WORCS Round 12: Mud Race at Glen Helen

Going into the weekend, rain was expected for the WORCS race at California's Glen Helen Raceway, but the sheer amount was a surprise to everyone. By the time the Pro Race began, the rain had turned the track's nice, tacky loam into a sloppy mud bog. But the unanticipated track conditions made for an exciting race.

Bobby Bonds had an aggressive start, and held on to the lead for the first few laps with the two Zip-Ty Yamahas nipping at his heels. Bonds eventually fell back, handing the lead to series points leader Nathan Woods followed by Ty Davis, Russ Pearson, Destry Abbott and Kurt Caselli.

Woods held the lead until stalling his bike, letting the top five go by and falling back a minute and a half. Adding insult to injury, he stalled again coming into the scoring shoot. This time, according to promoter Dave Hamel, "Yamaha's team manager [Kenny Perry] ran over onto the race course and started Woods bike for him, breaking our 'No outside assistance rule' and resulting in a standardized penalty." In addition to his time lost, Woods was docked a full lap for the infraction. Despite the reduction in place, Woods still maintains a commanding points lead over teammate Ty Davis.

Davis, Pearson and Abbott continued the race, dicing for the lead followed closely in tow by Caselli. On the last lap, it was Pearson out front, but with only 100 yards left, Pearson ran out of gas letting the top three go by. Ty Davis won his second race of the season followed by Abbott, with Caselli less than three seconds behind. Russ Pearson pushed his bike across the finish line to a hard earned fourth place finish.