49 UTV's show up to play in the MUD @ WORCS RD1
Well, where do I start? Rain, mud, fire suits, mud, technical inspection, 49 UTV's, mud, major competition, fast UTV's, mud, hang time, blown tires, roll overs, and MUD!
The 2012 WORCS racing season kicked off in some serious MUD! The sky's opened up in the middle of the night on Friday night / Saturday morning turning the groomed dirt at the Glen Helen Motocross Park into a huge mud pit. Rivers flowed through the pits while crews scrambled to adjust their strategy's to compensate for the drastically changed track conditions. Many teams were looking for last minute tire changes to get an edge up in the traction department. Others were making windshields and mud guards at of cardboard and rolls of duct tape. By 4:00PM Saturday all were ready to do battle, not just with one another, but with mother nature and the MUD she left in her wake.
49 UTV's lined up at the starting gate, a record for WORCS and a record for a west coast UTV racing series. Never have we seen so many UTV's lined up and to think, last year when talks of the ISA emerged and safety rules were introduced so many thought that mandatory fire-suits and window nets would kill competition. Instead, in our opinion here at UTVUnderground, all it did was legitimize the UTV classes and turn what has maybe appeared to some as a weekend warriors series into a full blown professional race series for UTV's. It also appeared that many may have felt a little prouder climbing in and out of their race UTV's in professional looking suits! A huge thanks goes out to Mike Lasher and Jeff Knoll of the ISA (www.ISXSA.com) and www.SXSPerformance.com for setting up their booth and coming out to perform tech inspection all while answering questions in regards to the ISA!
It was obvious that the Polaris RZR XP900 is the UTV of choice for Production 1000 competition but it was also obvious that the field has changed since last season in terms of manufacturer competition. With the cancelation of racing at the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORRS) we are now seeing an emergence of former LOORRS race cars now showing up to compete in the ranks at WORCS. This has shifted the look of the field a bit by now introducing a rather familiar GREEN look amongst the lineup. Yes, Kawasaki is here now, and here in a major way. Robert Vanbeekum in his Monster Energy Kawasaki / Muzzys Teryx will be a season competitor now at WORCS. Taylor George in her Monster Energy Kawasaki / Funco Teryx is also set to compete a full season in the former Chad George (cousin) LOORRS Unlimited UTV championship winning UTV. Tyler Winbury in his Wagon Burners Kawasaki Teryx has also shifted focus from LOORRS to WORCS along with Dan "Bronco Dan" Kelly in his Muzzys Kawasaki Teryx. Rounding out the former LOORRS competitors who are now chasing down a WORCS UTV championship is 2011 LOORRS Unlimited UTV champion RJ Anderson who is set to compete the full season in his Walker Evans Racing / Holz Racing Products Polaris RZR XP900. These racers add another level of competition to an already highly competitive series and group of racers.
While I will let the results tell the story of who won and who didn't, I will say this, there are some FAST UTV's out there this year. However, as fast as some may be, as is the case in most forms of racing you still have to finish to win and this would prove to be true as a couple of the fastest UTV's would not make it across the finish line first, or in some cases, at all! We did get a taste of what we will see this year although I will say that I hope this was the only mud race of the year. I am sure most everyone else would agree. But the mud did not scare away racers or fans from showing up and participating in this fun and exciting race event and that too me as a positive sign of where things are heading. If we can keep car counts above 30 for the season then this would end up being the most successful season of UTV racing ever on the west coast.
At any rate, we had a blast. I am very thankful to see so many teams and racers supporting UTVUnderground.com by running our colors. It really is all the motivation we need to keep showing up race after race to cover and support all of you in return. The UTVUnderground is in full effect! I can't wait to see where this season takes us!
See you all at Primm!
WORCS Glen Helen Round #1 Results:
Production 1000
#15 - Ryan Piplic - Polaris RZR XP
#637- RJ Anderson - Polaris RZR XP
#1968 - Cain Smead - Polaris RZR XP
#549 - Beau Baron - Polaris RZR XP 4
#268 - Andrew Berry - Polaris RZR XP
Production 850
#624 - Dan Kelly - Kawasaki Teryx
#2 - David Lytle - Kawasaki Teryx
#661 - Kyle Melville - Polaris RZR
#456 - Alfredo Ramirez - Polaris RZR
Production 700
#12 - Luke Rogers - Yamaha Rhino
#522 - John Haagsma - Yamaha Rhino
#95 - Kayle Smith - Yamaha Rhino
#516 - Code Rahders - Polaris RZR 570
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