Our fearless hero takes on a unique challenge against a host of newcomers during WORCS round three at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas.
I wouldn’t say I was overly nervous coming into the third round of the 2016 Maxxis World Off-Road Championship Series at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas, but with so many racers (we had over 70 bikes total in the pro race) on such a tight course, and with an abbreviated race-length compared to the normal two hours, I felt it opened up the possibility for more things to go wrong than right. Having said that, I was in a pretty positive frame of mind; no matter how unpredictable the conditions, I knew that allowing any negative thoughts or emotions to creep in would make it easier for mistakes to happen.
Speaking of mistakes, I actually did let one of those occur before the race had even begun when I misjudged the staging time for the Pro race on Saturday evening and showed up a whopping 10 minutes late. My heart sank as I came around the corner to see the front row of the narrow starting line completely filled with over 20 pros, meaning I would have to start on the second row, which would be a far from ideal scenario on a course where the start was quite capable of defining the race. In a measure of true sportsmanship—and friendship—Jake Argubright was quick to move over, allowing me to squeeze in right next to him, for which I was incredibly grateful. Good ol’ Jake!
The WORCS start procedure was dead-engine, and when the green flag flew to signal the start of the 45-minute race I was happy to feel my bike fire up on the first kick. Unfortunately, I didn’t get off the line quite as well as I would have liked, and I rounded the first couple corners around 12th or 13th. I made a few early passes to work into ninth and had a little back-and-forth battle with Michael Sleeter as the first lap was complete. I wound up finalizing the pass over a log double and moving into eighth.
On the second lap I was able to make a pass on Travis Coy as he held too tight of a line around a right-handed corner, allowing me to maintain more momentum around his outside. From there, I had a bit of a gap to make up on the six riders ahead of me, but I was struggling to really push a good pace as I had begun to suffer from a bit of arm pump—I rarely ever pump up anymore, but in the tight confines I was all upper-body on the bike and not breathing as smoothly as I normally would, hence, arm pump.
By the halfway point of the race I had made it up to fourth as a few riders had some issues, either crashing or dropping out, and I finally started to close the gap on Argubright, who was running in third. I was just starting to apply some pressure when Jake made it easy for me by losing his front end entering a corner and falling to the floor. Having made into third place, behind Blayne Thompson and Justin Seeds, I had finally found a little bit of form on the bike, and with about 10 minutes to go I was starting to make the slightest dent into the 15-second gap ahead of me. With my arm pump beginning to subside, this was my best shot at getting up to the leaders, but just before the finish line I made the silliest mistake over a turning log, pushing the front end and falling over. I got up quickly enough, only losing 4 or 5seconds, but the hiccup in the momentum I had built cost me way more, as the arm pump crept back into play. With time winding down, any outside shot I had at the win was gone and I crossed the checkered flag a few laps later to take third place.
Honestly, after a less-than-stellar start to the race, making it up to third felt like a win to me. To be able to earn solid points toward the championship in such a unique and unpredictable event, and have quite a bit of fun while doing so, felt fantastic. Congrats to Blayne Thompson for earning his first WORCS win, I’m sure it won’t be his last, and a huge shoutout to my teammate Justin Seeds on taking second spot; I know how hard he’s been working to show he’s capable of this, so to see him get the result was great.
I really want to commend the WORCS crew, as I think the event ended up being way bigger than they were expecting. With the sheer volume of riders, and being on such a confined course, everyone was putting in so much overtime, and I want to give them a lot of credit for pulling off this endeavor of hosting an off-road race with over 2000 entries in a Las Vegas casino.
Thank you to my mechanic Phil, suspension tech John, my wife (and our little bean), family, and all of my personal supporters: Precision Concepts, MSR, Shoei, Sidi, 100%, EVS, USWE, Focus apparel, BRP, RAD custom graphics, GoPro, A’ME grips, IWC motorsports, ATP mechanix, Rekluse, CryoHeat, and the MotoXerciser. Thank you to each of our team sponsors: Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, Precision Concepts, Maxxis tires, FMF exhaust, Maxima USA, Renthal, Dubya USA, Acerbis, Matrix Concepts, GPR stabilizer, CryoHeat, Rekluse, VP Race Fuels, IMS, BRP, LA Piston Co., A’ME grips, Braking, RK/Excel America, ARC levers, DT1 filters, RAD custom graphics, Zip-Ty, Boyesen, Seal Savers, MotoSeat, MotoHose, Next Components, Rigid Industries.
Next weekend I’ll be back on very familiar ground as the Big 6 Grand Prix series heads to pretty much everybody’s home track: Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California. I’ll be looking to maintain this momentum and get on the podium once more, though I will have my sights set a couple steps higher.
Robby Bell
robbybellracing.com
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