| April 12, 2022
The Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS Series headed to the hills of Taft, California, and Honolulu Hills Raceway, April 9-10. Racers were challenged by a long course that produced lap times in the mid nine-minute range. Sunday’s Pro race saw quite a shift on the podium, as the top three in points coming in all had issues. Trevor Stewart took full advantage of this and claimed his first WORCS win.
Story and Photos by Connor Moore
In Pro 250, however, Mateo Oliveira continued his perfect season aboard his FMF/RPM KTM.
Collier Martinez took the Pro-Am victory, while Brandy Richards topped the Women’s Pro class.
Stewart, aboard his Purvines Racing Yamaha, put together quite a ride. He pulled the holeshot in front of Justin Hoeft, who was battling in second for a long time.
“Justin and I were able to pace ourselves for what felt like an hour or hour-30 at least, but then he ended up going down, which left me with quite the gap,” said Stewart.
Hoeft, on the Kilmartin/3BrosRacing Husqvarna, put together his best finish of the season, landing on the podium for the first time this season. He kept Stewart in check for most of this race but fell twice, allowing Stewart to pull away. Hoeft crossed the finish line by more than a minute behind Stewart.
Occupying the third step of the podium was first-timer Tyler Lynn on the Precision Concepts Kawasaki. He has two fourth-place finishes on the year but this time was able to fight his way up onto the podium.
“Taft is dry this time of year, and track conditions were different from any other time I’ve raced here, and it was hard-packed,” said Lynn who obviously mixed well with the conditions.
The track claimed many riders. Points leader Dante Oliveira went down hard and luckily was okay, but the same could not be said for his motorcycle. The FMF/KTM rider was forced to pit for repairs and salvaged fourth.
Walton had issues with his rear wheel and was forced to pit for repairs, as well. He got going again and took fifth approximately 15 seconds ahead of Giacomo Redondi’s GasGas.
Honda rider Cole Martinez ran out of gas but was able to recover and finish in seventh and grab some valuable points.
Despite finishing off the podium, Oliveira still enjoys a comfortable lead in the 450 Pro-class Championship, but it’s close behind him. Oliveira has 93 points to Stewart’s 77. Walton is third with 74, followed by Lynn with 71. Martinez is fourth with 66 points.
Mateo Oliveira led all but the first lap in the 250 Pro class. Once he passed Kai Aiello, who had crashed with another rider, for the lead on the second lap, Oliveira slowly pulled away from the field. Three laps from the end, Oliveira enjoyed a comfortable 27-second lead over SLR Honda rider Jack Simpson, who also got around Aiello on lap two.
“I overrode in the beginning, which made for some mistakes, but we got it done,” said Oliveira.
Simpson officially finished 18.449 seconds behind Oliveira.
Purvines Racing Yamaha rider Thomas Dunn took the checkers another two-plus minutes behind Simpson.
Aiello dropped out of the race on lap 10 (of 14) with a mechanical related to his earlier crash.
Oliveira has a perfect 100 points in the race for the 250 Pro Championship; Simpson is second with 86 points, followed by Dunn with 76. Aiello is just another three points back.
SLR Honda’s Collier Martinez kept his perfect record going in the Pro-Am class by taking his fourth win in a row. He led all 13 laps.
Saturday’s Women’s Pro winner Brandy Richards was second in Sunday’s Pro-Am race on her Elite Racing LTM.
KTM rider Matt Canepa was third Pro-Am.
Mica Diaz (Yamaha) and Kaitlyn Jacobs (KTM) filled the Women’s Pro podium on Saturday along with winner Richards. Richards leads the class on points, 100-82, on Diaz. Jacobs and Lauren Woods are tied for third.
450 PRO
- Trevor Stewart (Yam)
- Justin Hoeft (Hus)
- Tyler Lynn (Kaw)
- Dante Oliveira (KTM)
- Austin Walton (Hus)
250 PRO
- Mateo Oliveira (KTM)
- Jack Simpson (Hon)
- Thomas Dunn (Yam)
- Colton Aeck (KTM)
- Kai Aiello (Hus)
PRO-AM
- Collier Martinez (Hon)
- Brandy Richards (KTM)
- Matt Canepa (KTM)
- Destry Stewart (KTM)
- Hayden Flores (Yam)