2005 WORCS Round #4 - Honolulu Hills

[Merriman]

Round four of the WORCS Series brought the race action to Honolulu Hills in Taft, CA. Honolulu Hills race track is located in the southern edge of California’s Central Valley about 100 miles from Los Angeles in the oil and agricultural town of Taft.

[Merriman]

The race course this year was about five miles with a mixture of motocross and trials that became extremely rough and dusty as the races progressed. Since the track was in the foothills there was also a large elevation change from the starting gate to the top before the descended back down. One interesting note about this track is that it lies in the middle of an oil field with the pumps still operating during the race.

[Merriman]

The morning of the main event the track crew decided to add whoops to a long straight away right before the finish

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There was also a half mile section of asphalt that let the riders click into 5th gear and reached speeds of 70 to 80 mph to the top of the hill before they headed down the ridge and back to the lower part of the track.

[Merriman]

The big news at this round was that the young racer Logan Holladay (age 17) from Lopoc, CA would be entering his first Pro-race. On Saturday he led the Pro-production ahead of Doug Eichner for a couple of laps until his quad broke. After the national anthem, the riders were ready to start. At exactly 12pm the gate dropped and the 16 entered pro riders were off to race for the next hour and a half

[Merriman]

First into the corner was none other than the man, #1 Doug Eichner, followed in order by:

81 David Lindsay
101 Logan Holliday
98 John Shafe
02 Josh Fredrick
686 Levi Marana
222 Cyle Chislock
210 Jason Weller
187 Robbie Mitchell
75 Brandon Brown
5 Michael Cafro
61 Shawn Checketts
167 Sean Towle
4 Joey Aiello
152 Evan Carrillo
104 Tim Gillespie

[Merriman]

There was also # 97 Ryan Piplic from Lynnwood Washington, which by the standings, finished 15th, but according to all the pictures and notes I took, he did not even race. He was not at the starting gate when the racers took off. If you have any information on him, please post it. I only have one picture of him at the start of the parade lap.

With the sun shinning, and the temperature into the high 80’s and low 90’s the water that was laid out on the track to keep the dust down was dissipating fast which made for a very dry and dusty race when the competitors were battling.

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A third of the way into Lap 1 Doug Eichner already had a noticeable lead developing as he launched his Duncan racing 450R over the middle step up.

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Behind him #81, David Lindsay, who was just signed to ride for Duncan Racing on Friday, was battling with the rookie #101 Logan Holladay for second while the rest of the pack fought for position

[Merriman]

On Lap, 2 Holladay on his Honda TRX450R took second from Lindsay. Shortly after Lindsay dropped back to fourth as Josh Frederick made up a few positions on his Temecula Motorsports backed Yamaha YFZ450 from 5th to 3rd and was now knocking down the door of Holladay.

[Merriman]

By the end of Lap 2 Frederick would make his way around Holladay and take over second, but Eichner would continue to increase his lead to 17 seconds at this point. Battling for 5th and 6th positions are #98 John Shafe on his YFZ450 just ahead of #222 Cyle Chislock on his Temecula Motorsports backed YFZ450.

[Merriman]

In 8th position was #210, Jason Weller from Chandler, AZ. I would like to thank him and his fiancé Corry Colaw (a.k.a 400grl) for helping me out this weekend. She let me borrow her YFZ to ride all over and take pictures since I didn’t realize I need to bring one to cover such a large track.
After him:
9th was #686 Levi Marana
10th was #187 Robbie Mitchell
11th was # 61 Shawn Checketts
12th was #5 Mike Cafro
13th was #4 Joey Aiello
14th #104 Tim Gillespie
15th #152 Evan Carillo

[Merriman]

Unfortunately #167 Sean Towle from Vail, AZ. Would DNF the race as he had to drop out.

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#4 Joey Aiello in 13th place and trying to make up positions

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By the end of the third lap into the 4th, Josh Frederick’s YFZ would start to succumb to motor problems as it began to pop and sputter until he was able to take it into the pits for repairs. With Frederick out of the way, it would move everyone up one position and put #101 Holladay back in second and #81 Lindsay back in 3rd while Eichner’s lead would continue to grow to 23 seconds by putting down a 5:40 lap time

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Also by the fourth lap, #222 Cyle Chislock would work his way around #98 Shafe, and into 4th place.

