Kyle Chaney played spoiler during the ATV MC WORCS Series presented by Polaris RZR at The Orleans Arena, entering his first race in years and walking away with the SXS Pro victory. Driving a Can-Am Maverick X3 Chaney gave the Canadian company its first victory in the series. Cody Miller finished second, also driving an X3, ahead of Cody Bradbury, Hunter Miller, and Shawn Saxton. Colby Wemple won the Pro Stock race.
The track was significantly different from most WORCS venues. The tight course used the horse arena, as well as the grounds and the parking lots surrounding the venue. Different types of dirt and asphalt comprised the racing surface, while competitors also had to content with log, rocks, and large truck tire sections. Owing to the massive number of entries, WORCS officials split the field into two starting groups.
Chaney came to the race at the urging of fellow Can-Am racers Cody and Hunter Miller after having just competed in the UTV World Championship in Laughlin, NV. Chaney ran in the second group and took full advantage of a drier track to get the X3’s turbocharged power to the ground. He led every lap in his group and went on to take the victory.
In the first group, it was the battle of the Cody’s as Cody Miller and Cody Bradbury duked it out for nearly the entire race. Fighting it out through the jumps in the arena, and the rocks and the logs, the paved corners proved to be excellent passing zones. Miller nipped Bradbury late in the event and went on to finish first in his group. The podium allowed him to pad his lead in the championship chase by nine points ahead of Bradbury.
Bradbury drove a Polaris RZR RS1 in the event. Though he had less power than the rest of the field in the naturally aspirated car, he proved again that the RS1’s nimbleness would pay off. The tight and technical track, as well as slick conditions early in the race worked in his favor.
In Pro Stock, Wemple, fresh off winning at the UTV World Championship in the Pro Turbo class, earned his second career Pro victory in one week. Driving a Polaris RZR XP 1000 he built in his high school shop class, Wemple had handling issues in practice. Shock and rear suspension geometry changes prior to the race worked perfectly for Wemple. Running in the second group, he took the physical lead on lap three and was never headed from there. Points leader Corbin Leaverton finished second, ahead of David Haagsma. Both were driving Polaris RS1s.
Leaverton took the holeshot in the first group and dominated the race, gapping the field. He backed it down slightly late in the race to save the car and that fateful decision put him second on adjusted time, just half a second behind Wemple. The podium, combined with an eighth-place finish by Matthew Hancock and a 10th by Beau Baron, put him 18 points ahead in the championship.
Haagsma has had bad luck all season so he elected to make major changes for the Vegas round, running a brand-new Polaris RZR RS1 in both the Pro and Pro Stock races. He finished second in the second group and third on adjusted time.
The WORCS SXS classes next head to more traditional digs, with round five being held at Mesquite MX east of Las Vegas. That race is scheduled for May 17-19.
