Defending WORCS Champion Gary Sutherlin is back in the saddle and back to winning. Photography by Harlen Foley
The reigning WORCS Pro Champion, Gary Sutherlin, made a dramatic return to racing by claiming the win at round five of the 2015 Rocky Mountain MC World Off-Road Championship Series presented by Maxxis and Dirt Bike. Precision Concept’s Robby Bell’s winning streak ended at four with his second-place finish, while RPM KTM’s Eric Yorba earned his first spot on the Pro podium for 2015.
After running one of the shortest tracks of the season at the Crazy Horse GP, racers took on the longest course layout of the season at around twelve miles over some of the most scenic terrain in the country with red rock buttes and sand dunes lining the course. But after a full weekend of racing, the mostly sand track developed some deeps whoops and there were plenty of rock sections to challenge the racers, which made it one of the most brutal two-hour races of the season.
The dead engine start for the race was right along the Sand Hollow beach, and John Burr Cycle’s Steve Gibson grabbed the holeshot, but was quickly passed by RPM KTM’s Eric Yorba before the end of the first lap. “My bike fired up right away, some rider on a Kawasaki came in clipped my rear wheel, which slowed me down a little bit otherwise I should have got the holeshot,” said Yorba. “But before we hit the pavement, I was able to get around Gibson to take over the lead.”
By the second lap, Yorba came under fire from Sutherlin and Bell who both got off to slow starts. But the duo spent the rest of the race battling for the lead and the Sand Hollow win as they charged past Yorba into the front two spots.
With clean air in front of them, the battle was on between Sutherlin and Bell. They swapped the lead back and forth throughout the race, and in the final lap they both cranked it up in a mad dash to the finish line with Sutherlin recording the fast lap of the race.
“I kept enough in the tank for the last lap, and sure enough we went out and had a great battle going on,” Sutherlin said. “We were screaming and fist-pumping at each other, and then he ended up wrecking, which was too bad. It would have been fun to hold that battle all the way into the finish line for everybody.”
With Bell swapping out in the sand, Sutherlin secured his first win of the season after missing the past two rounds recovering from a broken wrist. “I’m just happy to be back and be on top of the box,” Sutherlin said. “It was tough to watch him go win a couple when I was hurt. Last year, I won four straight in the beginning of the year and this year he won four straight, so he knocked my streak off, and this year I knocked his off, so it’s all good. I look forward to racing the rest of the year with these guys and just having fun and trying to pull off some more wins.”
Bell had a tough day right from the start; he went down when he collided with Ryan Reina, which dropped him to the back of the pack. He quickly recovered and charged into the lead by the second lap.
“By the second lap I had gotten up to first, but I had to pit twice because I have a smaller gas tank, so I once again dropped back into second place, but I caught back up to Gary,” Bell explained. “On the last lap we were side by side, and it was a pretty awesome and fun battle with Gary. We probably passed each other three times in the last lap, but our battle ended in this fourth or fifth gear high-speed section when I clipped a buried rock in the sand, and it just sent me sailing. Luckily I didn’t hurt myself. All in all It was a good day, but I felt like I had the speed for the win, but I let this one slip away.”
Bell’s second-place finish may have ended his win streak, but he still has tight grip on the points lead. He extended his lead to thirty points over his closest competitor, Justin Jones, who finished seventh.
After a rough start to the year, Eric Yorba was finally able to claim a spot on the WORCS Pro podium with a third-place finish after making a last-lap pass on Justin Seeds. “I held the early lead, but I probably pushed a little too much,” said Yorba. “By the halfway point, I just tried to back it down a little bit, but in the last lap before the dunes, I could see Seeds ahead. So I gave it all that I had to make the pass for third, and hopefully this finish turns my year around.”
Precision Concept’s Justin Seeds just missed the final spot on the podium by less than one second in a dramatic battle to the finish.
RPM KTM’s Travis Coy also barely edged out Ivan Ramirez for a top-five finish as they raced wheel-to-wheel to the finish line. Coy gave it everything he had to hold off Ramirez, and collapsed shortly after reaching the checkered flag.
In the Pro 2 Class, Dalton Shirey claimed his second straight win to extend his points lead in the class over second-place finisher, Justin Wallis. Wallis would have won, but was penalized several minutes for speeding in the pits on two laps, which dropped him back to second place. Travis Damon rounded out the top three on the podium.
In the Pro 2 Lites class, Jeremy Newton claimed his first ever class win, and he did it on his birthday weekend, which made it even sweeter. Logan Chambers went down several times during the race, but he still managed to claim the second spot on the podium followed by Mitch Anderson.
Round six of the 2015 Rocky Mountain MC World Off-Road Championship Series presented by Maxxis and Dirt Bike returns to Utah on May 23-24th to Cedar City for the Iron Mine race, which is the last event before the two-month summer break.
Sand Hollow WORCS Pro Results:
1. Gary Sutherlin (KTM)
2. Robby Bell (Kaw)
3. Eric Yorba (KTM)
4. Justin Seeds (Kaw)
5. Travis Coy (KTM)
6. Ivan Ramirez (KTM)
7. Justin Jones (Hon)
8. Ryan Reina (Kaw)
9. Jesse Lundin (Yam)
10. Dylan Schmoke (KTM)
