WORCS ATV Racing Round #4 - Racetown 395 April 25, 2010

Occasionally racers become weary because of the long distances they have to travel to get to a race, but Factory Honda racer, Dirkie Baard, was absolutely thrilled to make the trek all the way from South Africa to take part in the WORCS race. Baard, an endurance racer in his home country, kept a solid pace and would go on to claim and eighth place finish on a Matlock Racing prepped Honda TRX450R.

The South Africian Pro ATV Endurance & Roof of Africa Champion, Dirkie Baard, made the 23 hour trip over from South Africa to compete in his first WORCS race, and he finished an impressive 8th place even after suffering a kill swtich & hot start issue

Robbie Mitchell kept things consistent as he made his way up from the back of the pack to finish in ninth place, while Washington State racer, Ryan Piplic would round out the top ten.

Andy Lagzdins would finish in a solid 11th place and despite a nasty wreck after tangling with Beau Baron, John Shafe would hang on for 12th place. ITP Quadcross racer, Justin Noss decided to try his hand at WORCS, but ran into mechanical issues that sent him to the back of the pack.

Mike Cafro, who was in the top five of the points chase sacrificed his own race to tend to the needs of his team when the warm weather began to cause overheating issues. Cafro pulled into the pits and helped his team cool their quads when they came in for their scheduled fuel stops. Cafro’s sacrifice would have him finishing in 17th place, but he is still in seventh in points.

In the Pro-am ranks, MCR/Maxxis’ David Haagsma would claim his second win of the season, giving him a 16 point lead. Norco, CA racer Justin Jones would finish in a solid second and Javier Robles, Jr. would work his way through traffic to claim the final spot on the Pro-am podium. Cody Mitchell would run a solid race to take the number four spot and Garret Stucki would have his best finish of the season to round out the top five.

WORCS Pro ATV Racing Podium (left to right) Justin Jones(2nd), David Haagsma (1st), Javier Robles Jr (3rd)

In the Women’s a class MCR/Maxxis’ Julie Russell took her third straight win of the season. Russell’s efforts also qualified her for the Pro-am main even on Sunday, but Russell chose not to race and instead stayed in the pits to offer support to her team.

Round five of the 2010 WORCS series will head to Milford, CA, where Hone Lake MX will play host on May 21st - 23rd as the fastest racers on the west coast will compete for the podium