WORCS ATV Series
Round #1 - Speed World
January 26-27, 2008 |
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WORCS
Racing Pro ATV Race Report
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| Heavy
Rains turned the 2008 WORCS Season Opener
into a Mud Fest
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Surprise, AZ - The first round
of the 2008 WORCS series kicked off at Speed World
MX Park in Surprise, AZ. Everything was going smooth
and the weather cooperated for Saturday’s
races which saw Kawasaki’s Josh Creamer take
the number one position on the podium for the Open
Pro class and Team Green’s newest member Keith
Little walked away with second in Pro Production.
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worst
overnight bringing heavy rains and flooding that
put quite a damper on Sunday’s events, but
the weather didn’t slow down Can-Am/Motoworks’
Josh Frederick as he kicked out the 2008 season
with the Pro win.
“It’s really a different type of
race,” said Creamer about his first encounter
with the WORCS series. “Keith (Little) and
I both ran good races on Saturday. I came out
of the hole first and stayed ahead.
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| Monster
Energy / Kawasaki's Josh Creamer made his
WORCS racing debut at Speedworld and grabbed
the Holeshot in the Open Pro ATV Class and
went on to Win |
After the first lap, I was about 15-20 seconds
ahead of Dustin Nelson so I just tried to keep
a steady pace,” Josh stated. All though
the track became pretty rough, Josh hung on to
his lead all the way to the end, claiming the
number one spot in the Open Pro Class followed
by Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson in 2nd and Can-Am/Motoworks
racer, Brandon Smith. Creamer and teammate Little
hung around for Sunday’s race, but chose
not to participate due to the massive amounts
of water on the track. “If it would have
just been mud, I might have tried it, but we were
not prepared for a water race like what happened
Sunday,” said Creamer.
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Doug
Eichner kicked off the season with a win
in the Pro Production Class on the Polaris
Outlaw 450MXR because he won't be racing
the Outlaw 525 IRS this season because of
the new Pro 450cc rule |
Keith
Little made his WORCS racing debut on the
Kawasaki KFX 450R and finished an impressive
2nd Place behind Doug Eichner after coming
back from a midpack start |
“It was the worst I have ever seen!”
exclaimed Brandon Brown in regards to Sunday’s
track conditions. “There were literally
rivers of mud we had to cross and you couldn’t
tell if they were 6 inches deep or 3 feet deep.”
Brandon managed to get 3rd in the holeshot, but
found himself stuck and teetering on a steep embankment,
which put him almost back to last place. Once
Brown got himself out of the mud, he soon caught
back up. “After I got out of the mud, I
pulled into the pits to get my quad checked out.
My air box was half way full of mud, so we drained
it and I got back out there. There was a lot of
attrition throughout the race, so I was able to
regain my position and finish third,” Brandon
continued. For round number two of the series,
Brown will be giving up his trademark Honda 450r
and riding a new Kawasaki KFX 450R that he got
through his recent support deal with Kawasaki
through Hillsboro Motorsports and Motosport.com.
“It’s going to be a tough change for
me because I’ve been on a Honda for so long,
but I’ve had some time to ride the KFX and
I really like it. I’m really excited about
finally getting some support this season!”
Brandon said eagerly.
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| John
Shafe grabbed the Pro Holeshot on his Polaris
Outlaw 450MXR followed by Yamaha's Dustin
Nelson & Polaris' Doug Eichner |
Brown was not the only racer who had to pit several
times in order to just make it through the race.
2007 WORCS Champion, Josh Frederick made a pit
stop after each lap to have his bike checked out
and to get fresh goggles. “It was really
nasty out there. They ended up shortening the
track by about 2.5 miles,” said Frederick.
The track sections that were cut included parts
of the MX track and the obstacle course that had
been created for the event.
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