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/128347
Cha mpionship S eries inis hing second to anyone is never fun, just ask Montclair Yamaha's Russ Pearson. He has numerous seco nd-place finishes but never any victories in the World Off-Road Cham pionship Series. In fact, at the last roun d , Pe arso n charged through the pack and came up just short of the win to finish a well-deserved second place beh ind defending series champion Montclair Yamaha's Ty Davis. Going into this round Pearson knew what he had to do: He had to win. However, in order to do that, he would have to beat many of the country's top off-road racers - not an easy task by anyone's standards. To top it off, the track resembled tha t of an outdoor motocross, which isn't exactly Pearso n's forte. But, by the end of the day, the Nevada nat ive w ould prove that wit h a little hard work, anything is possible. Onc e the gate dro ppe d , Montclair Yamaha's Nathan Woods d id as he has all season long and catapulted to the front of the pack. Following Woods through the motocross track was Team Green's Lance Smail, followed by Pearson and Smail's Team Green teammates, Destry Abbott and Bobby Bonds. Factory KTM backed Kurt Caselli, who is normally out in front at the beginning, had an uncharacteristically bad start and was dead last as they went around the first turn. The battle fo r the lead shaped up almost instant ly as Woods , Smail and Pearson bega n to pull away fro m the rest of the field. Each rider had something at stake: Woods has the championship in the palm of his hand and wants every point he can get to wrap up the title; Smail is one of the most skilled and mentally tough racers in the WORCS circuit, and after his knee surgery that put him out of contention for the title, he wants noth ing more than to get back to his winning ways: and Pearson is on a quest to be the best all-around off-road race r in the world, and with a Hare and Hou nd cham pionship under his belt, his sight is set o n the WO RCS championship. And to to p it off, nothing cou ld prove Pearso n's point more tha n a w in in Colo rado . So with that mindset, Pearson began to sta lk Smail and set him up for a pass in the early stages of the race . "I was following Woods and Smail, and they were using the same lines. Staying behind them was torture," Pearson said. "I was getting pelted by the roost, so I said forget this and started riding in the diske d stu ff, and my lines were just getting wider and wider where I could really keep up my speed." Kee ping up his speed is exactly w hat Pearson did, and by the end of the first lap, he had moved around both Smail and Woods . However, the lead duo wasn 't letting Pearson off that easy, and for the F STORY AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL DEMAREE The top three celebrate their accomplishment: (left to right) Kurt Caselli , Russ Pearson and Nathan Woods.