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Honey Lake WORCS We finally got our first rain in Cali on the way up to the race north of Reno at the Honey Lake Motocross track. We have heard about this track for the last year or so and have been looking forward to finally get to ride it. Rain was in the forecast for the entire weekend so Brian was hoping to put his mud riding skills to good use, and having the KTM 300 Brian was looking to get a good start for once. On Saturday the weather was good for most of the day. Brian was going to race the 250 race at the end of the day so we were just hanging around getting things ready when a big gust of wind blew our canopy and folded it in half over the box van. It happened so fast no one had time to move, and furthermore we had used the stakes to tie it down along with some tie downs. Needless to say within a couple minutes everyone else in pit row had disassembled their canopies. When the rains finally started it was just about time for Brian to race. He got a good start and was about in fourth spot. He followed someone we didn't know for a couple laps before getting past him and into the lead. The track was still in great condition even though it was raining, with the loamy dirt soaking up the first rains of the season. Brian held onto the win and we did a quick load up and headed for warmer temperatures back at the motel. Sunday gave us some off and on rain and it got a little colder with the snow level dropping down to a couple hundred feet above the race track. All the top pros were getting ready for the mud by putting on big handguards and waterproofing their bikes. Ty Davis got the jump on the start and had a big holeshot going but swapped in some rolling whoops at the end of the first straight. After the race he said he held on tight and hoped for the best knowing that a crash at that point would lead to him getting run over by the entire pack. Two riders did go down and that happened right in front of Brian who got a poor jump off the gate. Brian couldn't avoid the bikes and held on as a flipping motorcycle collided with him. Luckily he didn't go down but in the incident he broke his front fender which eventually fell off on the second lap. Not having a front fender in the mud is horrible as the mud flies off your front tire and lands right on your face. Brian rode around looking like a dog with fleas trying to shake the mud off his goggles and would have to change them often to keep the Smith Roll Offs fresh. Ty Davis was pinnin it out front and opened up a gap on the rest of the field. Kurt Caselli looked good and worked his way from fourth to second place after a couple laps, looking to run down Davis. Mike Kiedrowski, Rodney Smith, and Russ Pearson made the next group, with Brian making up many positions to establish himself in sixth. The riders spread out fast and pits stops were common. Halfway through the race Caselli caught up to Davis and moved into the lead when Davis came in for gas and took off his enduro jacket. Davis made his way back around Caselli on the next lap during Caselli's pit and opened up a lead once agian. Kiedrowski and Pearson had the best battle of the day going on swapping the third spot back and fourth for most of the day. Brian made his way into fifth and was close to the Kiedrowski-Pearson combo until his silencer broke off. He pulled off the track and made a change back at the truck. When he pulled back onto the course the race was so spread out he only lost a couple spots and quickly made his way back into fifth. Davis held onto his fourth win of the series ahead of Caselli, and Kiedrowski wrapped up his second consecutive WORCS championship with his third place finish. Russ Pearson was close behind for fourth, then Brian. After the race we found out that Brian was penalized for not changing his silencer in the pits and was penalized two laps dropping his down to 12th. |