Jean Turner | April 5, 2021
2021 2-Stroke MX World Championship Results: Robbie Wageman came to Glen Helen Raceway on April 4 with one thing on his mind—working vendor row selling jerky. He didn’t have a bike to race at the Wiseco 2-Stroke MX World Championship Hosted by Fasthouse… that was, until Josh Grant ran into a bit of bad luck. Grant had a hard crash in practice that ended his day before he was able to line up, leaving his #33 Twisted Development Yamaha with no rider. Wageman stepped in at the last minute, and before he knew it, found himself with a holeshot and race win. A second-place behind Trevor Stewart in the second moto was all Wagemen needed to wrap up the overall Open Pro win.
“Hopefully [Josh Grant] is okay. He took a little bit of a crash this morning and hopefully I made him proud and held down the fort good enough for him, getting the overall,” said Wageman.
Twisted Development reported via Instagram that Grant is okay. He collided with another rider on the track, and was carted off to the hospital where it was found he had six broken ribs and a punctured lung.
After Wageman asked if he could race JG’s bike, the team agreed and quickly scrambled to prepare Grant’s mangled Yamaha. “We went to town repairing cases with JB Weld and bars, pipes (left the bent subframe) and Wageman was able to roll one lap of practice,” the post read. Considering the horrible start to their day, the Twisted Development Racing team saw a sharp turnaround with each of their riders taking a moto win and getting on the overall podium.
“I got off to a great start both motos,” said Wageman. “The first one I led start to finish. The second one, Trevor Stewart was riding really good and he got around me. It was pretty much single file behind him with Dare DeMartile behind me for the rest of the race. All in all, it was a great day.”
Beta USA’s Dare DeMartile collected second overall with his 2-3 tally. DeMartile didn’t have much more prep-time on his Beta 300 RR than Wageman had on Josh Grant’s Yamaha, only spending a few days on it before heading to the 2-Stroke MX World Championship.
“It was my first-ever race and fourth time ever riding the Beta 300 RR. So it was for sure a learning experience,” said DeMartile. “I’ve been learning the motorcycle since I got it last week and I’m very impressed with it. I think it’s a great bike.”
While Stewart ran ahead in the second moto, DeMartile didn’t give Wageman much breathing room, hounding him throughout the race for second. But the Beta rider had to settle for third in the moto and runner-up in Open Pro.
“The second moto went really good,” said DeMartile. “Got a really good jump out of the gate, was about fourth on the first lap, made some moves, got into the third position behind Josh Mosiman. Trevor Stewart and ended up getting around Josh, he made a mistake, then Trevor got around me. Robbie was in second and I was in third, and that was basically how it went.
“Overall it was a great race. I wish I could have got a little up there next to Robbie and got the pass, but we played the cards we were dealt. We were good.”
Lap times revealed that Twisted Development rider Trevor Stewart was actually the quickest on the day. But a mistake in the first moto and having to claw his way back through the entire field to seventh left Stewart happy to simply make the overall podium.
“After the first moto I saw no other option besides winning,” said Stewart. “I was just so fired up. I felt like I had that first moto in the bag and just instantly went south, quickly. So, after that, we just put our heads down, and I charged back to seventh, which was very difficult from, like, 40th.
“Jamie Ellis at Twisted, who built my motorcycle for the day, said, ‘You’re the fastest guy out there the first moto. Your lap times proved it. Go do it the second moto.’ I just got a good start, picked a couple guys off, pretty quickly, and just sat behind Robbie. I ran out of tear-offs behind him and I knew I needed to make a pass. I had a really good line on him and just got by him and rode my own race.”
Stewart famously has his own unique style, which he demonstrated it in the second moto with an interesting line choice in the back section of the track. Rather than stepping onto a table and right into rough chop, Stewart found a smooth line through a wall ride. “That first time I did it, it was a mistake, but when you hit it right, it’s way faster,” said Stewart.
“The track really resembled the off-road scene, which obviously suited me very well. I was really happy, got to stand up, get in the groove how I like to. All smiles after there. I knew Robbie wouldn’t do anything too crazy because he had the win locked up, so I knew once I got by him, it was my own race.”
The 125cc division had its own share of Pro excitement, with Pasha Racing once again putting up purses for 125 Pro, 30+ 125 Pro and 50+ 125 Pro classes. Justin Hoeft swept the Pasha 125 Open Pro race, besting Brandon Ray and Josh Mosiman, who traded runner-up finishes. In the 30+ 125 Pro race, Sean Collier battled with Jeff Alessi for the overall win, with Collier taking the second-moto win and the overall. Third went to Jeff Loop.
In the 50+ 125 Pro class, it was another Doug Dubach/Kurt Nicoll battle. The two duked it out in the both motos, trading a little paint in the process, but in the end, the Brit bested the Doctor, with Nicoll collecting the overall win with a 1-1 score. Dubach finished 2-2 for second while Alan Jullien edged out Pete Murray in the second moto for third overall.
Jean Turner
Wiseco 2-Stroke MX World Championship Hosted by Fasthouse
San Bernardino, CA
Glen Helen Raceway
RESULTS (April 3-4, 2021)
Open Pro Overall:
1. |
Robbie Wageman |
(Yam) 1-2 |
2. |
Dare DeMartile |
(Bet) 2-3 |
3. |
Trevor Stewart |
(Yam) 7-1 |
4. |
Brandon Ray |
(Yam) 5-4 |
5. |
Griffin Dexter |
(Hus) 6-6 |
6. |
Jerry Robin |
(Yam) 3-9 |
7. |
Sean Collier |
(Yam) 9-5 |
8. |
Josh Mosiman |
(Hus) 4-10 |
9. |
Jason Potter |
(Hon) 8-8 |
10. |
RJ Wageman |
(Yam) 10-7 |