| WORCS
ATV Series
Round #8
Bull Hollow Raceway
September 8-9, 2007 |
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Monticello, UT - Round #8 of the WORCS
series was a tough one that left the series points
leaders dealing with crashes and mechanical issues,
which enabled Temucula Motorsport’s John Shaffe
to take his first Pro WORCS win. “I’m
really excited about it. I have been trying for
this for three years now. It just feels great!”
Shaffe said enthusiastically when asked how it felt
to achieve his first WORCS Pro win.
The 7 ½ mile track was rocky, rough and
quite dusty in some places causing visibility
problems for many racers. The rocks caused a lot
flat tires and the dust contributed to several
pileups. For the Pro Main event a knarly downhill
rock section was added which left Tim Shelman
a little battered and bruised after he clipped
a tree and barrel rolled through the section.
Shelman, who crashed two more times during the
race, was not the only one to experience a major
crash. Doug Eichner was pretty shaken up after
his tire caught a rock in the tight woods section
and he took a nasty spill early in the race. Luckily,
Doug only suffered minor injuries and continued
the race. However, he was not aware of the damage
done to his quad and ended up breaking the frame
on his Polaris after only a few more laps, which
cost him valuable time in the pits as he waited
for it to be welded back together.
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| Doug
Eichner made the switch to the brand new
Polaris Outlaw 525 S with the straight rear
axle, but Eichner plans on switching back
and forth between the S & IRS depending
on the track layout. The Bull Hollow track
was better suited for the IRS, but he raced
the S just because his new sponsor Yoshimura
modified the engine and installed an exhaust,
so it was significantly faster than his
Outlaw IRS
|
While Eichner and Shelman dealt with crashes,
points leader Josh Frederick was having electrical
issues. During his second lap, his Can-Am stopped
running. “ It was a wire that grounded out
and blew a fuse.” He stated. “I was
stuck way out in the woods section of the track,
but luckily, Dustin Terry, who had crashed earlier
and was taking it easy, towed me back into the
pits.” Terry was one of many riders who
encountered visibility problems due to the dust,
which was the cause for his crash. Dustin ended
up hitting Keith Taylor’s quad, which had
crashed in front of him, creating a huge dust
cloud that made it impossible to see the carnage
until it was too late.
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| #2
Josh Frederick (left) & #114 Jeremy
Schell (right) made the switch to the Can-Am
DS450 at Washington with Frederick earning
a debut win, but unfortunately for the pair
this past weekend, they both experienced
issues in the Pro Main, which sent them
back several positions, but with a brand
new machine in race conditions, these issues
are bound to show up |
Brandon Brown was one of the lucky ones who didn’t
have any major complications that day, which was
a big change from Saturday’s events. “The
elevation really takes a toll on both the rider
and the bike. I was really happy to get as good
of a start as I did.” Said Brandon. “It
took a lot for me to get my quad running decent,
plus the altitude was really starting to effect
me.” Brown’s efforts definitely paid
off for him, despite bike issues the day before,
he still managed to be second out of the hole.
Brandon held onto second for a while until he
came to the rocky downhill section of the track.
The rocky downhill area was the source of many
mishaps throughout the day but it also set the
scene for an incredible pass made by John Shaffe.
On the second lap, Shaffe was in third place and
gaining on Brandon Brown. “There was a section
where you had the choice to take two different
lines. One was about an eight foot rocky drop
off, the other was to go wide and roll down a
big boulder.” Said Shaffe. “Brandon
went wide and I took a chance and jumped off the
ledge and was able to get on the inside of Brandon.”
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| A
rocky downhill section was added for the
Pro Main with two lines down the slope with
the inside line much more difficult, but
faster, and John Shafe utilized the line
to make the pass on Brandon Brown to take
over second place and eventually pass Robbie
Mitchell to take over the lead |
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