MILLVILLE, NJ

The Moto Liberty/RS Taichi 250 GP race got under way in the middle of a warm and humid 86-degree day, with a grid of 17 racers. The pollen was so thick that many racers claimed to see yellow rooster-tails coming off the other competitors' rear wheels. But amorous plants would not stop AMA regular Barrett Long, who came from Miami to race his TZ against the best GP racers in the country. He qualified on pole with a 1:28.2 - nearly three seconds faster than the next-closest competitor, Ben Young. As the green flag flew, so did Mike Aboyoun, from the second row. Aboyoun had a five-bikelength lead going into turn one, and he put his head down to try to break away early.

As the pack came around to complete the first lap, the order was Aboyoun, Long, Cassidy Heiser, Young and Bill Himmelsbach. Long was tired of following Aboyoun, so he made a clean pass into turn one. Aboyoun tried hard to stick with Long and set lap times that were more than four seconds faster than his qualifying times. Unfortunately, his superb riding couldn't match that of Long, and he had to watch as Long continued to pull away, ultimately winning by seven seconds over Aboyoun. Long also set a new 250 GP track-record lap time of 1:28.042. Heiser had a lonely but strong race en route to finishing third, ahead of Young and Himmelsbach. The two racers were locked to each other, nose to tail, the entire nine laps, with Young just beating Himmelsbach to the line by less than half a second.

Nobi Iso (above, left) propelled his Aprilia RS125 into turn one, ahead of nearly 30 other GP bikes in the Pilot 125 GP event. His teammate Jake Lewis (above, center) tucked in behind him, and the two racers started to gap the field in a display of racing finesse that can only be described as "inspired." Halfway through the 10-lap sprint, Lewis passed Iso for the lead, but he couldn't break away. On the penultimate lap, Iso made his move and seemed to have the race in the bag. But on the last lap, Lewis threw down a new 125 GP lap record time of 1:28.70. He made a bold pass on Iso in the back section and then held on for his second win of the season. Team FOGI Racing's Nick Hansen (above, right, and below, 97, battling with Nick McFadden, 195) rode a solid race a few seconds back from the front-runners and brought it home for his first podium finish of the season. Stefano Mesa turned in a great run as well and claimed critical National Championship points for his fourth-place finish.

One of the best races of the weekend was for fifth place, as Long, Joe Roberts and Erik Dadej went toe to toe to toe all race long. Long and Dadej brought many years of experience to bear on the battle, but young Roberts brought a superior power-to-weight ratio combined with some excellent riding skills. The three racers swapped position numerous times per lap, but in the end, Roberts rode his Celtic Racing Honda RS125 like a champion and held off Dadej and Long.

Results

125 GP: 1. Jake Lewis (Aprilia); 2. Nobi Iso (Aprilia); 3. Nicholas Hansen (Honda); 4. Stefano Mesa (Honda); 5. Joe Roberts (Honda).

250 GP: 1. Barrett Long (Yamaha); 2. Mike Aboyoun (Honda); 3. Cassidy Heiser (Yamaha); 4. Ben Young (Yamaha); 5. Bill Himmelsbach (Yamaha).

MD250H: 1. Stefano Mesa (Moto Morini); 2. Nick McFadden (Moto Morini); 3. Max Flinders (Moto Morini); 4. E. Orozco (Moto Morini); 5. Xavier Zayat (Moto Morini).

MOTO3: 1. Jake Lewis (Aprilia); 2. Nobi Iso (Aprilia); 3. Nicholas Hansen (Honda); 4. Nick McFadden (Moto Morini); 5. Eric Frazier (Honda).