Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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helped keep things in check. "It's only about ) ';' miles long," WORCS' Dave Hamel said of the course. "But it'll feel like six." The start of the two-hour Pro race was a good one for the Montclair Yamaha Team, with Ty Davis jumping out to the early lead and teammates Pearson and Woods settling into place right behind him. A little way back in fourth was Team Green Kawasaki's Bobby Bonds , the rider whom the three leading Yamahas feared most. Bonds, who won the previous WORCS round in Texas, completed the first lap nine seconds behind the lead trio and was slowly closing in. Davis continued to lead for a couple of laps before giving way to both Woods and Pearson. And it wasn 't long after that that Davis noticeably began to drop off the pace, and then he sud denly pull into the pits. "I got in the lead there in front of Nathan and Russ and wasn't pushing really hard," Davis said. "I thought, , 'This is going to be a fun race!' And the next thing I know, I'm getting arm pump . I'm thinking, 'Why am I getting arm pump so bad?' My hands are get ting so tired, so then I just waved them by, because I'm thinking I'm getting too nervous or something. I sat in third for a while, and then I realized my throttle wouldn't turn . So I pulled in and jacked with that forever." As it turned out, grip glue had worked its way into the th rottle hous ing, preventing the throttle from turning freely. "We sprayed contact cleaner and got it working pretty good , and I went back out there, " Davis said. But the sticky throttle would soon return. "I took off [now in 12th], charged, and I was thinking, 'I can do this; it's still early in the race.' I worked my way up [to fifth], and then all of a sudden it started acting up again and got tougher and tougher to turn, and then it just wore me out. You come into the corners, and you want to shut off, and it won't . It was so frustrating; I couldn't go anymore. I was so mad; th is shouldn't happen ." Davis still got up to fifth but was passed on the last lap to finish sixth. Meanwhile, up front , Woods pulled out about 16 seconds on Pearson, who soon had the flying Bonds breathing down his neck . Bonds eventually got by Pearson on the fifth lap but couldn't close the gap on Woods . Over the next four laps, Bonds instead lost about three seconds per lap to the leade r. The fast pace, rough course and heat eventually took their toll on Bonds , whose lap times were approaching nearly a minute off his early-race times . Toward the end, Bonds sacrificed at least one position when he stopped for a gulp of water, and then he pulled off his goggles in hope of cooling off a bit. Bonds went from third to seventh in the last four laps. "Yeah, it was pretty rough," Bonds said. "My hand blistered a little bit probably about 45 minutes in, and then after that I was trying to ride with the tips of my finger, and that just made me too tired , and I couldn't hang on no more. My pace was good, but when my hand blistered up, that was it." Even after getting passed by Bonds for second place , Pearson never really let the Kawasaki rider get out of his sights. At one point on the 10th lap, Pearson actually passed Bonds but crashed right afterward, putting him back in th ird and erasing any thoughts he had of going after Woods. "I felt strong in the second half," Pearson said. "I could see Nathan ; I knew where he was at . I got by Bonds in Sco" Sheak (waving shirt) and Goo! Breker cheer on Bobby Bonds early in the race. .; , ... -e www.cydenews.com CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 31 , 2004 31