Woods Prevails at Mesquite WORCS

Mark Kariya | February 14, 2005

After finishing third at the series opener in Arizona, defending WORCS Champion Nathan Woods rebounded by winning round two of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series at the Mesquite MotoX Park in Mesquite, Nevada, yesterday.

The lead changed numerous times through out the two-hour race on what was an extremely rough and sandy track that was riddled with treacherous mud holes and water crossings. One of those holes swallowed up KTM’s Kurt Caselli late in the Pro race moments after he had taken the lead from Woods. From there, it was smooth sailing for the Montclair Yamaha/Zip-Ty Racing/Moose-sponsored YZ450F racer, as he finished comfortably in front of Caselli, who ended up having to push his FMF/Michelin/Moose-backed 450 MXC across the line after running out of fuel shortly before the checkered flag.

Pro motocrosser, Tim Wiegand, on a Honda CRF250R, was one of those who had taken a turn at the front of the pack, and he was the third racer to cross the finish line, but he was disqualified after the race for a course-cutting infraction, following a first-lap crash with Caselli. That moved Woods’ teammate Russell Pearson to third, followed by Team Green’s Destry Abbott and former champ Ty Davis.

“I was really disappointed in my third-place finish [at round one], which I probably shouldn’t have been,” Woods said. “All my teammates and everybody said I did great, but once you win a couple races, you want to keep winning. That’s how I am. I’m really determined, and I want to win another championship.”

Unofficially, his win also netted him the series points lead, as the series heads to San Antonio, Texas, for round three in two weeks.