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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Lubrication is the Key
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