WORCS Round 4 Race Results, Lake Havasu

"I love Havasu, I like the track—it's really demanding and brutal on the body, but to be honest with you, I'm not that tired right now. I'm really not." And Montclair Yamaha's Nathan Woods certainly didn't look very tired after two hours and five minutes of speeding around the short but brutally rough Crazy Horse GP track on his YZ250 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, yesterday. The defending race and series champion, Woods walked away victory at round four of the World Off Road Championship Series, presented by GPR, Montclair Yamaha and Zip-Ty Racing.

After two wet, muddy races, WORCS competitors basked in dry, sometimes dusty conditions on the shore-side Havasu course that featured deep and relentless sand whoops by the water and unforgiving hard-pack covered with rocks up top on the motocross circuit. And with a record 1154 entries for the weekend, it got hammered by the time the Pros raced.

WORCS officials added a new twist to the start, with a dead-engine, wait-for-the-banner-to-drop affair quite familiar to desert racers. And it was desert racers Kurt Caselli and Russell Pearson leading the way to the first turn, with Montclair Yamaha YZ450F rider Pearson taking the point for a while until he hit something and slid out. "On the second lap about half way through, I clipped something freaky that I still don't know what it was and my bike went completely sideways." After an impressive charge from mid-pack, Pearson climbed back up to the top five. He would go on to finish fourth after one more crash.

Teammate Woods led most of the race employing a unique strategy: "I told myself the first five laps I'm going to go wide-open, then I'm going to back it off for two laps, then I'm going to go fast again for another five and just do that back and forth. It worked out to my advantage."

By becoming the first two-time winner of the series, Woods' advantage also extends to series points. He now has the lead, unofficially, with 88.

After blowing the start—blaming his lack of height—motocrosser Tim Wiegand came through the pack quickly and was into third before too long. From there, he chased Woods, but there was no catching the leading Yamaha, so Wiegand and his CRF250R hunted down Mike Kiedrowski and his RM-Z450. He passed the two-time series champ in the closing laps. Afterwards, Kiedrowski would receive an IV to treat dehydration though he reported the elbow he hurt at round two was now fine and didn't affect his riding.

Motocrosser Bobby Garrison rounded out the top five on his CRF450R.

KTM's Kurt Caselli saw his points lead evaporate after finishing seventh due in part to a broken pipe on his 250 MXC. He now sits in second with 76 points while Pearson is third at 68, unofficially.

Pro Results

1. Nathan Woods, Yamaha
2. Tim Wiegand, Honda
3. Mike Kiedrowski, Suzuki
4. Russell Pearson, Yamaha
5. Bobby Garrison, Honda
6. Destry Abbott, Kawasaki
7. Kurt Caselli, KTM
8. Dennis Stapleton, Honda
9. Ryan Dudek, Yamaha
10. Shane Watts, KTM
11. Lance Smail, Kawasaki
12. Brian Garrahan, Suzuki
13. Matt Karlsen, Honda
14. Ricky Dietrich, Kawasaki
15. Kendall Norman, Honda
16. Ryan Orr, Honda
17. Eric Rhoten, Honda
18. Mark Tilley, Honda
19. Nick Pearson, Kawasaki
20. Michael Metzger, Honda
21. Bobby Bonds, KTM
22. Craig Wesner, Kawasaki
23. Kyle Beshaw, Kawasaki
24. Monte Montague, Yamaha
25. Jesse Barstow, Honda
26. David Pearson, Kawasaki
27. Damien Galford, Kawasaki
28. Shane Esposito, Kawasaki