UP CLOSE AT THE HONEY LAKE WORCS RACE

By Steven Achey

Editor’s note: Our good friend at the WORCS series Steven Achey sent us this report from the Honey Lake round. He also attached in some great photos of the event. Enjoy!

Garrison, Brownie, Weigand and Soule controlled the first turn.

Check out Lanza! He’s been slammed into the first turn shrubbery

Honey Lake MX Park can arguably be described as one of the finest MXC racing venues in America. An excellent natural terrain MX course with huge elevation changes, off road sections, rock invested creek beds, a waterfall and two track jeep trails that don’t get square edged as much as they get square curbed. It is a two-hour torture fest that will make a rider work for every inch of ground they cover. So of course it is no wonder why it’s virtually everyone’s favorite stop on the WORCS tour. As if this wasn’t enough fun Larry Wosick and Sean Reddish decided to give everyone a treat and run the normal course in reverse for this round. Now every turn opened wide and closed tight and every rock exposed its razor edge to the riders. Nice, thanks guys…

As the gate dropped on the start, the 450’s roared up the nearly quarter mile long start straight hitting nearly 70mph before standing on the brakes to haul it down for the 90 degree turn. When it was over Bobby Garrison aboard his Hollister Honda CRF450 took the hole-shot and lead the pelaton off the mx track then plunged down the rocky creek bed. Garrison was under nearly immediate attack as he skimmed his bike across the razor sharp rocks and whoops from Muscle Milk/Shock Doctor/Factory KTM mounted Mike Brown.

Nose to tail: Soule, Dietrich and Huffman tip toe through the ugly Honey tipped hack

Brownie was looking to get his teeth into Garrison at every turn. Back and forth they went until Brownie made the pass to take the lead after 8 miles of battling. It was a Brownie lead that was short lived however as defending champion Bobby Bonds had missile lock on the now pumped up Brown and passed him for good on lap 3. Bondo took the bit in his teeth and never slowed as he blew out a huge lead and an “easy” win. Nathan Woods was also resurgent as he gained back momentum and his early season form by riding a super strong race on his favorite course. Woody took second on the day with his Factory Suzuki/FMF Off Road RMZ performing flawlessly. Tim Weigand continued to show his ability to navigate off road and was running a strong 3rd until he snagged a rock and completely ripped his chain guide and chain off of his JCR/American Honda CRF450. The mile push back to the pits with his bike effectively ended his day. Brownie took over third but had his hands full being locked in a 5 way battle for third with Teammate and recently engaged Justin Soule, Team Green OffRoad/Northland Motosports/Precision Concepts Taylor Robert and Monster Energy/Kawasaki mounted riders Ricky Dietrich and Damon Huffman.

Monsieur Bobby Bonds en route to his big win on Valli Honda on the smooth off-road loop.

When the music stopped Brownie nabbed the final podium spot 2 seconds ahead of Soule. Robert rounded out the top five in Pro 1. The Championship chase is nearly deadlocked between Dietrich and Brown with leading by one point. Bonds is in third 11 points back. However it would have been a 3 way tie at the top if not for a problem with Valli Motorsports and radio communication. Unfortunately not being aware of a rule doesn’t keep you on the right side of it and each of the Valli riders was penalized 10 points for the infraction by Team Management. Valli Motorsports has filled a request for review of the penalty and the results of that appeal will be known shortly.

Nathan Woods showed up with renewed vigor and new suspension on his RM-Z. It paid off with a strong second place finish.

Valli’s Kyle Summers in a dog fight on the Honey Lake moto track

Pro 2 racing continues to be a dogfight. Corey Floyd pushed his KX450 hard to finish in front for the third time this year. Floyd was challenged early by Factory Suzuki/FMF rider Jonathan Davis early but Davis spent a lot of the day going fast then crashing hard then repeating the process enough times to end up finishing 3rd on the day. Team Green Support rider Ryan Abbatoye rode strong and error free and carded a solid 2nd for his efforts.

Soule gapped Dietrich who struggled all day