WORCS ATV Series
Round 6 - Straddeline
August 15-17, 2008 |
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WORCS Racing Pro ATV
Race Report
Can-Am's Josh Frederick Wins
Again & GNCC Racer Jarrod McClure Podiums
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Cannon
Beach, Oregon
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Olympia, Washington - History has
a tendency to repeat itself and this weekend was
no exception for Can-Am/Motoworks’ Josh Frederick
as he once again claimed the win at Straddleline
ORV Park in Olympia, Washington, where he had made
his winning debut on the Can-Am DS450 just last
season. Joining Frederick on the podium in second
place, was the currently number nine ranked GNCC
Pro, Jarrod McClure, who ventured out to the west
coast to give the WORCS series a try while the GNCC
Series is on its summer break.
The track set up for round six of the 2008 season
was similar to last year, with racers heading
out to the motocross section off the gate, then
into the woods. As racers re-entered the track
they were subjected to the “terrain challenge”
part of the course, which included log and tire
obstacles, and a big boulder section that created
problems for many racers and their ATVs.
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| Saturday
Night, a special WORCS X Cross race was
held with 15 Pros signing up for the challenge
with $500 up to grabs for the Winner, which
went to Suzuki mounted Beau Baron followed
by Can-Am Motoworks Josh Frederick and Kawasaki's
Ryan Piplic rounding out the Pro Podium.
The obstacle course was extremely challenge
with logs, tires, and boulders, and a large
crowd of spectators came out to watch. In
the Amateur ranks, Vancouver Washington's
Matthew Soukup grabbed the win |
The weather was unusually hot for the western
Washington area on Friday and Saturday with temperatures
creeping close to the century mark, which caused
some issues with dust, but relief came on Saturday
night as thundershowers moved into the area and
helped to cool things off a bit with temps dropping
into the 50’s overnight, and remained cool
on Sunday.
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| With
the help of Motoworks, Maxxis, Mike Cafro,
and Triumph Motorsports, GNCC Pro Jarrod
McClure had the oppurtunity to race in his
1st WORCS Race on an ATVriders.com Project
Suzuki LTR450, which was last raced 2 years
ago at the Powerline Park GNCC where Harlen
Foley finished 2nd Overall, and it has been
parked ever since till this past weekend
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As the Pro & Pro-Am Racers headed to the
gate, streaks of lightning appeared off to the
west, which caused concern that the race might
be shortened or delayed, but fortunately Mother
Nature decided to cooperate and allowed the race
to go off without any complications.
With a near season high Pro turnout with 24 Pros
lining up on the starting gate, 7 racers had to
start on the second row since the starting gate
only could hold 17 racers. When the gate dropped
it was Yamaha’s Dustin Nelson who grabbed
the holeshot, followed closely by Beau Baron,
Josh Frederick, and Doug Eichner. Polaris Racer,
John Shafe, ran into problems right away when
he jumped the gate and got stuck, and Kawasaki’s
Robbie Mitchell couldn’t get his KFX to
fire and barely got off the line before the Pro-Am
Racers were released nearly a minute behind the
pros.
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| Kawasaki's
Robbie Mitchell 2 Minute time expired as
he continued to try and get his KFX fired
up before the start of the race, and it
didn't fire till 45 seconds after the rest
of the Pros left the starting gate |
Yamaha's
Dustin Nelson grabbed the Holeshot followed
by Beau Baron & Josh Frederick, and
before the 1st jump both Brandon Smith &
Tim Shelman would be sidelined with mechanical
issues |
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