Washougal WORC'S

Upon arriving at Washougal for the KTM sponsored World Off Road Championships we were stoked to see how cool the motocross track was.  The track runs up and down the mountainside lined with big trees and it was wide,  fast and looked like fun.  We have ridden five of the National Motocross tracks and Washougal looked like the best one.  We spent a couple hours on Friday mounting mousses in our Maxxis Tires and were ready to race.  My friend Mikey from Topspeed came up to do filming for Motoworld and we met him out at the track.  

The next day we got there early so he could do filming while Brian and I waited around since we were only racing the team race which was in the afternoon.  The conditions were perfect with the rain holding off and we couldn't wait to ride.  Brian went first in the team race but didn't get too good of a start rounding the first turn about sixth position.  Meanwhile the Pearsons, who are our brother rivalry, had gotten the holeshot and since they had raced earlier in the day were making time on us early.  When Brian came back to the motocross track I saw he had moved up to fourth and was going to make a pass on the rider in third but they came together in a corner and fell over.  Brian tagged off to me and I took to the track for the first time on the weekend.  First of all the motocross track is how a track is supposed to be with a fast natural layout.  There was a grasstrack section that was also laid out perfectly.  This race is going to be the most woodsy of any of the WORC's races and when we got into the trees it looked almost like a GNCC with a bunch of tight twisty corners but it wasn't all quaded out.  I liked the track and about my third lap started to feel pretty good on it.  The team race is a good way to learn the track by having a break after every lap.  We get a chance to think about areas that we can improve on and the next lap work on that area of the track.  We were never  able to catch the Pearsons who took the win but we crossed the finish in an easy second with local riders Erik Koeler and Erik DuCray finishing in third.  

On Sunday rain was on the forecast and Brian and I were hoping it would rain for the race.  43 of the top west coast pros were in attendance and ready to race.  We have a parade lap an hour before our race where we get a chance to see any changes made to the course and check out the pro only section.  Overnight the promoters had gone over a couple of spots that were getting rutted up and choppy and fixed them doing just the right amount of work and doing overall a great job with the course.  We got our starting picks according to our last race finish and I took the spot three gates to the outside of the starting box.  Brian was just to the inside of the box.  They dropped the gate a couple of times for us to see how it worked.  The was raised electrically and when they pushed the button to drop it it actually went up for a second before it dropped.  We fired up our biked and were ready to go.  When the gate went up that little bit I dropped the clutch and got a great jump off the line.  I was up with the front of the pack but being a little on the outside I got pushed wide on the front corner.  I came out about fifth but went to the inside on the next corner before horsepower hill right behind Mike Kiedrowski who had control of the inside of the corner.  He washed out in the corner and fell and I had just grabbed a handful getting a run at the hill and ran into the side of him.  Brian decided to join in the fun and said he ran over me along with about half of the pack.  I got up second to last and was pissed that I ruined my good start.  I made it to the top of the hill where we left the motocross track and saw most of the field in a bottleneck.  I guess Russ Pearson and another rider collided stopping the field in its tracks.  Brian was battling through it taking advantage of any openings.  I instinctually turned up the side of the bank and shot around the bottlenek passing at least half of the field in the process.  Brian got out of the bottleneck right behind me.  We freight trained for the first couple laps blowing by a bunch of riders moving into the top ten.  About the fifth lap Brian passed me up the pro only rocky hill in a better line that I switched to after that.  Mike Kiedrowski had caught us and we had a good race going with him.  He was right behind me going into the motocross section and I tried to hold him off but he ended up passing me around a corner on the moto track.  Brian led the three of us into the woods and about half way through I stalled my bike in a corner and dropped back a couple of seconds.  Brian pitted on the next lap but I waited one more lap.  I didn't have my IMS dry brake system due to a problem with the airline so I had one of the old dump tanks.  I took a good amount of time pitting letting Brian get away from me and Scott Myers and Kurt Caselli got back by me.  I got around Myers and made a pass on Caselli on the grasstrack but on the next straight he went into desert mode and held it wide open to he got passed me.  We went into the trees and I got back by him on the Pro only uphill using the line that Brain showed me.  Shortly after I noticed that there was a bike still right behind me and I saw it was Russ Pearson.  We raced for a couple of laps but he got around me in the woods on the inside of a corner and I stayed close until the end.  Brian was giving Mike Kiedrowski all he had and got a good break when Mike stalled his bike giving Brian some breathing room.  Brian charged to the end hoping to catch someone else.  Destry Abbott was the big winner on the day.  He has been riding great lately and definitely deserved the win.  He had a great battle with friend and training partner Steve Hatch who rode to second place.  Rodney Smith finished in third, Brian in fourth, and Kiedrowski rounded out the top five.  Russ Pearson finished in sixth, I was seventh, Kurt Caselli eighth, Scott Myers ninth, and Shane Watts was tenth.  Shane crashed super hard on the first lap with another rider and bent the bolts attaching his bar clamps to the triple clamps.  He was near the pits so he pulled in and taped up his suspected broken left thumb and continued to race from far behind the rest of the pack.  Shane rode like the champ that he is for the rest of the day making it into the top ten with a bent bike and broken hand.  For all of you that like killer motocross tracks, awesome grasstracks, fun trails, and perfect traction I suggest you make the trip to Washington next year for the KTM Washougal World Off Road Championships.

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