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Lake Havasu WORCS The race at Lake Havasu was right downtown on the Island across the London Bridge. They managed to get a 3 mile course in that had a motocross section, then some sandy rough sections. The format change for qualifying, with a new pro qualifier being added to have the gate picks determined. The top ten in points would already have their spot in the main and could ride a race on Saturday if they wished. In my qualifier my 250 SX got me off to a great start right along with Kurt Casselli and Nathan Woods. The course was already extremely rough with some section having whoops that were three feet deep. There was a section coming back on to the motocross section that was particularly bad containing lots of big whoops and square edge bumps. I was pumped up right away and just tried to get a feel of the course during the four lap qualifier. Overnight rains left the course muddy on the top motocross section but it was perfect down in the sandy section. The WORCS crew also did some course prep that improved the course significantly for the race. On the start I got off to a good jump but rubbed with Casselli going down the start straight. In the process my goggles got caught on the side of my helmet right as we hit this big mud puddle. I got splashed and couldn't see anything but brown and was in the middle of a pack of fifty guys headed for a little double jump. I pulled my tear-off but it didn't do a thing. I tugged on my Smith roll-offs but that didn't do anything either. I seemed to have had my inside of my goggles covered with a coat of mud. I didn't want to take my goggles off so early with so many people around so I basically went slow and got passed. Nathan Woods got the holeshot ahead of Russ Pearson and Lance Smail. They had a fast pace going, a lot like a pro moto pace for a 30 minute moto. Brian had an alright start and was in the mix with the green bikes of Daivid Pearson, Brian Brown, and Destry Abbott. After the first lap I came in and changed my goggles and pulled back out on the course in last place. I got into a steady pace and worked on moving up through the pack. With such a short course it wasn't long before the leaders were coming around me. Nathan Woods was flying, charging hard through all of the whoops. Lance Smail was next followed by Ty who was shadowed by Russ. As soon as Russ passed me he launched off a bump and got crossed up. When he landed he swapped and high sided right in front of me. It was a big crash but he didn't land all that bad, he hit on his back first and rolled a couple of times and jumped up on his feet. A couple of laps later he came motoring by me again. Russ has been on a tear this year and riding as well as anyone. Brian was having fun ringing out the 200 and had settled down behing David Pearson and Destry, and in front of Brian Brown. About an hour into the race Nathan Woods began to tire and had to slow his pace letting Lance Smail open up a lead. It looked like Lance was going to win but with a couple of laps left he tangled with a lapper and couldn't get his bike started. Ty came around and was stoked to inherit the lead. It took Lance a couple of minutes and all of his energy to get his bike going and he rejoined the race in fourth place. Ty circulated the track a couple more times to take the win and increase his points lead. Nathan Woods held on for second, then Russ Pearson and Lance Smail. Destry Abbot led the next pack of riders followed by David Pearson, Brian, Robert Naughton, and Brian Brown. I worked my way up to 15th on the day and got some good race training in.
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