After two hours of close racing Montclair Yamaha’s Ty Davis (2) took the win at round six of the World Off-Road Championship Series at Honolulu Hills Raceway in Taft, California on Sunday, May 22. For Davis it was his first win of the season, and he worked hard for it. With the win Davis also ended the two-race win streak of his teammate Nathan Woods (1).
With high temperatures and dusty conditions the pro race got underway and defending champion Woods took the lead, followed by Team KTM’s Kurt Caselli and Davis. After the first lap Caselli began pressuring Woods for the lead while Davis sat patiently in third. The next lap everything changed.
When the pack thundered through the pits for the completion of lap three Caselli pulled in with bike problems. Setting the stage for a Davis/Woods duel to the finish. With Caselli out of contention Team FMF/Suzuki’s Mike Kiedrowski took over third but later, when he ran out of gas, relinquished it to Team Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott. Abbott then got a flat tire and gave the position up. Meanwhile, Woods and Davis battled out on the rough course. With Davis leading, the two were just bike-lengths apart with only 30 minutes remaining in the race. Finally, with two laps to go Davis wore Woods out and opened up to a comfortable lead.
Caselli continued after his crew worked out the problem, however, he was way back. Going into the race Caselli sat in second in the series points standings. Needless to say, the mechanical problems were a disappointment for the young racer.
When the checkered flag flew Davis crossed the line ahead of Woods and Kawasaki mounted Lance Smail. Smail had worked his way up from a horrible start and had a relatively trouble free day consistency paid off. Honda rider Matt Karlson finished fourth while David Pearson held on for fifth.
