Barona Oaks, CA August 30, 2003

Mike Storm is a lever braking fool!!

TBR's 2nd Annual Mini 4-Stroke Challenge had some of the best mini riders in the country racing for top honors and bragging rights. Fast50s newest team rider Mike Storm from Beaverton, Oregon had all the boys talking after moto 1. Storm pulled a huge holeshot in moto 1 followed by Johner Faulkner, Josh West and the ever speedy Joel Albrecht with the top five being rounded out by jet ski racer Victor Sheldon.

Storm went nuts for about 2 laps to get away from the pack of hungry riders behind him. Storm pulled a pretty good lead and kept the distance between him and second place to finish moto 1 in 1st with 2nd going to Faulkner and we saw Albrecht make a last lap pass on Josh West to round out the top three with West 4th and Sheldon fifth. Moto 2 looked to be a repeat of Moto 1 with the holeshot again going to Fast50s rider Mike Storm on his St. Johns Honda, 4x racing, Fast50s backed #27 bike.

Faulkner again started in 2nd place with Albrecht 3rd and West 4th. Storm and Faulkner looked to have the starting of a epic battle going with Faulkner taking advantage of a small mistake by Storm to slid by for the lead on lap 2. Storm crashed while trying to get back in the lead by jumping a single jump into a right hander landed on the ground sideways on the heavily over-watered Barona Oaks track.

Unfortunately when he fell he broke his favorite pile "cr" style throttle. with cast brake perch. Faulkner picked up where Storm left off and Storm ended up having to pick himself off the ground with his front brake lever left gone. Storm was still in 2nd place but he had his work cut out for him with the speed of the guys coming up on him with both sets of brakes working well. Albrecht was the first to strike on Storm as Storm stalled his engine a few times trying to slide through the turns on some of the crazy downhills.

By the end of Moto #2 Faulkner made it clear that being consistent is always smart, with Albrecht taking 2nd place honors with Josh West filling the final spot on the podium followed by Victor Sheldon and Storm. "I was having a heck of a time even finishing the moto with no front brake! ...I know I should be running our billet throttle with the billet perch and I would not have had to worry about that broken cast piece of junk!! Anyway I had a waay cool time and loved kicking some butt in moto 1, There's more of that coming for sure!!" said Storm after the 2nd moto.

Results xr50 Pro Class:

1st Johner Falkner 
2nd Joel Albrecht 
3rd Mike Storm Fast50s
4th Josh West
5th Victor Sheldon