WORC's at Glen Helen

The first race of the year is this weekend at Glen Helen Raceway.  It is a new series called the World Off Road Championships, or WORC's series.  All of the top off road riders in the nation, even the world will be there.  The competition will be stiff with at least 40 very fast off road riders trying to win the $5000 for first place.  The race format is similar to the GP series with different races for different size bikes and age groups.  Brian and I are going to race the 250 race on Saturday to learn the track and then race to featured race on Sunday. 

We traveled down south to go to Thursday open practice at Glen Helen to get an idea of the track and the surrounding area.  The motocross track was really rough and had big kickers on the jumps.  It helped a lot to ride the track and get the hang of a motocross track again.  For the race we are supposed to be using Mt. St. Helens and have about a four to five mile track.  I hope the water truck can get to most of it because Southern California hasn't seen rain yet this year.

On Saturday there was a bunch of races scheduled.  Not many people were there to race the unclassified race and local d-36 racer, Craig Wesner took the win.  Steve Hatch won the combined 125 and four-stroke race.  Brian and I both signed up to race the combined 250 and open race.  There were about fifty people lined up on the expert line alone.  For the start they had us put one hand on our head with a live engine and when the flag dropped we would go.  Brian was star gazing or looking for a ten second count because when the banner dropped he wasn't ready.  I got off the line good and my new KTM 250 MXC took off like a rocket.  The only one to pull me down the start strait was Shane Esponito on his KX 500.  By the end of the moto section I was in fourth with Destry Abbott and Chuck Woodford getting by me.  We went up in the hills after the start it was unbelievably dusty.  I fell over in a dusty rut about two miles into the race, picked my bike up and still didn't hear the bike behind me.  At the end of the lap Larry Roeseler caught me and snuck past me in the scoring barrels.  I got by Woodford and knew I had to pass LR on the moto section so I could see for the rest of the lap so I pinned it off of a fast drop off and squeezed by on the inside.  At this point my forearms were completely pumped up and I couldn't charge like I wanted.  Brian was picking his way through traffic and was right behind LR and I in fifth place.  The next rider to challenge was a Sweedish rider who was sixth in class in the Six Days.  He passed me but ran out of gas on the last lap.  Brian and LR passed each other a couple of times in the final two laps.  Shane Esponito took the win with Destry second.  I was third with LR edging Brian out for fourth.  

After a good day of racing it was time to pack up and head off to Supercross.  I have been to the first Supercross for about the last five years and it's fun to see the top dogs go for it after the off season with everyone refreshed and hungry again.

True to expectations everyone showed up to the first round for the World Off Road Championships.  There were the Suzuki, Kawi, and Dunlop semi's along with countless box vans.  I think there were sixty five riders signed up for the big pro race.  To choose starting positions the organizers decided to base the starting spots on the way people signed up.  Brian and I were pissed about this because we had no idea this was going to happen and it didn't seem very fair at all.  It was a huge disadvantage having to start in the second row with so many fast riders and the dust.  We knew that we would be crawling through the dust at a snail pace while the top riders would be full out and we just wouldn't be able to catch them, so we were unhappy.  We used the start gate and had a live engine start.  I almost ran over the two Yamaha's of Jason Raines and Kurt Caselli who started in front of me and was stuck in midpack.  Brian was worse off than me and fell in the first turn.  Brian was going for it right off the bat making lots of passed early and was right on my tail  midway though the first lap.  I heard a bike screaming and Brian flew passed me wide open just going for it.  He had his fuel vent come off and I got back by him by the finish barrels where we finished the first lap about twenty fifth through thirtieth place.  (Side note.  How come with sixty top riders Brian and I always end up right together?  In every race we do we end up racing each other.)  On the second lap I was going up the dusty fireroad in blind dust about two miles per hour and I ran into a fallen bike that I couldn't see even when I was right on top of it the dust was so blinding.  Brian got by me right there.  On the second lap we also ran the downhill which was a steep hill with a couple of turns in it if you overshot you would be way down in the bushes and the bushes were definitely full of people that lap.  I think I ran over three bikes this time down the hill but made it down the hill without much problem.  Brian and I charged as hard as we could both getting around a couple of riders a lap. Out front Shane Watts was dragged back to the states from down under for this race and was in his usual spot out front pulling away and making it look easy.  Mike Kiedrowski, Rodny Smith, Shane Esponito were all in tow trying to keep the pace up.  Right behind them Destry Abbott and Ty Davis were having a good battle with Ty taking Destry out right in front of most of the spectators.  Brian and I kept working our working our way forward and then pitting about an hour into the race where Jeremy Immel and Scott McEnpsy got our IMS drybrakes full and us back on course in no longer than ten seconds.  About three quarters of the way through the race I caught up to Brian again and used my slightly taller gearing to pass him.  I kept my head down and kept moving passed other riders and thought the race was lasting longer than expected so I looked down at my clear tank and noticed I was almost out of gas again.  I stopped for a quick splash of gas and finished out the last two laps.  Brian didn't stop and ran out of gas with about a quarter mile left in the race.  I heard he ran out so I brought a can out and gave him some gas.  Shane Watts took the win and the five grand that went with it.  Mike Kiedrowski was second with Rodney Smith taking the final podium spot.  Ty Davis was fourth, Destry Abbott fifth, then Kurt Caselli, Russ Pearson, Steve Hatch, I finished in ninth, with Gordon Ward rounding out the top ten.  Brian was in eleventh but with running out of gas dropped him to 19th.  

The weekend and the series was a success. I am glad we have a good series on the west coast now because I feel way more comfortable racing out here than on the other side of the Mississippi and now the traveling will be easier for everyone.

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