2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results

| March 13, 2017

2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results – Fasthouse Honda’s Blayne Thompson finally outpaced the bad luck that has followed him around for the first three races of the season and came away victorious at the Lake Havasu round of the 2017 World Off Road Championship Series. Gary Sutherlin (Purvines/DA8 Yamaha) finished a close second, followed by defending champ Robby Bell (Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts Kawasaki).

2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results

Alex Dorsey won the Pro 2 race and Austin Serpa scored his first WORCS victory in Pro 2 Lights.

With temperatures soaring well into the 90s, conditioning was the key element in this one, and it would take its toll on many riders, including Travis Damon, who took the lead on the second lap from holeshot winner Brock Reveal. Damon recorded the fastest lap of the event and was running a blistering pace. Unfortunately for him, the heat finally caught him and he began to fade, handing the lead to Thompson.

After that, Thompson fought off Bell and Sutherlin to record his first win of the season. Sutherlin now holds the points lead by 19 points ahead of Seeds and Bell, who are tied for second.

It was a very rewarding victory for Thompson who fell out of the last three races while either leading or battling for the lead. Everything finally came together for him at Lake Havasu.

“For the first three rounds we had nothing but issues,” said Thompson. “I knew if I got the lead I was going to push. I did and it worked out, finally. This is the roughest and hottest race of the year, so it feels good to win this one.”

Sutherlin scored his fourth podium of the season. He was betting on the race running one more lap, and he had hoped to challenge Thompson at the end. Unfortunately for him, his calculations didn’t pan out.

“I just let Blayne get a little too far out in the middle of the race,” said Sutherlin. “I thought I timed it right, but the white flag came out with 11 minutes left. I thought we were going to two more laps, so it was my fault for not pinning it early enough to get around Blayne. It’s a bummer to put in that much effort and come up a lap short.”

Bell simply ran out of conditioning at the end of the race, but the defending champ hung on to finish third, earning his third podium of the season.

“I felt pretty good until about 30 minutes to go and then I threw out the anchor,” said Bell. “I had a decent start and I was holding a good pace. I started feeling hot. Gary was coming and I couldn’t hold him off. I can’t make excuses; I put everything I could into it. I’m going to be feeling this race for a few days.”

2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results

Eric Yorba scored his best finish of the 2017 WORCS season after coming off a podium last weekend in the WCGP/Big 6 race at Glen Helen. He recovered from a hard crash on the second lap to snag fourth.

“I knew it was going to be a long race, so I put down a pace that I knew I could survive,” said Yorba. “On the second lap, I went over the bars pretty hard. I got going again and slowly made some passes, found myself in fourth and made it home. I haven’t been making it easy on myself this year. I have the starts and I just need to get the rest of the race down.”

Justin Seeds charged hard at the beginning of the race. He admitted to getting tired and overheated in the difficult conditions and was pleased to come out with a top five.

“I had a lot of confidence coming into this weekend after finishing second in the last race,” said Seeds. “I knew it was going to be hot, and I didn’t make it easy. I charged at the beginning and then realized it’s kind of hot out there. We haven’t had hot weather this year, so I’m happy to get out of here with a top five. I got the points, I’m alive, I didn’t crash. It was a difficult race and I was overheated the whole race.”

In Pro 2, Alex Dorsey (KTM) snagged his first ever WORCS victory. Dorsey ran a consistent pace throughout and took the lead on the final lap when Dante Oliveira (KTM) pulled into the pits briefly.

Oliveira held on for second, ahead of the Kyle Mercier (KTM). Oliveira leads the title chase by three points. Logan Chambers (fifth on the day) and Dorsey.

“This is my second year in WORCS and I’m happy to be here in first,” said Dorsey. “I’ve been putting in a lot of work, because I knew this race was going to be brutal. I drank a lot of water during the race. I had my Camelbak filled up and I took a drink from it every time I went through the scoring chute.”

Oliveira led virtually every lap until the last one. He pulled into the pits with a mechanical issue, but was able to get out quickly to nab the runner-up finish.

“I had a bit of a bike problem the last three laps,” Oliveira said. “I pulled in really quickly. I really should have stayed out and kept pushing. The heat was super gnarly. Going through the water every lap, I dragged my legs to cool off.”

Kyle Mercier (KTM) grabbed the holeshot at the beginning of the race but was quickly overtaken by both Oliviera and Dorsey. He was happy with his first podium of the season.

“I’m just pumped to get third,” said Mercier. “The first two laps, I realized I was going too fast to make it the whole way. So I slowed my pace on the third lap.”

In Pro 2 Lights, Austin Serpa (KTM) won his second race of the season after battling Clay Hengeveld (Kawasaki). Hengeveld ended up second, followed by Cooper Abbott (Yamaha). Serpa leads the points by just one point on Hengeveld.

“I just paced myself from the start,” said Serpa. “I sprinted one lap and then kept a fast pace for the rest of the race.”

Harlen Foley

2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results

Crazyhorse Campground

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Results: March 12, 2017

PRO:

Blayne Thompson (Hon)
Gary Sutherlin (Yam)
Robby Bell (Kaw)
Eric Yorba (KTM)
Justin Seeds (Kaw)

PRO 2

Alex Dorsey (KTM)
Dante Oliveira (KTM)
Kyle Mercier (KTM)
Trystan Hart (Hus)
Logan Chambers (KTM)

PRO 2 LIGHTS

Austin Serpa (KTM)
Clayton Hengeveld (Kaw)
Cooper Abbott (Yam)
Collin Elliott (Yam)
Austin Warren (KTM)

2017 Lake Havasu WORCS Results

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