Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

including last year's race at this same venue, so you might say that the Montclair Yamaha rider was definitely the pre-race favorite, at least on paper. But what wasn't on paper was on an X-ray. A few weeks earlier, Davis broke his foot while practicing near his home in Hesperia, California. And if that wasn't bad enough, the foot he broke happened to be his shifting foot. So, coming into this race, Davis' game plan was to ride smooth and try to gather as many points as he could and, above all, prevent further injury to his stillhealing foot. The talent-packed Pro class had a welcome addition on Sunday. Am-Pro Yamaha's Jason Raines decided to come and test his speed against the WaRCS series regulars. Raines, who is currently running second in points in the GNCC series, wanted to come and ride the famous track. Even though Raines lives a few hours away, he's only raced at Washougal a couple of times and was looking forward to putting in some hot laps. In typical Washougal fashion, the WaRCS racers were treated to downpours on Saturday, which made for muddy conditions on the track. None of the 700-plus entrants were complaining, though, as they were getting the chance to ride the always muchliked Washougal WaRCS track. The course was broken down into three sections: the Washougal Motocross track, tight single-track trails through the surrounding hills, and the grasstrack that took up the whole vast grass area, which is normally used for parking for the motocross Nationals. The weather cleared on Sunday, and the WaRCS Pros were ready to go racing. The track dried a little, and even though the course was still a little slippery in some spots, it was looking to be a great day for racing. The gate was packed, and when it dropped for the start of the Pro race, had nowhere to go and got caught up in Caselli's rear fender. Davis was lucky enough to get out of the collision unscathed. Managing to avoid the chaos were Sheak, Team Suzuki's Robert Naughton, Raines and Smail. Gbrothersracing's Brian Garrahan rounded out the top five at the top of Horsepower Hill. Smail and Sheak took advantage of their motocross skills around the track and pulled out a sizable lead by the time they made it around to the grasstrack. Davis emerged from his early contact with Caselli around midpack and was on the move trying to catch up to the front. Smail, who had led four of the five previous rounds only to lose two of those races with mechanical problems, was not about to take any chances and was riding smoothly out front, with Sheak closely in tow by the end of lap five. "I was going to make sure that I didn't have any problems here in Washougal," Smail said. "I know I have the speed; I've just been plagued with bad luck." Behind Sheak and Smail was a twoman battle that was unfolding between Naughton and Raines. The two diced back and forth throughout the race, with Raines finally taking control around the three-quarters point. "Man, that was so much fun being able to race, against different guys for a change," Raines said. "In the GNCCs I know what to expect from the other riders. However, out here it's a whole other ball game. Naughton KTM's Kurt Caselli got a quick jump. Unfortunately for him, Caselli's quick getaway didn't materialize into a good start. Instead, 10 yards in front of the gate was a layer of mud, which Caselli hit with the power full on and was sent sideways into an unsuspecting David Pearson. Team Green's Pearson then ran into Davis, which caused Pearson to go down and take Caselli with him. KTM's Joey Lanza BRIEFLY••• Injuries played a big part in the outcome of the race in Washougal. Ty Davis" series rival and teammate Russ Pearson tore his ACL in a hare and hound race two weeks earlier. Pearson had surgery to repair the knee and is expected to be out for three to four weeks. Pearson wasn't the only one out due to a knee injury. Team Green's Destry Abbott underwent surgery to repair a bum knee. He should be back with in the next month. The WORCS Series continues to grow, and this years Washougal race was evident of that. This years race pulled over 700 entries, and the spectator count was in the thousands. Considering the wet conditions. it was a good turnout all around. The TV and film industry was all over Washougal. capturing the WORCS racing action. The crew from TEC films was on hand, shooting 16mm for the new FOX Racing film, Terrafirma8. The Fox Sports show" High Octane" was also out covering the WORCS series. It will be airing the events in conjunction with the AMA Motocross Nationals beginning in June. ESPN2's Motoworld was on hand as always. and finally the WOReS series is coming out with its own movie. covering the racing action from the series. The movie is called WOReS Racer and will showcase all of the aspects of the series. cue I e n e _ S • JUNE 4, 2003 35

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