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By Lap 5 Doug Eichner’s lead would be 40 seconds as he dominated the course and other riders, he even began to lap the Pro-Am riders one by one.

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During the fifth lap, Jason Weller would fall back to 11th place from 7th after his hand started to become severely blistered. This is what it looked like after the race.:eek2: :eek:

[Merriman]

As the riders came through for the 6th lap it would be #1 Eichner with around a minute lead on #2 Holladay followed by:
3. #81 Lindsay
4. #222 Chislock
5. #98 Shafe
6. #75 Brown
7. #686 Marana
8. #187 Mitchell
9. #5 Mike Cafro
10. #61 Checketts
11. #210 Weller
12. #4 Aiello
13. #104 Tim Gillespie

[Merriman]

#101, Logan Holladay trying to keep Eichner in his sites, so he can hopefully make a move later in the race.

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#75 Brandon Brown, trying to reel in #98 John Shafe during Lap 6

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Amongst all the YFZ’s and 450R’s there were only two racers aboard other machines. Here is #187 Robbie Mitchell on his KFX400. Robbie would go on to finish in 14th place completing 13 laps at a time of 1:36:14.4 (hours:minutes:seconds.tenths)

You can see how the tires are very elongated from the speed the racers carried as they headed up the half mile asphalt section.

[Merriman]

And #152 Evan Carrillo on his 400ex

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As the half way point approached many of the riders began to show signs of fatigue and pull into the pits for gas, goggles and whatever else they may need. On lap 7 Eichner pitted to adjust his camel-back that came loose on lap 3.

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As Eichner caught up to the other riders he made good use of his air horn that he keeps attached to his chest protector. Here is he letting Pro-Am rider Jonathan Garcia know he needs to get out of his way

[Merriman]

On lap 7 the top 5 rider positions were:
1. #1 Eichner with a minute + lead
2. #101 Holladay
3. #81 Lindsay
4. #222 Chislock
5. #98 Shafe

#81 Lindsay with the hammer down:macho

[Merriman]

#98 John Shafe from Marana AZ, rounding the corner and making the transition from dirt to the high speed pavement section.

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Moving up ifrom 11th place to 9th is #5 Mike Cafro from Carlsbad CA, sponsored by temecula Motorsports as well.

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By lap 9 Eichner had extended his lead to over two minutes. Doug was riding flawlessly and it would take a major incident for anyone to catch him.

[Merriman]

Josh Frederick’s was just trying to salvage as many points as possible. With his earlier motor problems he would fall 4 laps down and end up in 16th for the day.

[Merriman]

Heading into this round, Levi Marana had the points lead. But with his current 5th place position it looked like he would loose it to Eichner.

[Merriman]

On lap 10 Eichner would move around #210, and #4 in the pro-class and by the end of the race he would have lapped all the way up to 7th place overall.

#4 Joey Aiello looking down at the flag man as he jumps the infield table top.

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A man on the move # 61 Shawn Checketts who started the race in 12th would move inside the top 10 to 8th place in the Pro-class near the end of the race.

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This is just how close #5, Mike Cafro came to being lapped at the end of the race.

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On lap 15 with a time of 1:31:29.8 Doug Eichner would win round 4 of the WORCS series with a 2 minute and 20 second lead over Logan Holladay.

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In second place with a time of 1:33:49.2 Logan Holladay would cross the finish line in his first ever Pro-race. Congratulations.

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In Third place just beating the hard charging Cyle Chislock is Duncan Racings newest rider, #81, David Lindsay with a time of 1:35:14:.6

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Coming in a very close 4th place is Chris Chislock of Murrieta, CA. with a time of 1:35:19.5

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Rounding out the top 5 is Levi Marana backed by Temecula Motorsports, out of Hemet, CA. Unfortunately he would fall to 2nd in the points standings just behind Doug Eichner and ahead of Josh Frederick.

