JBC 10 HOURS OF GLEN HELEN

Mitch Anderson started on the fourth row, but cut to the front and won overall.

The John Burr 10 Hours of Glen Helen is usually a grueling affair. Held in June when the weather is dry and hot, it’s not a race for the weak. This year might have been the exception, however. The weather was cool and moist, making for a pleasant day (well, half day, almost) of riding. The course this year was designed by Andrew Yarnell, who experimented with a new format. The first half of the race would be on a relatively short and fast six-mile loop. For the second half, a new section was opened up with much more technical trail, expending both the mileage and the lap times significantly.

Brad Goolsby came out of retirement to team with Anderson for the win.

The winner was also a very unusual team this time. Mitch Anderson teamed up with past Ironman champion Brad Goolsby,who has been in retirement for a number of years while he attended school and started family life. Mitch and Brad also invited their fathers to ride on the team, although the actual mileage ridden by the elder Anderson and Goolsby is somehat vague. The team was also offbeat because they were in the Industry class rather than the experts, meaning they started on the fourth row.

Trevor Stewart used the 10-Hour for testing and practice.

Up front for the first seven laps was JCR’s Trevor Stewart, who had no intention of completing the race. He’s currently competing in the WORCS series, which will hold its ninth round at Glen Helen next week. Stewart just needed the mileage for practice and testing. When he pulled off, that left Travis Frohlich’s Kawasaki team in front (with teammates Josh Bullard, Chance Bayes and Nathan Frohlich), but only by a narrow margin over Ty Cullins’ Beta team (with Jacob Clements and Brady Fox) and Nick Stover’s TM team (with Ryan Gouveia).

Jacob Clements and Brady Fox teamed with Ty Cullins, who rode the Last Dog Standing on Saturday.

While those teams went back and forth, Anderson and Goolsby caught them all, taking the lead on lap 29 and holding it all the way to the end on lap 39. Frohlich held on for second overall, but got first open Expert. The top Ironman was a new face; James Clark. He traded the lead with Gerardo Gonzales for the first half of the race before taking over. For more results, go to www.glenhelen.com.

Nick Stover was pushing hard all day on his TM USA back machine. Stover has showed huge improvements this year and will be headed to this years ISDE in France.

Ron Lawson doing some testing on the new SWM 300 .

Glen Helen