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/128403
Russ Pearson claimed his second National Hare & Hound title this yei'r after a season-long duel with Destry Abbott. Pearson is known mainly as a desert racer, but the 25-year-old from Nevada is also very competitive in other disciplines and actually has two enduro wins to his name. He has also been making waves in the WORCS series. We had a chance to talk with him at the WORCS event in Texas. en: So, how does this champIonship win feel? russ pearson: It's really good. You know, desert is kind of my background my whole life, and ever since I was a little kid, it was all I ever wanted to do. The first title was great and the second one is just as awesome. They are both really good. en: Give us a quick summary of the year. russpearson: The whole year was pretty much a nonstop battle with Destry [Abbott). My cousin, Dave [Pearson), and a couple other guys, were in there, but it was pretty much me and Destry neck and neck. In one race, I beat him literally by five feet. I won the first two, then he won the next two, and we were dead even [on points). We both had our little ups and downs, but pretty much we battled each other for the whole year, which is good, because he's a good guy, and it was good competition. en: You have been known mainly as a desert rider, but you have shown that you are very competitive in other disciplines. russpearson: You know, desert is kind of my background, but the WORCS races are a lot of fun, too. I just want to be the best at all of types of racing. I've always tried to do other things like enduros and GNCCs. I want to win every race I go to - if I went to a Supercross, I'd want to win that. I just want to keep improving and get better and better. en: What do you think of the WORCS series? russpearson: You know, the WORCS series is a lot of fun because the spectators can watch. I bring my girlfriend out and she enjoys it, because she gets to see me race, and, for most of the people, it's a lot of fun because they can actually see what's going on. At a desert race, they see you in the pits and that's it. You come in and then you're gone again for two hours. This is a really neat series, and I can imagine it growing and growing. We've got some big names coming in next year, and it will just help it grow even more. en: What are your new goals now that you have two Hare & Hound titles? russpearson: I hope to defend my title. But I am going to focus a lot of my attention on the WORCS series and hopefully be up front and win championships. I don't have much of a motocross background, but I'm practicing. en: Do you have your plans set for next year? russpearson: I am working on that now with Yamaha, to try and do the same thing that we did this year, except we are going to focus on the WORCS series a little bit more. It should all be set in another week or two. Sean Reddish: Working WOReS en: How would you assess the year so far? seanreddish: Short of weather, it's been an excellent year. Splitting the series into two divisions has really helped. The ATVs get an ATV track and the motorcycles get their own track. I think membership numbers are up about 15 percent right now. It also looks like we'll have television in '06 - we are currently working on that program. So, the series seems to be going really well. In just five years, the World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) has grown into one of the biggest National off-road series in the United States. In 2005, more than 10,000 racers with backgrounds in enduro, hare & hound, hare scrambles, GNCC, Best in the Desert and motocross competed in the West Coast-based series. Sean Reddish, now the man in charge of running the WORCS series, gave us an update on the progress on the season and plans for the future. en: Most of your events are based at motocross tracks, but you seem to have arrived at a good balance of off-road and motocross that keeps It competitive for everyone. seanreddish: A well-rounded rider is what we are looking for. When we look at venues, we look at a lot of things. One of those is technicality. en: You've made it clear that the aim of WORCS is to be spectator-friendly. How do you accomplish that? seanreddish: The spectators have free access to all of the track except for the motocross portion. We only run about half the motocross, then we hit the offroad. Then you're back to the motocross, then back to off-road. So if one of our top guys, like Nathan Woods, leaves your sight for more than three minutes, that would be an oddity. en: How many people does it take to put on a WORCS race? seanreddish: In general, the staff runs anywhere from 15 to 28 people, depending on the venue. A big part of running a professional series, vs. a local, volunteer series, is that you know who is going to be there week in and week out. The same scoring people work every time. That makes it so you know what you are going to get every time, from signup on down. However, we do still do some joint sanctioning - to bring in local clubs. That gives them access to contin- gency dollars that they wouldn't normally get. And we will use the local club for help. en: How are things shaping up for 2006? seanreddish: The motocross group has started to realize that there is a place to go off-road racing that isn't completely foreign to them and is a place that they can bring their families. Ryan Hughes is coming out next year, which is huge. Then you look at guys like Jeremy McGrath and others who are thinking about coming out and racing. Next year we've got 12 motorcycle Nationals and nine ATV Nationals, each at the same venue. And next year, the most unique event is going to be the Oceano Dunes Charity Beach Race. That is actually going to be on the beach and it is open to the public. We will have a lot of new venues for next year and a few old favorites, like Washougal and Lake Havasu. By Shan Moore