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Team Solitaire - WORCS Round 5

Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda Event Update
WORCS Round Five
Honeylake, CA

Hello all. I hope everyone had a great Easter and was able to spend
time with your loved ones.

After 13 straight weekends of racing the AMA Supercross Series, we
finally had two weekends off. Easter weekend I spent with my family at
home, but the second weekend I decided to take Destry Abbott up on
hischallenge of riding a WORCS race. Since I became friends with the
talented Mr. Abbott four years ago, he has been trying to get me to
cross-over and do a little off-road. This was the first time things
fell into place and I was able to take him up on the offer.

The WORCS Series (World Off-Road Championship Series) blends Motocross
with Off-Road racing. Some of their events favor the motocross racers,
some the off-road specialists. This one was at the Honeylake Motocross
Park in Northern California. The race track was awesome, but the
off-road sections had me a littleapprehensive from the start. Here is
a quick breakdown of my first of many off-road experiences.

Practice/Unclassified: Saturday morning I signed up for the
“Unclassified” race which is basically a thirty-minute practice session
that they call a race. It was really cold outside and raining lightly
when we took off, but after a lap I was pretty warmed up feeling good.
The course on Saturday was different from our Sunday race, as it didn’t
have the very difficult “pro sections” added in. Still, the course was
tough and the lap times were over seven minutes in length. I left the
track feeling good but knowing I had to make a fewchassis changes for
my Pro Qualifier later that afternoon.

Pro Qualifier: This race was 30 minutes long and was basically for gate
position for Sunday’s main race. My start was good, as I was around
fifth exiting the first corner. By the end of the first lap I was into
third with Lance Smail all over my rear wheel. Bobby Garrison checked
out up front with Justin Soule in second and I was now comfortably in
third. I started getting arm pump on lap two, which is
veryuncharacteristic for me. I think that my nervescoupled with an
extremely demanding track got the best of me. I was able to settle
down pull out a comfortable margin to finish third, about ten seconds
back from Soule.

After the race on Saturday I walked all three pro sections to get a
glimpse of what Sunday’s event was going to be like. Wow! I would be
lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out a little bit. The rocks were
huge, there were massive uphill climbs and only one way through many of
the sections. When I walk a Supercross track, the obstacles look much
bigger and more difficult than when I actually ride over them. I was
hoping this would be much the same.

Pro Race: WORCS races are two hours, so unlike a Motocross or
Supercross race you have to pace yourself so that you don’t wear out
too early. My start was just outside the top ten, but I moved up a few
spots quickly and was ninth by the end of the second lap. I
successfully negotiated all three pro sections, so I was feeling pretty
good, as those were my areas of most worry. My first mistake came on
lap three, when I botched the entry to one of the pro sections and got
into some massive rocks. I hit the ground and the engine died. I
picked myself up and started the bike, but I would have to dismount and
walk my bike through about 50 feet of rocks to get back on course. At
that point I was back to 12th. Destry had just passed me so I thought
that having someone I am used to riding with just ahead would help
out. I did pick up my pace, but Destry was much faster through the
rocky sections so I had to really push on the motocross track to stay
anywhere near his pace. This caught up with me on lap four, when I had
a big crash around a sandy sweeper. I did the full body check when I
got up to make sure all was well, which it was with the exception of a
sore rear end. The bike was not as fortunate; the bars, levers and
handgaurds were damaged and the kill button ripped off in the crash.
Over a minute later I was again on the course, only now I was back
outside the top twenty. Fortunately, the second hour was much less
eventful as I managed to stay on the bike for the remainder of the
event. When the checkered flag flew at two hours and twelve minutes, I
was back up to 15th.

Summary: I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a blast. I really
enjoyed thechallenge of this race, and although the crashes sucked
(they all do!) I had a great time and learned so much. The off-road
specialists absolutely fly through those rocky sections and steep
climbs, and I would like to figure out how to pick my pace up through
there and try another event in the near future. I learned a ton about
my bike setup, my conditioning and line selection. I feel extremely
prepared heading into the outdoor nationals this season. I would like
to thank Destry for his help in preparing for this event. Also, all of
the WORCS racers who helped me out over the weekend (Nathan Woods,
Bobby Garrison, Lance Smail) and the WORCS staff for welcoming a “moto
guy” to their series. Aspecial thanks to IMS for getting my bike
outfitted with a tank and Dry Break system (we had a super-fast pit
stop). Lastly, JR Boyd stepped in for my usual mechanic, Jesse Black,
who was ill and could not attend. JRdid a fantastic job, as usual,
and we all made a lot of great memories over the weekend.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support and see you at the race
track!