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2009 WORCS RD 2
Racetown 395 in Adelanto, CA.
Mark Holtz in his custom built RZR out
front and clearing all the big jumps.
Railing the berm, Dustin Nelson was
looking strong all weekend on the new Yamaha
YFZ450R.
This is how close the battle was for
first place as Josh Creamer and Jeremie
Warina fought for the lead. |
Well, it was time for the second round of the
2009 season for the ATV WORCS racers. The first
round was a great kick off to the season, and
everyone was looking forward to round two. If
the weather holds up, this could prove to be
another great round. Just weeks prior California
was being drenched with rain. Weather reports
say the sun will be shining, but we all know how
accurate those reports are. As we arrived at the
track, it looked like the weather man was having
a decent week. The sun wasn’t exactly shining,
but no rain! It was slightly overcast and pretty
chilly in the early mornings. Of course, as the
day progressed, the sun would poke its head out
once in a while and warm things up.
This year the race schedule had changed, even a
few classes dropped--notably, the Pro Production
and Open Pro. Now the Pros all race one class
and just race Sunday. Saturday is reserved for
practice or for prepping your machine. Amateurs
have more races and class to run. To run or
qualify for the Pro-Am race, you need to run
Saturday’s Production A race. Personally,
I think this is an awesome new race format. It
makes the amateurs work harder. Then, it makes
the Pro race much more prestigious and forces
the amateurs to all race each other instead of
being broken up into three classes.
The hosting track was Racetown 395 located in
the Southern California Hi-Desert. This track
always seems to be very windy, and the course
dries out in minutes. Somehow the wind wasn’t
too bad this year, but the course was as dry as
ever. Rough and tough pretty much sums it up.
The motocross section wasn’t too bad, but once
you got out into the desert section, it was
ungroomed and rutted. On Saturday the log
sections were set up to where the pros were
jumping the entire first section. They would
just preload off the large truck tires and jump
over sections of logs. This all changed for
Sunday’s races where it was a little more
difficult because the logs were moved farther
out.
Also on Saturday we got a sneak peak at who
would be racing on Sunday’s Pro race. Team
Kawasaki’s Josh Creamer showed up for some
practice, minus his teammate Chad Wienen.
Another Kawasaki rider to show up and race WORCS
was Russell Shoemaker, the Wisconsin native that
came out to Southern California to prepare for
the 2009 National race season, and also work
with his new suspension sponsor Race Tech. Race
Tech’s new Piggyback shocks were on his machine
and seemed to be working great. The newly formed
MCR race team (Mike Cafro Racing) were also
looking good. Beau Baron was putting in some
good lap times during Saturday’s practice.
Pro Class
Number 1A Curtis McNitt jumping the tires
into the log section in the front section of the
MX course, in front of the crowd.
The Pro Class coming out of the first
turn with Doug Eichner taking the holeshot.
Pro – Am winner Dillon Zimmerman takes
his Can-Am to back to back overall finishes |
With only one pro race now, it was time for the
best in the west to duke it out and see who
would come out on top! As the racers lined up at
the gate, the mood was totally relaxed; and
everyone was in a great mood, not to mention the
weather was great for the start of the pro race.
The 30-second board went up, and we knew it was
time. As the board dropped, the thundering sound
of the four-strokers roared. Out front with the
holeshot and the early lead was the veteran
rider Doug Eichner aboard his Polaris 450. Not
very far behind him were Motoworks/Cam-Am Rider
Jeremie Warina, Honda/MCR Rider Beau Baron, and
Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson. The series champion Josh
Frederick got off to a decent start with what
looked like sixth place in a field of over 30
pros.
By the end of the first lap of what is now a
full 2-hour endurance race to the finish
(slightly longer than last years race schedule),
Doug was still up front and on the gas.
Frenchman Jeremie Warina had secured his
second-place position and was in striking
distance. Team Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson, also
right up front, was looking strong on the new
YFZ450R. Can-Am/Motoworks number one machine of
Josh Frederick had moved up a few spots to
fourth. As for Beau Baron he had dropped back a
few places. Dustin Nelson also would lose a few
spots in the logs section at the start of the
second lap.
As they came back though, the motocross section
finishing up the second lap Josh Creamer and
Beau Baron were on the move and had moved up a
few spots. Creamer would later put off and not
finish the race. #62 Jeremie Warina had made his
move as they came around for lap three as did
his teammate Josh Frederick. Doug Eichner, now
back in third, was still running at a good
speed. The two Can-Ams up front were on fire.
Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson was back on pace after
his mishap early on, and Beau Baron was not too
far behind him.
About 45 minutes into the race Creamer would
start to close in and pressure his teammate into
a mistake. As they came around for the sixth lap
or so, Creamer had closed the gap and was
looking for the pass. Once around Jeremie,
Creamer would later be passed by Eichner and
Nelson, who had a battle of there own for second
place. Doug Eichner is a multi-time WORCS Champ
and Dustin Nelson is a Multi-time Quadcross
Champ. Who will prevail? These two battling it
out for second was the race to watch now that
Creamer had checked out and was on his way to
winning the overall. Eventually, Nelson would
pull out around Eichner and take home second and
add to his points. Eichner would take home third
and Warina would take fourth. Beau Baron would
finish out the top 5. Russell Shoemaker’s WORCS
debut aboard his Kawasaki turned out pretty good
for such diverse conditions he isn’t used to.
The desert and long format can really wear out a
rider.
Pro Am Class
Motoworks/Can-Am does it again. Will Dillon
Zimmerman and take home another win? Dillon wins
two straight back to back after winning last
year’s championship. He is well on his way to
repeat this year. After leading for most of the
first few laps, Zimmerman would fade back in the
pack with a mechanical problem and then get back
on pace. He would once again pull to the front
to take the lead and start lapping his class.
David Haagsma would take his Kawi to a
second-place finish, and Javier Robles Jr. would
round out the top three.
UTV Class
Mark Holtz would take his Polaris RZR to the
first-place finish in the UTV class one, and
Doug Eichner would take his Polaris RZR to the
UTV Class 2 win. They moved the UTV race to the
end of the day on Saturday. A few people were
not aware of this change and showed up Sunday to
be really disappointed. That’s why it is always
a good idea to check your race schedule before
you leave home and the week prior for any
changes in the race schedule.
It was another great WORCS weekend, and Triumph
Motorsports was on hand with track side support,
and we were told they will be at all the races
this year. Anthony (proofreader question:
Anthony who?) told us if anyone has any special
orders, give him a call at least a week prior;
and he will bring it out to the track. The track
had also been redesigned some, and there was a
lot more parking. A “thumbs up” should be given
to the track owner. Next round will be in Lake
Havasu, AZ. on March 27-29 and is held on spring
break weekend. So, it will be a great time
guaranteed! Go to the WORCS website for more
details.
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