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/128381
oing into the sixth round of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series at Honolulu Hill MX Park in Taft, California, defending champion and current points leader Zip-Ty Racings' Nathan Woods was the pre-race favorite. Woods came into the Taft round with a modest two-race win streak and a 17point lead over KTM's Kurt Caselli, but evidently Woods did not get the interoffice memo that announced that his ZipTy Racing team boss Ty Davis was bound and determined to come away with his G first victory of this year's WORCS series. Perhaps Woods was caught off guard Sunday, as Davis stepped it up a notch to capture that elusive win. Woods, however, fought back and made a race out of it, but nothing he did could stop Davis from having it his way on this hot and sunny afternoon. The temperature in Taft was a roasting 94 degrees by the start of Sunday's Pro bout, and the toasty conditions left the fast Taft track dry and dusty, not to mention rough. The track provided great viewing for the spectators, and the riders enjoyed the good mixture of fast 46 JUNE 8, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS straights, IOO-foot-plus jumps, big uphills, fast downhills, and a lot of whoops and square-edge bumps that challenged them throughout the two-hour race. As the Pros started to fill the starting gate, Woods was hoping to expand his points lead, while KTM's Kurt Caselli, second in the series, was hoping to close the gap. Suzuki's Mike Kiedrowski, the openinground winner, was hoping to get back into the points race again after being sidelined by an elbow injury, and a host of other riders was hoping to get their first win of the '05 series. Among the hopefuls were Kawasaki's Destry Abbott, Lance Smail and David Pearson; Yamaha's Russ Pearson and Davis; Honda-mounted Matt Karlsen; and Suzuki's Glenn Kearney, who was keeping busy during a break in the GNCC series. When the starting gate dropped, it was Caselli with the jump, followed by Russ Pearson, Woods and Davis, all hoping to get the holeshot and ride in clean air. Woods came out of it in the lead, while Caselli and Davis settled in behind him. Smail clipped a hay bale in the second turn and was left behind, his day suddenly getting a lot tougher. Halfway through the first lap, Woods had already built up a small cushion on Caselli, whose hope of chasing down Woods was short-lived when his bike developed problems and was forced to return to pits for repairs. By the second lap, Woods had a huge lead on Davis and appeared to have another win within his grasp. However, he still had Davis and the heat to deal with. The racecourse had a Pro-only section that consisted of a near-vertical ledge that topped out over a hill and then dropped down into a canyon that shot the riders back up a very Silty hill. After awhile, it became impossible for the riders to see, and they had to rely on blind faith to get them to the top. Kiedrowski had some luck here, but it was all bad. Finding it nearly impossible to see,