The Penultimate round of the 2025 Utah Sportbike Association, “Masters of the Mountains” series brought to you by Utah Motorcycle Law took place August 9th-10th at Burt Brothers Motorpark. With the season winding down, the intensity on track was all time high as championship battles raged on. Sprint Racing Championships, Endurance Championships and of course The King of the Mountain Crown, all yet to be decided.
This fifth round of the 6 round series took place on the East Course of the word class facility nestled in the Tooele Valley, just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Saturday morning, cool temperatures and clear skies graced racers as they ripped out of hot pit and onto the track for qualifying. “King of the Mountain”(KOM) racers took advantage of perfect conditions to lay down some impressive laps with Brian Childree topping the first session at 1:35.35 which would land him on the front row starting 3rd for the KOM race on Sunday. In the second round of qualifying Justin Delong and Anthony Norton would fill in the first row only separated by .03 seconds in the session with Norton securing pole position at a 1:34.80 and Delong putting himself in the 2nd grid spot with a time of 1:34.83. With all racers qualified, it was time to go racing.
The Trackstar Racing sponsored Stock1000 Novice race Saturday morning set the tone of what racing would be for the weekend with a close battle at the front. Championship contender James Walker got the hole shot but wouldn’t be able to roll o` at all during the race as Derek Festavan appeared glued to his(Walker’s) rear tire. The two would battle the entire race with Festavan unable to make a pass stick after numerous attempts. Meanwhile, Championship leader Damon Schuetze was in a battle of his own for the final podium spot with Eliu Heredia leading the fight in 3rd position for the first few laps before Schuetze was able to make the pass holding o` Heredia to the finish line. It was Walker 1st by less than a second over Festavan in 2nd and Schuetze rounding out the podium in 3rd. With one round left, this championship is tied at 85pts for James Walker and Damon Schuetze. Its “Winner Takes All” coming up in a few weeks for round 6.
Sprint racing continued Saturday as fierce battles and great racing throughout all classes fueled championship fights that were intensifying. Arguably, one of the most intense races and championship battles this season has been in the new “Duel in the Desert” Endurance series for the USBA taking place Saturday afternoons. Leading that charge has been the 2 True Endurance teams of Paradigm Racing and Precision Fab Machinery Racing.
The start of round 5 would look all too familiar as the 2 teams started the endurance race 1-2. Anthony Norton on the Precision Fab Zx10 jumped out to an early lead with Lee Callans on the Paradigm Machine settling in around 9th after the first few laps unfolded. Norton was setting sail out front with Parker Mayer of the Hancock Luxvoni relay team in 2nd and The Weekend Garage’s True Endurance rider Trever Nosack in 3rd. On lap 5 things would get shaken up when the Precision Fab Machinery bike started smoking and Race Control black flagged Norton forcing them to enter hot pit with a mechanical of sorts. This handed the lead to Mayer who would now lead the rest of the first 3o minutes before pitting to switch bike and rider.
In the pits, the Precision Fab Machinery crew, led by Crew Chief Johnny Tran, was hard at work solving an oil leak issue that brought out the black flag for them. Fixed, but not before losing nearly 7 laps, Race Direction gave them the go-ahead to rejoin the race, and Norton was back at it. Meanwhile, Lee Callans had started working his way back toward the front regaining a few positions before his planned pitstop handing over the Paradigm machine to teammate Shane Turpin about 40 minutes in who would then ride the remainder of the race. At this point, di`erent dramas and pit strategies would really have the running order shaken up seeing new leaders every few laps until just after the midway point where the Hancock Luxvoni team would take the lead with Aiden Hancock on board and Dakota Burford awaiting his stent. When Hancock came to pitlane, Shane Turpin inherited the lead for Paradigm Racing which he would hold for the remainder of the race. A Very Hard Charging Anthony Norton had been making progress attempting to overcome the team’s early heartache. Rejoining the race in the final position of 16th and 6 laps down, Norton had run consecutive fastest overall laps of the race late in his stent bringing the bike back to his Precision Fab teammate, Kohl Burmester, just 2+ laps down and in 10th position. Burmester would continue their campaign able to get them to 9th overall and make a late pass to get Precision Fab on the podium in 3rd salvaging as many points as possible in the Racers Edge Performance True Endurance class. The Weekend Garage Team would take 2nd in the True Endurance Class and 6th overall with the Paradigm racing going 1st/1st in round 5.
The Gritty Warriors of the Hardline Excavation Ironman Endurance class put on a show this weekend as Kevin Dolan and Richard Findlay would somehow spend 90 straight minutes in close proximity on track. The two battled back and forth throughout the race, Findlay even assuming the overall lead at one point. Late in the race Findlay would find some fast laps to pull a small gap over Dolan and secure the Ironman class Victory. Kevin Dolan about a half a lap behind Findlay, on the final lap, would coast across the finish line after riding 50 laps, out of fuel, but on the podium in 2nd . Robert Jojola would round out the Ironman Podium in 3rd.
