HYR SIX HOURS OF GLEN HELEN

The Honda/Yamaha of Redlands Six Hours of Glen Helen is the kick-off race for the Glen Helen Endurance series, and it’s usually the best. While the 12 and 24- Hour versions are held in the hotter, more grueling parts of the year, the spring-break Six-Hour is usually less intimidating. But the results often are the same. This year, the Johnny Campbell Racing team of Colton Udall and Benny Breck picked up where they left off in last year’s 24-hour, in first place. They got into the lead early and stayed there to finish with a modest two-minute lead. The race was so tight that the top teams never took the time to even change tires.
      The unofficial award for fastest team probably went to Northland Kawasaki duo of Robby Bell and Jonathan Davis, who started strong, then were almost immediately sidelined with a fuel pump problem. Robby switched to Davis’s bike, which had been impounded as a spare, but they were half a lap back. Then Davis got stuck in a freakish mud bog in the hills, costing even more time and sentencing the team to almost six hours of catch-up. In the meantime, Ty Renshaw and Corey Floyd were looking good in second, then they had trouble and had to switch to their back-up bike, which was Renshaw’s machine. Floyd couldn’t come to grips with his teammate’s suspension and eventually fell and then pulled out of the race.
      The perpetual second place finisher at Glen Helen’s endurance races is Team John Burr, usually built around Gordon Ward. This time Gordon teamed with the Goolsby brothers, Brad and Robbie. They spent most of the race in a very close second to the JCR team, and right on their heals was the Mexican team led by Ivan Ramirez,
      Other noteworthy teams were those of Mark Harstine, eventual winner of the huge Open Sportsman class, and Ironman winner Cody Knauss. The Ironman calss was the second biggest lass of the day. In fact, the turnout was surprisingly good, and the course was almost full. The layout was once again designed by the Dirt Bike Magazine staff with Gary Jones. It had single track, motocross and even a makeshift supermoto section laid out in the parking lot of the San Manuel Pavilion. The course spills out of Glen Helen Raceway into Glen Helen Regional Park, where fishermen and picnicers seem unfazed by the constant parade of motorcycles. This was the 16th running of the event. For results go to www.glenhelen.com.