Off And Running At World Mini GP

Kit Palmer | April 14, 2011

The 2011 NMA World Mini Grand Prix is well underway in Mesquite, Nevada, and after a windy start yesterday (Wednesday), racers were treated to ideal conditions today at the nearly filled-to-capacity Mesquite MX Park, located close to town.As usual, much of the racing was close and furious, especially in the 250 and 450 Pro classes, where no one rider is completely dominating, though Honda rider Gavin Faith does have two first-moto wins in the 450 and 250 Modified classes. The rider from Iowa also has a third in the 250 Stock Pro class and a fifth in the 450 Stock Pro division, so he’s off to a pretty good start.North Carolina’s Jacob Hayes rode his Kawasaki to a first-moto win in the 450 Stock Pro class over fellow North Carolinian Kyle Peters (Yamaha), while Oklahoma’s Justin Bogle scored the first-moto win in the 250 Stock Pro class.The Intermediate division is still very much up in the air after the first round of motos. In the 450 class, Michigan’s Cole Thompson took the Stock win on his Honda over Justin Hill (Kawasaki), the younger brother of former factory Yamaha rider Josh Hill. In the Modified class, Oklahoma’s Colt Nichols (Kawasaki) is off to a fast start after taking the win over Stock winner Thompson.The 250 Intermediate class is stacked with riders, necessitating two divisions in each Modified and Stock classes. Honda rider Alyas Wardius and Suzuki rider Joey Savatgy won the two Stock heats, and Yamaha pilot Steven Tokarski and Suzuki rider Justin Summers won the two Modified heats.One of the busiest riders of the week is Stilez Robertson who already has five first-moto wins under his belt, three of them coming in the Pee Wee division, in which he rides Cobras, and two coming in the 65cc Jr. Cycle division, in which he rides Kawasakis.The 85/150 Thru 16 class will most likely come down to a showdown between Kawasaki rider Buddy Wentworth and Honda pilot Cooper Webb who both pulled off wins in the two division heat races.Webb also finished second to Suzuki rider Jordon Smith in the Supermini Thru 16 class today.In the 30-Plus Pro class, KTM rider Mike Sleeter took the first-moto in the wind yesterday over Honda riders Mark Tilley and former Supercross and Motocross Champion Jeff Ward.