FMF KTM’s Mike Brown was the big winner of round two of the World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) that was held on the grounds of the Buffalo Bills Casino in Primm, Nevada, February 11-12.
In Saturday’s first race, Brown finished third to Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert and Justin Soule.
Robert and Soule engaged in an elbow-rubbing duel that would eventually go Robert’s way, with Soule finishing second.
Robert and Soule went at it for the lead again on Sunday, while Brown trailed in third. Robert’s bike, however, melted in the sand and coasted to a stop, giving the lead to Soule, who then looked to be headed to his very first WORCS race win.
Then Soule’s bike began to sputter, and he couldn’t hold back Brown any longer.
Brown rode past Soule and into the lead and never looked back, taking the day-two win.
Mike Brown went 3-1 to take the overall win.
Soule, meanwhile, nursed his bike to the finish but not before fellow Kawasaki Gary Sutherlin slipped by him to take second. Soule finished third (barely), his 2-3 good enough for second overall.
“I’m happy for Mike (Brown),” said Soule. “He rode a great race and deserves the win. I’m not going to say anything about luck or fate, but I’m really looking forward to the next round in Mesquite in two weeks.”
“I’ve always had bad luck here before,” said Brown. “But I guess it was my turn to have some good luck. It wasn’t easy though. I went down a couple of times but nothing too serious. I’m riding the new KTM 450 and the bike is so strong that it really makes it easy especially on a fast course like this one.”
Sutherlin’s second-place finish on Sunday was his best WORCS finish ever. On Saturday, he came from midpack to finish fourth, his 4-2 giving him third overall. It was his first combined finish podium ever, as well.
“I can’t describe how I feel,” Said Sutherlin. “This is the first time I’ve made the podium overall and now that I’m here I want to go up higher on the boxes and see if I can win one of these.”
Taylor Robert topped day one but DNF’ed day two.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Bobby Garrison took fourth overall while nursing torn ligaments in his shoulder, with Kyle Summers finished fifth with a 5-5 score. Robert, who was credited with 16th in Sunday’s race, finished up sixth overall, followed by Ryan Abbatoye, Robby Bell, Colton Haacker, and Kailub Russell.
FMF/RPM KTM rider Ivan Ramirez finished ahead of Zip-Ty Husqvarna’s Cory Graffuner to win the Pro 2 class, while Eric Yorba made it a KTM sweep by winning the Pro 2 Lites class over Kawasaki rider Brandon Leith and Yamaha pilot Ryan Sandoval.
