intermediate; and a third moto for the Over-50 Novices.

Dominic Desimone (595) managed to salvage a 3rd in the 450 Pro class, but not without incident. However, the lone spectator in that corner was not impressed. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

Randel Fout, on MXA’s Kawasaki KX250F cover bike from the April issue, broke his left leg in four places. More amazing, he rode his bike back to the pits before going to the ambulance. That’s a tough guy. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

And these old classes are hard-fought. The Over-50 Elite class was an all-out war between winner Phil Dowell, Jon Ortner and 6D helmets Bob Weber. Meanwhile, the Over-50 Experts have been the personal playground of former Maico racer Val Tamieti since he bought his KTM 350SXF earlier this year. Tamietti had a 8-race win streak going until former AMA National Pro Robert Reisinger knocked him off the top spot this weekend.

Phil Dowell (23) held off Jon Ortner (10) in both Over-50 Elite motos to win his first-ever Elite class victory. The sad part, Dowell borrowed fellow Over-50 Elite rider Luther French’s WP Cone Valve forks and loved them. Luther had carpal tunnel surgery and couldn’t race. This win could cost Dowell $3150. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

The Over-50 Intermediate class was the biggest class of the day—with Rob Wexler going 1-1 for the win over Robert Pocius, Michelle Horton, Jeff Scott, Terry Varner, Jim Hanson, Mark Donaldson, John Perry and Lonnie Paschal. Corby Reutgen swept both motos of the Over-50 Novices in front of Gary Stoltenberg (2-2), Darren Berg (3-3), Andy Stix (4-4) and Angel Montoya (7-5).

Greg Groom (12) gets the thrill of a lifetime and he and the Stingray (64) flash by the pits. Mike Craig (64) was a factory Yamaha and Kawasaki rider. Mike spearheaded the Honda of Troy team for years and won the Tampa Supercross in 1994. He is also the father of Geico Honda racer Christian Craig. Photo: Dan Alamangos

With so many riders in the older classes, it is easy for REM to maintain control over cherrypickers and cheaters—because they have a faster class to move riders who are outshining everyone in their current class to. Which is where the Over-50 Elite class came from. If a rider started walking away from the Over-50 Experts, he ran the risk of getting moved into the Over-50 Elite class—which is dominated by former AMA Pros.

Former AMA National rider Robert Reisinger (96) put a stop of Val Tamietti’s 8-straight race win streak in the Over-50 Experts with a 1-1 on his Husqvarna FC350. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

It was good to see former Kawasaki and Yamaha factory rider Mike Craig come out of retirement to race again. Admitting to being out of shape and rusty, the 47-year-old AMA Supercross winner, was just at REM to have a good time. For those who don’t remember the “Stingray,” you may have heard of his son Christian Craig.

The line on the right is made up of the Over-60 riders, while the two riders on the left are from the Women’s class. Nicole Loginger and Eilish Conlon face the difficult task of working their way through a pack of experienced racers who know every trick in the book — and are old enough to be their grandfathers. Nicole LogiPhoto: Dan Alamangos

The MXA test crew lost a test rider this week when Randel Fout ciipped a wall with his left leg and shattered his tib/fib in four places. This is the third time Randel has broken his left leg and he’s pretty calm about it. He rode his bike back to the pits with his leg dangling, got in the ambulance and went to the hospital, checked out once the doctor cast it and came to Jody’s house to watch the Toronto Supercross—before Jon Ortner and John Perry drove his van and him to Oceanside and helped get him settled in his sailboat home.

Swede Nicole Loginger (927) and Aussie Eilish Conlon (862) traveled all the way to SoCal to finish side-by-side in the Women’s class. Loginger took the win by a knobby. Photo: Debbi Tamietti

Tom Hinz (52) borrowed Jody Weisel’s old gear and finished 6th in the Over-40 NoviceS. Oh yeah, he also shared the 350SXF Jody was testing WP air forks on in back-to-back motos. Photo: Dan Alamangos

Cade Matherly won the 250 Novices on his KTM 85SX. There were no other minicycles at REM this week because of a big amateur qualifier in Bakersfield. Photo: Dan Alamangos

MXA is nice. We let TM importer Ralf Schmidt (28) race our TM 300MX project two-stroke — Ralf actually owns the bike. Photo: Dan Alamangos

Billy Mercier displaces serious soil on his way to the Over-40 Pro win. Photo: Dan Alamangos

Ireland’s David O’Connor wanted to get out of the track early, so he moved from Vet Novices (race 6) to 450 Novices (race 2). Unfortunately, his KTM 250SXF didn’t get the starts he needed and he ended the day with a 7-6 against the big 450s. Photo: Dan Alamangos