Spring Break at Lake Havasu WORCS Race March 15

Chuck Sun

Spring Break is a little different for WORCS riders in that the party is on a brutally rough sand track that runs right down on the beach of Lake Havasu. Record rider entries with lap times of around 7 minutes contributed to the demanding course. WORCS organizers respond by creating additional start times to help reduce the number of riders on the course at one time which really helps the racing as there’s not quite as many lapped riders, although lappers are still part of the challenge.

Sun at Lake Havasu LR

This will be the 3^rd time that Roessler and I have lined up together this year in the classic moto guy versus off-road legend. Of Course, the entire objective is to get in some great race training as the first World FIM Vet Championship is coming up April 20. Be carefull what you ask for! Bar to bar in the first turn with LR, I opted to jump a double into turn 3 to get clear for the lead. Sand tracks cause me to pay out the effort with a bit more caution in order to have a little something for the last lap. However with LR chomping at my heals we layed down lap times quicker than the 30+ experts! (Albeit the 30’s ran a litter later on a rougher track) About half way into the race I managed only a 7-8 second cushion and got a little lazy getting around lappers when I heard a high reving Kawi motor! LR’s right there sticking a wheel in! I wanted some training, well I got it. I had to dig down and find some energy to get around lappers a little quicker this time. LR and I ran identical times of 7:10.8 on the last lap running within 3 seconds of our first lap of the 50 minute whoop fest, finishing a scant 3 seconds clear of the desert champ! While LR was looking for another lap, I can’t begin to say how welcome it was to see the checkered come out. If we come back with a World Vet title I will have to give props to LR for pushing me so hard to dig for more.

40+ start with Gary Jones and Andy Jefferson River Rock was a challange

Sunday morning came the 40+ class, up against the guys that just finished 1,2,3 in the 30+ class the day before. 2004 40+ champ in Andy Jefferson was looking fast in Friday practice on his Zip Ty Suzuki. Some interesting characters came to the line with Rd. #1 winner, Pheonix rider Mike Ross lining up next to Mesquite winner Martie Wells. Martie is a National Champion in the sport of speed water skiing. 2007 40+ champion Darrin Hoeft is brother-law to Damon Huffman who put in a great ride in the Pro’s to put it on the podium. My 450 Honda got me off to the lead with Hoeft riding really strong and aggressive as we sliced back and forth through the first quarter lap. Darrin made a pass stick as I was thinking that Jack Rabbit slim may not be able to keep his torrid pace so I let’em go. I just kind of loped at a decent clip conserving energy entering the rythym section when Wells made a pass on me and went down hard when he got out of rythym. A couple laps later it was Jefferson making a move sticking in a wheel but he suddenly disappeared. Never got a chance to talk to Andy but lap times revealed that he probably fell victim to the soft Havasu sand. I was beginning to wonder when I should really pull the trigger and go after Jack Rabbit Hoeft when people along the track began to get involved by waving us on. Apparently Jack Rabbit slim Hough was coming back to us right on queue. Darrin admitted later that his pace wasn’t gonna happen so he took a rest as we erased about 15 seconds in a lap. Now it was Mike Roth turning up the heat looking for a way around, so I had to bag Hoeft in a hurry, but he was having none of it. I would pull next to Darrin only to have him hold it on to keep ma at bay by a wheel. After eating sand for about 5 turns like this we came together bars tangled with Hoeft on the outside, so I threw it into the berm and down goes Hoeft! Oops, I just wanted to park ‘em not for him to go down. Oh well, nobody got hurt. Roth capitalized on the mayhem being fast in the tight silt sand whoops. Roth made the pass so I hung out never dropping back back more than a couple of seconds hoping I had a last lap charge as he rode very hard trying to get away. Looking to break away through lapped riders Roth rammed the back of a lapper resulting in a cool trip over the bars and subsequent head plant. This gave me some breathing room so I took it easy for the rest of the lap, then throttled up the last lap to take the very welcome checkers for the win! Martie Wells had forged back from his early fall to 2^nd, Roth recovering to 3^rd and Jack Rabbit Hoeft soldering in for 4^th. What fun! Darrin was a great sport afterword showing me his forearm scrape. I couldn’t ask for better racing action preparing for the first Motocross Championship round in Spain only 4 weeks away. A special thanks to Jeff Sheets, Doug Gagnon & Glenn McGovern for their support of my Quest for a World title. New on board is the Ohlins shock and thanks to Dicks Racing help getting it dialed in. Made a big difference on such a rough surface.

Thanks to these Great Product sponsors:

Chuck Sun (503) 702-4474 chucksun63@yahoo.com 3353 W. Cactus Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89141

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American Honda www.us.pirelli.com

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Thanks to Photographer’s at large John & Caryl Perry!