Havasu WORCS

We had a big group going out to Havasu with us since it was spring break.  At the last minute Brian found out that he could get a cheap flight to Vegas so he went with that option.  It was a smart move on his part since we had a rough trip going out.  Going over 152 we blew a nine inch hole in our radiator hose and were stranded on the side of the road at 4:00 on a Friday.  I got on the phone and G Man knew a guy who worked with Ford that had the hose that we could get after closing if we couldn't get one elsewhere.   I talked my suspension tuner, John Hlebo, to pick up the hose and bring it to us, so thank you John you saved us.  We have a blown head gasket on the van already so its not in the best of shape right now so we were just hoping to baby the van the rest of the way.  We did alright to about three in the morning when I was woken up and asked which way to go at the stop sign.  We went down 95 in California instead of Arizona so we turned 2 more hours of driving into six more and got to the Hotel where Mikey and Brian staying at 7:45 in the morning.  We took quick showers and went out to the track just in time to miss the 250 race.  I walked around and checked out the track and bumped into Mike Farmer the Maxxis man.  He has a pimp new rig and gave us a tour.  I was tired from only getting about 2 hours of sleep so I took an hour nap before the open race that both Brian and I were signed up for.  I thought it was going to be an easy race but most of the heavy hitters were in the race.  Lance Smail, Kurt Caselli, Destry Abbott, Dave Pearson, Bobby Bonds, Nathan Woods, Robert Naughton and more were all signed and ready to go.  The race in Havasu is set up on about 20 acres right on the lake.  It is notorious for being extremely rough and this year was no exception.  There is a little motocross section but most of the race takes place in the sandy fingers around the lake which get super rough. Since the race is held in an area without much land it runs back and fourth  on itself with lots of turns, small hills, short straits, and bumps.  We had to stand on the right side of the bike with the motor running for the start.  I got off to a decent start a couple of positions behind Brian.  From the beginning I didn't feel to well from a lack of sleep.  I put in some decent laps and got used to the course but got blurry eyed from heat stroke and had to pull off a couple of a laps from the end.  Brian had a good race and finished in third behind Nathan Woods and Tim Weigant.  A lot of the racers had problems from heat that was in the 90's and pulled off and saved themselves for the pro race.  It was an early night for all of us though some peoples view of early was when the sun came up.  

Twelve hour of sleep did wonders for my system so I felt ready to go for Sunday.  I had the starting spot second from the inside with Brian having a good spot a third of the way from the inside.  There was a dead engine start for the pro race and I got off to a good jump.  I rounded the first corner right about tenth with Brian a couple of guys ahead of me.  There was a furious pace for the first couple of laps.  Russ Pearson got the holeshot once again ahead of Ty Davis and Nathan Woods.  The three Yamaha riders held a small gap over Bobby Bonds, who himself had a opened a little lead over the rest of the pack.  A couple of laps in Ty Davis had to pit and fix his throttle putting him out of contention for the win.  I knew I had a long ride in front of me so I tried to not use up all my energy but still keep moving forward in position.  I had a good race going with Bryce Olsen for the early part of the race.  We were battling for about the 15th spot and he would pass me then fall and then I fell and he got around me.  We raced for about five laps then he pulled opened a gap on  me.  Brian had a good race going on with David Pearson and Destry Abbott.  They were at the tail end of the top ten.  I was holding up pretty well and felt good out on the track.  One of the neatest sections of the track was going along the shore of Lake Havasu for a couple hundred yards.  There were a good number of houseboats sitting off shore taking in the race action as part of their spring break activities.  Just after my pit stop my rear brakes when out on me.  I didn't take the time to stop to see what was the matter so I just rode it out without a rear brake.  I still passed a few people without breaks and wasn't losing too much time around the track without them.  A few minutes later Brian had a crash which resulted in him breaking his front brake line.  Between the two of us one would of had a good race and the other would of had a hard time stopping.  He had a few guys that weren't too far ahead of him that he lost the chance of catching.  Eric Ducray from Nor Cal motorsports was giving us a pit board and he had me making it up to 12th position.  I still was doing alright physically but was ready for the finish to come.  With two laps to go my bike ran out of gas.  I guess my floats must have been sticking because I still had a good amount of fuel left when G Man pitted me right after the halfway point.  I went up to the crowd and mooched some gas from a spectator.  Running up the hill to get gas took any energy left out of me.  Luckily someone else gave me some extra cold water while some gas was getting rounded up.  I was putting gas in my bike when a WORCS official rode up.  I knew I wasn't supposed to be putting gas in my bike outside of the pits but there was no way I was going to be able to push it more than three feet in the sand and heat so I had to do what I had to do.  When I got going again Brian was right behind me.  We rode the last lap together to finish off the race.  Nathan Woods was pinning it all day and won his first WORCS race.  Russ Peason finished in second and Robert Naughton did a good job making it back from injury with a spot on the box.  Lance Smail rode a consistent race for fourth with Kurt Caselli finishing fifth.  Kurt crashed on the first lap and was in last place.  He had a fast pace going the rest of the day and finished strong passing both Ty Davis and Bobby Bonds on the last lap.  Josh Weisenfels made the trip out from Arkansas worthwhile putting in a strong ride for eighth.  Brian was ninth and Bryce Olsen rounded out the top ten.  I did get docked a lap for gassing outside of the pits and was credited with 21st place. 

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