Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128131
Parts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series Round 5: Clarks Branct, MX Park By KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY MIKE DEMAREE ROSEBURG,OR,NOV.4 '17he penultimate round of the U World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) was shaping up to be a good one. The showdown between series leaders Destry Abbott and Mike Kiedrowski was about to resume, and Shane Watts wanted revenge after suffering a DNF at the previous round in Las Vegas. And Kiedrowski's Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Rodney Smith and Steve Hatch wanted nothing more than to put in good rides in order to keep their names in the title-contention hat. But the anticipation for an Abbott/Kiedrowski duel in the Oregon woods didn't last for long, when word surfaced in the Clarks Branch pits on Friday that Abbott had separated his shoulder while practicing earlier in the week and would not be able to attend the Oregon race. (And neither would Yamaha rider Ty Davis, who is still on the mend after having knee surgery.) Still, there were plenty of win-hungry riders that were healthy at Roseburg, but nobody was more hungry and perhaps more healthy than Watts. The eccentric Australian, still donning his new orange mohawk hairdo, showed up at Clarks Branch behind the wheel of his well-used KTM box van, unloaded his painfully stock (but very clean) 200cc EXC race bike, and promptly rode away from the 33-rider Pro-class field. Watts was in a league of his own on the semi-fast Clarks Branch racecourse, as he quickly made up for a midpack start and put his small-bore 18 NOVEMBER 21, 2001 • c: U c: • KTM into the lead on the second lap. From there, Watts steadily and seemingly effortlessly pulled away from the field, eventually taking the checkered flag two hours later nearly two minutes ahead of the next rider, Hatch. "I just went for it," said a rather calm Watts who didn't appear all that keyed up (or winded) for someone who had just beaten some of the fastest off-road riders in the country. "Shane rode a great race," Hatch said. "I rode the best I could." This was the first time that the inaugural WORCS series visited the Clarks Branch complex, and the racers could not have asked for a much better venue for an off-road race. Even the weather cooperated. Rain during the week and sunshine during the weekend, left the Oregon ground in perfect condition for off-road racing. The course for the Pros covered four and a half miles of mostly fire roads, but with just enough deep woods single-track, steep uphill and downhills, and off-cambers to keep things interesting. There was even a short grass-track section, and Clarks Branch's tantalizing motocross track was also employed. With Abbott and Davis absent, all the pre-race hype pretty much boiled down to a Watts versus the Yoshimura Suzuki squad (Kiedrowski, Smith and Hatch) showdown. But (Top) Clarks Branch MX Park, In scenic Roseburg, Oregon, hosted the fifth round of the World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS). (Right) Shane Watts, aboard a KTM 200 EXC, blew away the competition (but the cows weren't Impressed). n e _ s e when the gate dropped for the liveengine start of the two-hour "sprint" race, it was a Yamaha rider who led the way. Nineteen-year-old Curt Caselli, from Palmdale, California, put his YZ250 into the front of the pack ahead of Suzuki RM250mounted Robert Naughton, Kiedrowski and Smith. Not too far behind Smith, chased Hatch, Brian and Pat Garrahan, and well back was Watts.