Race report for WORCS Round 2

Ya the whoops were deep

Who knew what evil lurked in the Virgin River Basin? The Nevada boomtown of Mesquite was the crimescene to a day of carnage on the 2008 WORCS tour.  What happened?  Well can you say sand whoops? Not once, but twice?  Deeper than they are long and longer than they are deep. It really didn’t matter as they were simply brutal. A case could be made that they should have been charged with felony assault.  Round one sensation, CCR’s Bobby Bonds is sporting a possible broken hand obtained when he cartwheeled his KX450 on a vicious river bottom straightaway. ZipTy Racing/Accelerade/Malcom Smith Motorsports rider Chris Johnson took a dirt nap after a 5th gear endo on lap 4. That nasty get off promptly ended what was looking to be an inspired ride by the youngster. However the biggest name to go down was two time WORCS champion and the most prolific rider in WORCS history US Suzuki/FMF Offroad pilot Nathan Woods. Woods crashed and burned in a hard spill and has apparently injured his collarbone. The extent of the damage is unknown, but word around the Suzuki tent expressed that the news was not good…  So while the Sheriff of WORCSville Sean Reddish looks into filing assault charges here’s how the rest of the race went.

Bobby Garrison dominated

It was a break out race for ZipTy Racing/Accelerade/Factory Yamaha rider Bobby Garrison. Hampered by mistakes and crashes in round one, Bobby G. was right back on top of things as he controlled most of the two hour race from the front of the pack.  It was very nearly a wire to wire win for Garrison, but KTM RPM Racing Kyle Summers put up a fight and grabbed the $500 dollar Cal Guard hole-shot check and embraced the glory of being in the front of the pack for the first few miles.  It was however a lead that was to be short lived, as Garrison seized the opportunity to pull away from his competitors and took the lead away from Summers. Defending WORCS champion Kurt Caselli who did not pull the greatest of start’s proved his speed and demonstrated why he is the defending champ as he put on a myriad of passes on his competitors and raced his way back to a second place finish, to the great pleasure of his Factory KTM/Red Bull team.

Justin Soule on a nice smooth track

Broken bodies weren’t the only challenge presented by the Mesquite course, bike problems also claimed many riders this weekend. Among them WORCS heavyweights Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Damon Huffman and Destry Abbott. Both fell victim to the nasty sand when their motors blew up while both where running in strong positions.  However every cloud has a silver lining and for the boys in green it was their young and talented rider Ricky Dietrich, who was able to shadow Kurt’s every move for over an hour as he worked his way through the pack chasing Captain Kurt. Dietrich eventually would round out the podium, joining Caselli Garrison on the box.

Ricky D airs the table
 
Stock up on the sunscreen as Round 3 of the WORCS returns to the beach in Lake Havasu Arizona.  Be there!

Finally, the WORSC crew extends a special thanks to Robby Bell for testing the strength of the cattle fencing. Robby discovered it was definitely strong enough to stop a speeding CRF450 but low enough that a rider can sail right over it.  Thanks number 3.

Mike Metzger-Hey did you see my backflip

Kyle Summers- 4th overall

 

Justin Soule digging in
 

 

Bobby G shows his finish line style