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WORCS
ATV Series
Round #6
Washougal MX Park
June 2-4, 2006 |
By:
Brittany Bloodworth |
Washougal, WA - For the sixth round of
the WORCS series, we headed up for our first of two races
in the state of Washington. The race would be held at
the Washougal Motocross Park. With the forecast calling
for rain all weekend, we knew we where going to be in
for a muddy race. It rained Thursday and Friday, but when
Saturday came, the rain Gods gave us a break, with just
some gray clouds up above, but unfortunately, the rain
returned on Sunday.
Saturday’s ATV Racing
The track was like a mini GNCC race. It was mainly through
the woods, with single lines pretty much all around
the track. Passing was difficult, and you had to be
extremely aggressive to get around riders ahead of you.
The motocross section consisted of a few sets of woops,
some small woops, and a table top. Although this was
a very short track, the track was slower speed race
the most of the WORCS races. With having to maneuver
your way through trees, and large up hills covered in
rocks, many of the riders where getting stuck. Even
though it did not rain throughout the day, the track
was extremely muddy. In the unclassified or “Practice”
race, most people where only doing one or two laps,
and coming off the track, every single one of the where
covered with mud, so you could not even tell which rider
was which.
Stock A Class
Justin Waters grabbed the hole shot for the Stock A
class, but Jeff Bertuzzi was able to make the pass.
Jeff Bertuzzi grabbed the win for the stock A class,
with Justin Waters grabbing the second place position
and Chris Bennett who rounded out the top three for
the Pro-Am Class.
Production A Class
Andrew Lattimar grabbed the win for the Production A
class with about a twenty second lead of the second
place, and Washington local, Reed Petchnick. Paul Wilkerson
rounded out the top three for the Production A.
Sunday’s ATV Racing
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Roy
Bloodworth was still smiling even after being
completely covered in mud |
Sunday was here before we knew it, and it drizzled
all night long making the track extremely muddy. Before
we where able to start the racing, we had to have the
riders meeting where the big controversy for the weekend
was about running studs. Eichner showed up Sunday morning
with studs in the tires, and although it is not is the
rule book, some of the other riders where very upset.
Sean Reddish stated at the meeting that he did not have
a safety issue with them at all, and since there is
no rule against the usage of studs in the rule book,
Eichner was going to be allowed to run with them, but
after this race, the rule book would be changed.
The pro’s were all hoping that some of the earlier
classes would clear at least some of the mud out of
the way, which did happen to a point, but as the pro’s
lined up for the pro main, it down poured for just a
few minutes, but with the ground already saturated,
it created lakes in front of the starting gates and
turned the track into a huge mud pit, which meant the
Holeshot was going to be more important than ever.
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Doug
Eichner proved he can race in the mud as well
this weekend |
The gate dropped and the riders splashed their way
through the mud puddles toward the first turn, and it
was Doug Eichner grabbing the Holeshot closely followed
by Josh Frederick. By the second corner, almost all
of the riders where already covered in mud, and by the
end of the first lap, many riders were already switching
goggles while some had just tossed their goggles for
the rest of the race. The mud was packing on the riders
so thick that it was nearly impossible to recognize
one rider from another besides those lucky enough to
grab the Holeshot.
Even with his studded tires, Doug Eichner wasn’t
immune from the elements as he found himself stuck on
a berm shortly after going through the pits, which allowed
Josh Frederick to get around him. Frederick now needed
to focus on not making the same mistake in the sloppy
conditions. Eichner quickly broke free and began applying
the pressure to Frederick as they went through some
of the tight woods trails, which didn’t allow
for much passing opportunities. With Eichner and Frederick
battling for the lead, Brandon Brown was holding onto
third.
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Pro
Podium (Josh Frederick, Doug Eichner, Timothy
Shelman) |
Josh Frederick was able to hold off Eichner until he
sliced a tire, which forced him to head to the pits
for a tire change, which allowed Eichner to regain the
lead. Phillip Oppen now moved past Brown and into the
third spot about five and a half minuets behind Frederick.
Eichner would keep his Duncan Racing Honda moving forward
the rest of the race without incident, which allowed
him to claim yet another win. Frederick would get yet
another flat tire on the last lap of the race, but he
still managed to hold onto second place to the checkered
with Timothy Shelman fighting his way through the mud
to his first Podium finish in third. Reed Petchnick
grabbed the win for the Pro-Am class with Andrew Lattimar
finishing in second followed by Paul Wilkerson rounding
out the top three.
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Josh
Frederick's mud coated Honda |
Doug Eichner now with 170 points extends his lead over
Frederick to 31 points with Brandon Brown holding down
third with 101 points. In the Pro Am Clas, Justin Waters,
even after having some issues the last couple races
is still holding onto the first place position with
84 points, Dax Snow is now running in the second place
with 72 points and Paul Wilkerson is running in third
with 69 points.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next race
back in Washington on August 5 and 6th after a short
Summer break, and we hope everyone enjoys their two
months off, which might be needed just to get all the
mud off the quads.
Pro
ATV Race - Video Clips |
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