Summit Point, West Virginia – Round 3 of the USGPRU National Championship headed for the historic Summit Point raceway to join the CCS/ASRA series for what would turn out to be a blistering hot Memorial Day weekend of racing! The first USGPRU race of the weekend was the Moto Liberty / RS-Taichi 250GP race, and it was completely dominated by young Cassidy Heiser. Cassidy is a Summit Point regular and showed off his local knowledge by pulling out an amazing 3-second lead on lap one. Once pole-setter Brian Surtees overcame a bad start, he caught and passed Mike Aboyoun for second place. He set his sights on Cassidy, and was even able set the fastest lap of the race, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap to Cassidy who rode a flawless race to the finish line and his first USGPRU National victory. Mike Aboyoun held on to Surtees’ draft for a few laps, but eventually drifted back to finish comfortably in third place.
The Pilot Moto3 race was the next race up and to no one’s surprise, the 4-stroke Moriwaki’s MD250H’s rocketed off the line at the start ahead of their 2-stoke counterparts. The USGPRU newcomer, Casey Tobolewski, led the field into turn one followed closely by ‘Mad’ Max Flinders and Alex Wisdom. Reet Das and John Hjelm, both riding Honda RS125s, caught the front runners and passed them on the back section of the track. Casey and Max held on to the new leaders for a few laps, but the long front straight was too much of an advantage for the more powerful Hondas, and they watched the leader pull away. Hjelm stalked the race leader Reet Das for the rest of the race. He would fade back for a lap, then pull Das back in. He tried to set Das up for a last-lap pass at the line, but fell a few horsepower short when he popped out of the draft in the dash for the finish line. Das held on to win his first ever USGPRU National race. The battle for third place was far from decided as the Honda RS125 mounted Dave Celento caught up with the young racers on their Moriwakis. The three had a great battle for the final podium spot, but Celento eventually powered past the Moriwakis to capture 3rd place over Max Flinders.
The final race of this blistering hot weekend was the REV’IT! Sponsored, Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race. The spec-bike class is made up entirely of young hopeful superstars trying to make their name in road racing and claim some of the $10,000/weekend purse posted by American HONDA. The race got off to a great start with young Xavier Zayat quickly taking the lead into turn one. He put on a great show of skill as he proceeded to walk away from the rest of the pack, gapping the field by 2 to 3 bike-lengths just through the turn 1 and 2 section. The battle for second place was far from over as ‘Mad’ Max Flinders duked it out with newcomer Casey Tobolewski. Max led for the first half of the race, with Casey taking over on lap 5 of 9. Casey stretched out a 1.5 second lead over Max only to see that lead cut to shreds on the last lap as the local wildlife (groundhogs) ventured onto Casey’s racing line causing him to brake early into turn 5. Max passed Casey entering the carousel section of the track and held on for a nearly side-by-side finish at the line. After the race, Casey was overheard mumbling in his best Carl Spackler voice, “I smell varmint. And the only good varmint, is dead varmint.” Another similar battle raged on for 4th place between Alex Wisdom and Chris Kosan with Wisdom likewise narrowly holding on to the 4th place position.
In the post-race awards, Eric Moore, Sharad Shanbhag, and Nick Kosan each won a Motion Pro Pivot Head Hex Key tool set. Max Flinders, Sam DeJong, and Casey Tobolewski each won Motion Pro’s Deluxe Piston Pin Puller tool kits as well. Reet Das, Casey Tobolweski, and Nick Kosal also won gift certificates for discounts on Pilot Leathers. And the big prize of the weekend went to Reet Das as he won a QStarz GPS lap timer, recorder, and analyzing tool from RS Cycles.
The USGPRU thanks all of its sponsors that help to make it possible for us to keep coming out and doing what we love to do. Without your help, many more racers wouldn’t be able to afford to come out and live the GP dream. Thank you RS Cycles, Motion Pro, Moto Liberty, Pilot, REV’IT!, HONDA, Impact Armor, and RS-Taichi. We also have great contingency support from EBC, Silkolene, Dunlop, Bridgestone, and Michelin. Thank you all!
Full results are as follows:
Moto Liberty / RS-Taichi 250GP: 1. Cassidy Heiser (Yam 250) 2. Brian Surtees (Yam 250) 3. Mike Aboyoun (Hon 250) 4. Jeff Johnson (Yam 250) 5. Eric Moore (Yam 250) 6. Jim Bonner (Yam 250) 7. Max Flinders (Mor 250) 8. Paul Nelson (Hon 250) 9. Adrian Jasso (DNS)
Pilot Moto 3: 1. Reet Das (Hon 125) 2. John Hjelm (Hon 125) 3. Dave Celento (Hon 125) 4. Max Flinders (Mor 250) 5. Casey Tobolewski (Mor 250) 6. Alex Wisdom (Mor 250) 7. Chris Kosan (Mor 250) 8. Michael Tso (Hon 125) 9. Rebecca Henn (Hon 125) 10. Nick Kosan (Mor 250) 11. Sharad Shanbhag (Yam 125) 12. Paul Nelson (Hon 125) 13. Sam DeJong (Hon 125) 14. Adrian Jasso (DNS)
REV’IT! Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA: 1. Xavier Zayat (Mor 250) 2. Max Flinders (Mor 250) 3. Casey Tobolewski (Mor 250) 4. Alex Wisdom (Mor 250) 5. Chris Kosan (Mor 250) 6. Nick Kosan (Mor 250)