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Honey Lake This weekend we were scheduled to fly out to the ISDE but with Brian hot in the points battle we made our own flight arrangements in order to race Honey Lake. Nate "Dog" Kinney flew out from New York to do the race since he had a chance to win the semi pro class, which would reward the class winner with a hopped up KX 110. We made the five hour drive and then stayed at our friend Mike Barenback's house in Reno. Saturday we drove out to the racetrack to race the 250 race which started at 1:00. Right off the line, Brian Spearle, who started next to me swapped into the side of my bike causing me to let off, resulting in a bad start. Scott Sheak had the holeshot ahead of Craig Wesner and Destry Abbott. Sheak immediately got a flat tire which dropped him out of the race. The track consisted of half the motocross track, then went down a rocky creek bed for a quarter mile, crossed below the start gate, took a right and up a fireroad and reentered the motocross track backwards before the big uphill and stayed on the motocross track for the rest of the lap. Brian didn't get too good of a start either and was behind me for a while but he was riding aggressively early on and made some passes. The race may have been a motocross track for the most part, but it sure is a fun natural terrain track. It was also developing some big bumps ensuring the pro race the next day would be rough. Destry pulled off of the course to do some adjusting to the bike leaving Craig Wesner alone out front to take the win, with Brian Brown and Brian G in tow. I don't know what place I finished in but was feeling ready for Sunday's pro race. After the race we did some race prep on the bikes then drove down to Reno and gave them a wash job. With the track being so short and mostly the motocross the WORCS crew watered the entire track, even the rocky creek bed. Eric DuCray and his wife Susan showed up to watch the race and volunteered to pit for us. We were given a parade lap to inspect the course, which was the same as the day before. I got a great jump off the line when the gate dropped and was right at the front until the four strokes hit fourth gear and pulled slightly ahead. I ended up with a top ten start and tried my best to put in some fast laps right away and not let too many people by. About two laps in Brian and Spearle caught and passed me. I stayed with them for a bit but they were riding harder and they put a gap on me. I knew people were going to get tired so I kept pushing on. About an hour into the race I caught back up to Spearle whom I battled with for the rest of the day along with Dax Billings. Just over an hour into the race, when I was pitting for fuel, Ty Davis lapped me. Hot on his tail were Nathan Woods and Lance Smail. At this type of event where a large percentage of the course is a motocross those guys really show some speed. I kept going back and fourth with Spearle. When one of us would make a mistake or give into fatigue for a section the other one would get by. Russ Pearson was the man on the move, having crashed on the second lap he was making up positions late in the race. Nathan Woods was hounding Ty until Nathan crashed in the rocky creek giving Ty a good lead on Russ who had made his way into second. When the two lap board came out I made a final push to get around Spearle but ended up right on his rear tire. Ty Davis took yet another win in the WORCS series and now has the overall championship wrapped up. Russ Pearson charged his way into second with Lance Smail taking the final spot on the podium. Scott Sheak was fourth with Robert Naughton fith and Nathan Woods recovered for sixth. Desty Abbott was the next rider in seventh, then Brian Brown, Brian, Ben Hale, Dax Billings, Brian Spearle, then myself. It was a fun event but for an off road race it would have been nice to have a little bit of off road in it. We are now off to the ISDE, our plane leaves Monday at noon. |