Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

back. Before long, Smail had gotten around Davis and began pulling a few seconds on Davis after each lap, which took roughly nine minutes to complete. Smail, it appeared, was headed to his first WORCS win when he suddenly coasted to a stop with just 40 minutes left in the race. His chain had snapped. "My race started off bad," Smail said afterward. "I stalled my bike on the start and was in dead last. It took me about three laps to get into second and then a few more laps to finally get Davis and take the lead. Everything felt pretty good. The pit stop took a little longer because I got a sip of water. I was pushing, feeling good, and, you know, things happen. I broke a chain. I had put an a-ring chain on for this race. I must have shucked a rock because I broke the chain, the countershaft sprocket and the cases, and that ended my day. I'm pretty bummed out. It's pretty frustrating to know that twice now I think I was the one to beat. I'm finally feeling good at these races and have been putting it together and getting in some good runs. It's just frustrating to go home with no points and no money." Davis all of a sudden found himself back in the lead, but he could breathe easily, not just yet. Pearson had detached himself from Abbott and was closing in on the new leader. With just two laps to go, Pearson was pushing hard - a little too hard as it turned out. On the last lap, in the motocross section, Pearson cartwheeled his YZ450F in a hard get-off. Not wanting to lay down on the job, Pearson got back up and continued on but no longer had a shot at catching Davis. Now Davis could relax a bit. In celebration Davis whipped his For the second race in a row, Lance Smail was leading when something bad happened. This time a broken chain ented him from a sure win. half of the two-hour race. Smail slowly crept away from the former leader but with just 40 minutes left to go, Smail was halted by a broken chain. Davis went back into the lead and went on to win. Smail suffered a similar fate at the previous round in Lake Havasu City, where he was again leading when he ran into some bad luck that cost him the win. I Russell Pearson ended up second after a late-race assault on Davis, but a last-lap crash ended Pearson's bid for the win. Third place went to former Hare [, Hound National Champion Destry Abbott. Abbott spent much of his race dicing with Pearson before settling into the fourth-place position, but he moved up a spot when Smail dropped out. Despite the cold, track conditions for Sunday's Pro race could not have been much better, and when the ga(~ dr.opped for the start of the two-hour race, it was holeshot artist Robert Naughton nailing the holeshot on his Suzuki RM250. Naughton jumped out to a big, early lead, but it wouldn't last for long. Davis and Pearson soon got his thumper running again and took off. Amazingly, it didn't take Smail long to catch the tail end of the Pro class, where he began working his way up through the pack. While Davis tried running away up front, Pearson and Abbott engaged in a heated duel that saw the two riders battle back and forth for quite some time. While Pearson and Abbott were duking it out, Smail continued his drive to the front. He soon had control of fifth, about one minute and 15 seconds behind Davis. Smail soon took over fourth, and then he then tracked down Abbott and Pearson, eventually passing them both. Once into second, Smail reeled in Davis and was breathing down his Robert Naughton finally got through a race without getting hurt. Naughton went from first to sixth to fourth, where he would finish out the two-hour race. got by Naughton, who eventually slipped back to sixth. Naughton said that he felt tight early on but loosened up after about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, Smail had a miserable start. He had stalled his bike off the line and struggled to get it running again. Race officials were about ready to delay the start of the second wave of Semi-Pro racers when Smail cue I e n e _ S • APRIL 16, 2003 39

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