| WORCS
ATV Series
Round #9
Pismo Beach
October 20-21, 2007 |
|
Oceano Dunes, CA - Round nine of
the WORCS/Oceano Dunes Charity Beach Race saw high
winds that tore through the track over the weekend,
upsetting course markers and sand blasting riders
and spectators alike, but that didn’t seem
to bother Polaris/Yoshimura’s Doug Eichner
one bit. Eichner grabbed the holeshot and led the
entire race to a first place podium finish. Meanwhile,
points leader Josh Frederick encountered problems
in the last lap that put him back to 11th place.
|
| The
Pismo Beach location is gorgeous location
for a race with the sand dunes colliding
with the Pacific Ocean, but whipping winds,
quickly spoiled the atmosphere as it sand
blasted everything and kept changing the
shape of the dunes |
Eichner, who just celebrated his 43rd birthday
this weekend, chose to line up on the far left
side on the starting line, giving him a straight
shot into the first corner. Eichner flew out of
the hole and just kept going. “I was on
the 525 straight axle this weekend and it worked
great for me! The Fox shocks performed really
well in the sand and whoops.” Said Doug.
“We didn’t have any issues with the
bike, everything went really good for me this
weekend!”
|
|
Doug
Eichner's Polaris 525 S out powered the
competition to the first turn and secured
the Holeshot with Brandon Brown & Tim
Shelman in chase |
Duncan
Racing's Robbie Mitchell got off to a slow
start, which had him chasing after a sand
storm of roost behind the leaders |
While Eichner was enjoying a comfortable two-minute
lead, Can-Am’s Jeremy Schell, who was second
out of the hole, ran into problems just after
the first lap when his exhaust pipe fell off,
which unfortunately landed him a 16th place finish.
Meanwhile, Can-Am teammate Josh Frederick had
worked his way up to 3rd place from 6th, but was
unable to hold that position due to ATV problems
as well. “I worked my way up and then on
the last lap, my bike overheated and melted the
temperature sensor, which caused it to shut off.”
Said Josh disappointedly. “We’re already
working on the problem though. We’re having
custom radiators built and we’re working
on removing some of the stock electrical stuff
on the bike that isn’t needed for racing.”
Frederick concluded. Despite Josh’s 11th
place finish, congratulations are still in order
as Frederick managed to gain enough points to
secure his first WORCS Pro Championship.
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|
CanAm's
Josh Frederick caught and passed Brandon
Brown to take over the 3rd spot before Frederick
began experiencing electrical issues |
CanAm's
Jeremy Schell was running strong early on
until the rough course vibrated off his
silencer, which sent him to the back of
the pack |
Meanwhile, Brandon Brown, who got third in the
holeshot, took over second place when Schell encountered
bike problems, but was unable to hold off Dustin
Nelson. Once Nelson took over 2nd, he remained
unchallenged for the rest of the race. John Shafe,
who had a less than desirable start managed to
work himself up to 5th place, and was closing
on 4th place Robbie Mitchell, but was unable to
catch him in time to attempt a pass. When the
checkered flag was waved, Eichner came across
the finish line first, followed by Dustin Nelson
in second and Brandon Brown in third.
| |
|
Yamaha's
Dustin Nelson made an impressive WORCS debut
by holding down the 2nd Spot till the checkered
|
Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson, who usually sticks
to the motocross track, decided to give the beach
race a try this season and did surprisingly well.
“I didn’t know what to expect at this
kind of race. I came out here to do this race
to get in shape and it was the toughest race I
have ever ridden!” Dustin exclaimed. “You
have to have a good attitude going into a race
like this. I remember thinking to myself when
I was getting tired, ‘This is horrible!’
and then when it was all done, I thought it was
actually pretty cool.” He stated. Nelson,
who has just returned to racing after a broken
femur sidelined him for most of the season, has
made quite an impressive comeback in the last
couple of weeks by placing 2nd at round 9 of the
ITP Quadcross in Tulare, CA (his first race since
his injury) and now taking the 2nd place position
on the podium at WORCS.
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|
Tim
Shelman finished in lucky number "7"
for the 4th time this year, and he is set
to finish out the year in 8th place |
Dustin
Nelson wasn't the only ITP Quadcross rider
making his WORCS debut, Landon Hurst also
tested his skills in the sand and finished
in 10th place |
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