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WORCS Round 3 - Doug Eichner Outdoes Rest of Field
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Two Results
Factory Piloted Polaris New Outlaw ATV
run away with a second in the Stock A
Class with Jeff Bertuzzi at the controls. |
Last year this venue in Lake Havasu was the
opening round, this year it was slated as round
three. Now with the two rounds over and in the
history books, it is still anyone’s game. The
weekend started off with overcast and gloomy
weather, even though sun peaked out of the clouds here
and there for some short periods.
The temperatures started to drop toward the end
of the day making it very chilly for the last
three races. The last and final day was slightly
warmer but still with over cast skies. The
track was long and windy, and mostly one line. They had laid out the track by
the lake front where most of the boaters that
would pass by would drop anchor to sit and watch
the race.
This round the promoters thought they would
try something new and added the popular Yamaha
Rhino/Polaris Ranger to there own class. There
where quite a few of those machines spotted
roaming in the pits, some of them pretty tricked
out. Also spotted in Arizona where a handfull
of the new Suzuki LTR-450’s. There was only one
of the new Polaris Outlaw’s which was mounted
by the #52 Jeff Bertuzzi, who has one of the
only west coast factory rides. He finished
second in the Stock A Class on his bone stock
machine, even after throwing a chain midway
through the race. He has the current points lead
with two first place finishes in the first two
rounds. Looks like the new Polaris Outlaw with its
innovative sport quad independent rear
suspension maybe the force to be reckoned with.
Racing in a class full of YFZ’s and LTR’s we are
sure Polaris is happy with his results.
Duncan’s Doug Echiner charging hard in
the Pro Production class on Saturday
morning. |
Pro Production
As the pros lined up for their first race of the
weekend, the field was
thinner than normal. We found
out that Josh Frederick was down in México and
racing the San Felipe 250 on a Bombardier
Outlander 800 along with team mate Greg Row.
Josh was trying to get back up to the states,
but could not get a flight on such short notice.
He was trying to make it for the Utility race
later in the day. Team Temecula Motorsports of
Mike Cafro and Levi Marana another of the WORCS
regulars, where also down in Mexico racing the
SCORE series as well. Then the new up and coming
rider Logan Holiday was no where to be found. He
was in third place in the Pro Class prior to
this third round. Holiday being only 16 has
lots of time to refine his skills, but with a
start to the season like he has had, this is a
must watch young rider.
Doug Echiner took the early lead and made
quick work of the field with a sizeable lead and
taking home the finish. #47 Honda mounted Zack
Herrera made his best showing of the season
after just turning pro this year. David Lindsay
would round out the top three in the class and
now is second in points. Colorado native John Angel
finished fifth for the day, John also runs the
World Famous Pikes Peak race on an ATV.
Open Pro
For the sixth race of the day, Doug Echiner
out on a brand new Duncan racing machine was
trying to
work out any bugs. He would make a couple laps
and pull off the track, not with any sort of
problems; he was just conserving his energy for
Sunday's race. Josh Frederick never made it
for the utility class race and still was nowhere
to be found at the start of the open pro class
race. Brandon Brown aboard his #2 TRX450R was
out front in the lead followed by Justin Zembo
in second and Joe Rarey in third. Shortly after
Doug pulled of the track guess who pulled on,
Josh.
Josh Frederick had just arrived and geared up to
sneak in a couple of laps on his brand new
450R as well. His new Golden West Fourtrax
450R was running great, as he would finish the race
but since he didn't start the race, he'll receive a DNF. He would go on to race
the team race later that evening just to get a
little more seat time on the new machine. John
Shafe finished fourth his best finish for the
weekend aboard a Honda as well.
TESTING, TESTING, 1,2,3 – The promoter
figured they would add a rhino race to
see how it goes. If all goes well they
will be added to the whole series. |
Rhino Independent
This was a new experimental class where the
Yamaha Rhino and Polaris Rangers have a place to
display they are not all show with no go. Former
Jet Ski World Champ Chris “Flyin Fish” Fischetti
was on hand and racing his very own rhino. #1701
of Brian Murphy took the lead and ran up front
for most of the race. Fischetti caught up to him
and mixed it up a little, but Murphy would
prevail and take home the win. Not only did he
finish the race in first, but he also took home
$100 bonus. Mike farmer from Maxxis Tires put up
$100 for the Rhino that won the race displaying
a Maxxis decal on there machine. Thanks to Mike
and Maxxis Tire for supporting the sport!
Pro Class
As the gate dropped the rider’s battle down
to the first turn aiming for the holeshot and
the roost free lead. Unfortunately this start
was short lived as three or four riders
got together and came off the track in the first
turn nearly taking out a row of photographers.
This including myself, everyone stopped shooting
and ran! It looked like Doug Echiner was going
to take the holeshot, but he was one of the few
that was taken off the track. Nick Hengtgen
grabs the holeshot award money from Hyper Wheels
and lead the pack, only to be hunted down a
quarter way through the first lap by Frederick.
Doug being mixed up in the may lay at the start put
him pretty far back in the pack. Echiner was
making fast work of the field; he was in fourth
place by the end of the first lap and was
gaining quickly on Frederick. By the beginning
of the second lap Doug had worked his way up to
second and closing in on the lead. Not only
where Josh and Doug both pulling away from the
pack at a much quicker pace, they both where
establishing a major lead from the pack.
Fresh off his ride in Mexico Josh
Frederick would just
make it in time to catch the last few
laps of the Open
Pro Race and had a bit of bad luck in
the Pro Race on Sunday. |
Pikes peak race John Angel now
racing WORCS series Pro Class. |
Doug finally closed in on Josh within
two ATV lengths. As they came into the
pits, Josh would have a small incident in the
pits. In all the mix up, Doug came out of the
pits first and as he came around the infield motocross section
and look back into the pits to see Josh still
there. Josh was having some motor issues and
was trying to refill some fluids to get back in
the race. Josh wouldn’t make it more than a
couple turns away before the engine finally let
go completely. Fellow racer David Lindsay would
help Josh push his ATV back to the pits where
they would once again try and get his machine
back out on the track. Frederick would finally
have to throw in the towel once they found the
engine was blown. So they pushed the machine to
the finish to salvage some points. Coming into
this round Josh was in the point’s lead, after
this little mishap he will now be in second
place in point’s.
Zack Herrera having a great weekend would
finish second in the Pro Class even though he
was 5 minutes off the lead. Robbie Mitchell
rounded out he top three podium spots for the
day. John Shafe finished sixth even after
loosing one side of his nerf bars, holding off
the other thirteen other riders with one foot
peg.
It was defiantly a great weekend of racing and
the next race will be in April at Racetown 395
in Victorville, CA. It should be more great
racing from the fastest racer on earth.
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Two Results
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