Rocky Mountain ATV/World Off-Road Champion ship Series
NATHAN WOODS takes the
win and the championship
o n t cl a ir
Yamaha 's
Nathan Woods took his
fifth win of the season at
roun d 13 o f t he Wo rld
O ff-Road C hampio nsh ip
Se ries at O ak Hill Raceway in Decatur,
Texas. And by doing so, w rapped up the
2004 WORCS champions hip, w hich he
has been worki ng so hard to get, wit h
o ne round rem aining o n the sched ule. At
the pr ev io us round Woods had some
bad luck, re legating him to 18th place.
Ho weve r, in Texas the Yamaha rider had
luck on his side, as his series rivals began
to make mistakes and fall be hind.
Woods capitalize d on a mistake by
Team Gree n Kawasaki's Bobby Bo nds at
midrace and parlayed it into a 3D-secon d
advan tage at the finish in a race that saw
M
plenty of act ion early on and no less than
five differe nt race- leade rs befo re Wood s
finally to ok co ntrol at the halfway ma rk.
WORCS newcomer, Matt Karlsen ,
from Co lo rado , finished a strong third on
his Ho nda after leading early in the race .
Lance Smail, also an early leader, suffer ed
severe ar m pump, w hich force d the
Team Green ride r to back off t he pace
and sett le into fourth.
The 26-yea r-old Wo ods act ually had a
mathematical chance to wra p up the title
at the previous round in California, but
mecha nical problems in the mud put
those hop es on hold. In Texas. Woods left
not hing to chance in his quest for a first
WORCS title.
"It's a big we ight off my sho ulde rs,"
Wood s said afte r the win. "I had a good
20 NOVEMBER 17, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
Woods clinched his first
WORes championship in
Texas with one round
remaining .
