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/128157
Par"'ts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series Round 3: Carbon County Fairgrounds MX By KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY TYLER MADDOX AND PALMER PRICE, aT, MAY 26 Y Davis probably wishes that all six rounds of the Parts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series rounds were held in the desert, because when the terrain is dry, dusty and rough, Davis simply shines. For the second race in a row, Davis, on his Montclair Yamaha-backed YZ250 two-stroke, reeled' off a victory in his desert element, this time in the unseasonably dry terrain of central Utah. Just like he did at the previous round in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Davis pretty much led every minute of the two-hour race, but, this time, he didn't have it as easy. In Utah, Davis felt constant pressure by Team Suzuki Off-Road's Mike Kiedrowski and could never let up, not even for a second, because he didn't have too many of them to spare throughout the race and at the finish. As mentioned, the Utah course was to Davis' liking - dry, technical and rough. But there were a few elements in the race that he, and everyone else in the race, for that matter, didn't care for - dust. And there was lots of it. Many sections of the course were unreachable by water trucks, so the 38 riders in the Pro class just had to make do. But Davis, a former National Hare & Hound Champion, is no stranger to dust, so he knew that the best way to deal with it was to get away first and be the rider to make the dust, and that's pretty much what he did. Davis was second off the line and took the point when holeshot artist Robert Naughton bailed just a few of minutes into the race, and Kiedrowski settled into second. Davis tried sprinting away and, as he did, had no qualms about choosing the siltiest, dustiest lines he could find. (He might've even dragged his feet in the turns a little bit longer than usual, too.) Davis managed to quickly open up about a 10-second lead on Kiedrowski, and that would be about it for the next two hours. Sometimes, the gap between Davis and Kiedrowski would expand to about 14 seconds, but never more. Kiedrowski pushed and pushed. The DR-Z430-mounted rider would gain a few seconds on Davis here, and then lose a second or two there, but just couldn't break the 10-second barrier. "Mike rode a great race," Davis said. "He pushed me the whole way. Sometimes Mike would gain ground on me, and a lot of that depended on getting stuck behind someone in a tight section. I wanted to get in front of anybody in the tight sections, (Above) Ty Davis led the whole way but could never relax en route to his second consecutive WORCS victory. (Left) Mike Kiedrowski tumed up the pressure but Just couldn't quite catch Davis, finishing only 12 seconds behind the winner In the two-hour race. because there would be nothing you could do. If there was someone, you didn't want to scare them and make them crash, because that would be worse. You needed to be kind of stealthy and then pass them when you could." "I was trying to chase down Ty the whole time," Kiedrowski said. "I just couldn't catch him." Davis admitted that he was worried about Kiedrowski the whole race. "It was tough," Davis said. "I started getting tired towards the middle, and you just don't know if he [Kiedrowski] was going to charge harder or not. I felt good in the tight stuff, and I knew I could go faster there, but on the [dirt] roads, he was faster. I don't think here it was a disadvantage to be riding the DR [four-stroke) like it was at Havasu." "A lot depended on the lappers," Kiedrowski said. "After I pitted for gas, I charged really hard and gained a little bit, but I just couldn't catch y. Actually, the dust wasn't too bad, 38 JUNE 5, 2002' cue I e ne..,s