[Merriman]

Pro-Main results:

1. #1 Doug Eichner
2. #101 Logan Holladay
3. #81 David Lindsay
4. #222 Cyle Chislock
5. #686 Levi Marana
6. #75 Brandon Brown
7. #5 Mike Cafro
8. #61 Shawn Checketts
9. #98 John Shafe
10. #4 Joey Aiello
11. #104 Tim Gillespie
12. #210 Jason Weller
13. #152 Evan Carrillo
14. #187 Robbie Mitchell
15. #97 Ryan Piplic-----I believe this is wrong
16. #2 Josh Fredrick


I would also like to thank my Girlfriend Carol for all the help she gave me and taking notes while I took the pictures. Also the WORCS crew for their help and support, they are a great group of people and know how to put on a race!

I will also being posting more random action pics later this week that I took. Thank you.

[Merriman]

Your round 4 winners

[desertratt45]

some real great shots there. wish mine had come out that good. pro/am race (http://members7.clubphoto.com/eric529585/3256179/owner-5c18.phtml) other race pix (http://members7.clubphoto.com/eric529585/3256327/owner-5c18.phtml)

[WORCSYFZ199]

Hey merriman, I was wondering If you got any shots of the pro-ams and if you could post those too, that would be cool. I'd like to see a shot of me hitting one of those jumps, My number is 199 and I'm on a black YFZ and have red gear and a yellow helmet. Thanks.

[Merriman]

Originally posted by WORCSYFZ199
Hey merriman, I was wondering If you got any shots of the pro-ams and if you could post those too, that would be cool. I'd like to see a shot of me hitting one of those jumps, My number is 199 and I'm on a black YFZ and have red gear and a yellow helmet. Thanks.

Yes I do have a ton of pictures (nearly 350 pics). PM me your email address, and I'll send you the large files. Just make sure you have it cleared out... :devil:

I do spefically remember you on the course, since the course works would always refer to you as "Pastrana on a quad" when I was talking with them. :p

[QuadJunkies]

awesome coverage! :macho I sure wish I could have been there to see this race!! The track looked brutal and dry !! Theres quite a variety of racing in the WORCS series this year! Too bad for Josh, he had motor issues at Payette too :(

[Steven450R]

Hey merriman, do you any pics of #2933? I ran the Sport C & the Open C.

I've got all of my pics up on my site.
CLICK HERE (http://www.freewebs.com/bragger/worcseventtaftca.htm)

[Merriman]

Sorry man, I was only able to get pictures of the Pro & Pro-Am race for the most part. I wasn't able to stay for the whole weekend, and I did not show up to Taft until 12:30AM Saturday night, Slept in some sleezy hotel for 4 hours, got up and went to the track to cover the Pro class. Right afterwards I headed back to San Diego to work the next day....What a TRIP!:p

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by Merriman
Sorry man, I was only able to get pictures of the Pro & Pro-Am race for the most part. I wasn't able to stay for the whole weekend, and I did not show up to Taft until 12:30AM Saturday night, Slept in some sleezy hotel for 4 hours, got up and went to the track to cover the Pro class. Right afterwards I headed back to San Diego to work the next day....What a TRIP!:p thank you for doing that, I was hoping we would have some coverage for the event ;)

[mikes450r]

wow that was some great coverage..i dont know how you didnt that track was huge..good job and thanks for the pics

[QuadJunkies]

Does anyone know how many entries there were???

[400grl]

We took over 700 pics of all the races and practice......most of them are up, but we are having issues with Saturday's races......you can see them at www.wellerracing.com - go to photos.......we should have the Sat pics fixed by tomorrow, I'm hoping. Our FTP is giving us fits right now.......

QJ, I heard just under 300 entries.....

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by 400grl
We took over 700 pics of all the races and practice......most of them are up, but we are having issues with Saturday's races......you can see them at www.wellerracing.com - go to photos.......we should have the Sat pics fixed by tomorrow, I'm hoping. Our FTP is giving us fits right now.......

QJ, I heard just under 300 entries..... I was looking at all the pics you took last night, good pics!

Sounds close to the turn out at Clay Peak .