For the Apex Assassins Relay Endurance Class, Hancock Luxvoni Stayed consistently out front throughout the race. Taking a first in class and 2nd overall for the 3-rider team. Quietly, another 3-rider team of David Meyer, Randy Alfano, and Jim Jackson threatened to make a run for the class win. After running in and around the top 5 all race, they just ran out of time in the end, the trio finished 2nd in class and 2nd overall. New to this round of endurance, the relay team of brothers Ian and Zach Jensen would round out the podium in 3rd for their class with huge smiles over their e`orts and plan to return for round 6 of endurance.
There is some championship contention to be resolved in all 3 endurance classes during round 6 which is on the Perimeter course at Burt Brothers Motorpark. Double the Distance and Double Points for the season finale raises the stakes and the excitement. It’s going to be a packed grid and promises to be an exciting showdown.
Sunday morning, Racers continued their weekend conquests getting in a quick warmup before taking to the grids to battle for podiums and more payouts. Playing preview to the weekend’s main event of KOM, was the Edge Powersports Open Superstock Race Sunday morning. The 2 top Qualifiers for KOM, Anthony Norton and Justin Delong were gridded 1-2 and they both must have drank a Red Bull because they were FLYIN’. Delong nailed the start and grabbed the holeshot with Chris Mousley launching into 2nd from row 2 leaving Norton in 3rd out of turn 1. Norton made a bold move to overtake Mousley into turn 4 on the first lap for second position and put his head down to cover the gap to Delong attempting to check out with the lead. Delong led the first lap with Norton trailing by just .2. Delong made a small error between turns 5 and 6 on lap and Norton pounced. Into turn 10 on the same lap Norton made a small mistake allowing Delong to pull along side norton on the drag to turn 12 where Norton would defend the inside line and hold the lead. Mousley with a front row view as the 2 would stay within a second of each other to the finish line lapping in the low 1:33s the entire race. Norton 1st,Delong 2nd, and Mousley in 3rd. At this point, everyone was excited to see how the KOM premier race of the weekend would unfold, and everyone would find out soon enough.
Our 3 protagonists from the Open Superstock race were joined by the rest of the clubs fastest on the KOM grid. Among them Brian Childree who when the lights went out, would time the start perfectly and find himself leading the “King of the Mountain” challengers into turn 1. Delong fought to harness his BMW horsepower as it wheelied o` the line as Norton crept into 2nd behind Childree just ahead of Delong. Norton was ambitious immediately and slid tightly by Childree into turn 5 as Delong looked to follow but Childree slammed that door shut. Out of turn 7 and into the famous “Attitudes” Delong went late to the brakes making a successful lunge for 2nd place. Now Norton leading with Delong just behind and Childree in 3rd. The front two would increase their pace from the previous race a few tenths pulling away from the back to battle it out on their own. 6 laps in, Norton still led with Delong pushing hard about 1 second adrift. Halfway through lap 7 Delong had a big moment out of “the attitudes” luckily gathering it up and carrying on but that would prove the end of his charge for a win. Norton proceeded to carry the pace and increase his lead, and all eyes shifted to the fight for the final podium spot. Brian Childree held 3rd place for the entire race thus far, but Lou Soccaccio and Shane Turpin 4th and 5th were closing the distance in the late stages. Childree must have felt the 2 Yamahas closing in on the final laps as he picked up his pace to hold them o` for 3rd. Soccaccio and Turpin would Drag race to the finish and by just .126 Soccaccio would finish 4th with Turpin 5th. Your Burt Brothers Tire and Service Podium finishers and Purse recipients would be Anthony Norton 1st, Justin Delong 2nd, and Brian Childree 3rd.
With this Victory, Anthony “LugNut” Norton secured his 3rd straight King of the Mountain Championship and UtahSBA #1 plate. When asked about his race and season, Norton had this to say …
“Stoked to have Justin pushing me out here. Him (Justing Delong) and I are both from the Apex Assassins tribe so we always share info and data to help each other get stronger, and it made this race even more fun knowing He was rippin’ so I couldn’t put a wheel out of place. It’s been another great season in Utah. I wanted to win this thing today to seal the deal on the Title and as my buddy Kohl would say “We Did the Thing.” Huge Thanks to Dale with Racers Edge Dunlop Tires for supporting me all season and I’m happy to give Dunlop another #1. Precision Fab Machinery, Legal Ride, Apex Assassins, and Crossbeam Builders are all huge supporters of mine and I really couldn’t do all I do in this sport without them. But what’s cool for me is this year we are all here racing and working together and they all got a chance to be a part of this championship firsthand. Can’t wait until Round 6 to close the season out in style and sort out some unfinished business in the Endurance Race.”-Anthony Norton.
Round 6 of the 2025 UtahSBA season is September 6th-7th and the club is bringing a new level of excitement to close out the season, hosting the final round on Prestigious Perimeter Course o`ering purse money in multiple classes and doubling down on Endurance. 3 Hours and Double Points for Endurance racers. Riders are signed up from out of state and around the continent for this special Season Finale promising even more close battles, high speeds, and a dramatic end to the seasons class championships. Visit Utahsba.com for more info and to register for this event.
