Ryan Hughes has some serious speed. He easily won the pro class at Glen Helen over Mike Sleeter and Doug Dubach.
This past weekend the 2010 MTA World Vet Championships took place at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California and what a great event! People from all over the world visited Glen Helen for a fun dirt bike racing weekend.
The event is open to all riders regardless of gender or skill level with the only requirement being that you’re over 30 years old. Having never been to previous years’ events I was surprised by just how many people showed up to race. Though, I heard that attendance was off a bit according to guys that have raced the last few years. Regardless, most of the classes had lots of racers in them and it wasn’t too difficult to roll through the pits. There were riders from all over the U.S. and a bunch of folks from Mexico and Europe - it was really cool to see. Gates in each race were pretty full with some classes having upwards of 40 racers in it. The track itself was totally awesome - fast, rough and tons of ruts just the way I like it.
In the Pro class Ryan Hughes ended up stopping everyone, including even KTM’s test rider, Mike Sleeter, and Doug Dubach who are no slouches. It was crazy to watch Hughes ride and see how insanely fast he is for a guy in his late 30s with him basically appearing like he was riding around Glen Helen pinned pretty much the entire time (except for the last third of the downhills). If you’re looking for the full race results from Saturday and Sunday make sure to check out the
Glen Helen Raceway Online Results.
There were a lot of interesting people from all walks of life at the race but one person who really caught my attention was a dude by the name of Aaron Hill. Aaron got paralyzed (T5) a few years ago while riding his motocross bike. Crazy thing is he didn’t do any wild jump or anything, just washed out the front tire in a corner and went over the handlebar. It’s scary to think that breaking your spine can be that easy, but it is.
Aaron Hill from Denver, Colorado uses a modified 2010 Yamaha YZ450F to continue riding even after being injured in an motocross crash.
Anyway, he was out at Glen Helen with all of his friends from the Mile High city of Denver, CO riding a modified 2010 Yamaha YZ450F. Hill works as a machinist so with some basic assistance from Ricky James (another paraplegic rider) he was able to rig a special seat and hand controls that allow him to ride the bike. How cool is that? While he didn’t race Saturday or Sunday he did get some laps in during Friday practice. It was really inspiring to see someone who has been able to pick up the pieces after an accident like that and continue doing the things he enjoyed before. Pleasure meeting you, Aaron!
Okay that’s it for now. Check out some of the photos from the event and stay tuned for our upcoming project bike feature from Sunday’s race where we competed aboard our
Yoshimura Yamaha YZ450F Project Bike.
