2024 WORCS Lake Havasu City Round 4 Results

| March 18, 2024

After a good battle in Northern California, in Marysville, the World Off Road Championship Series headed south to one of the WORCS Championship’s most physically challenging rounds of the year at Crazy Horse Campgrounds in Arizona’s Lake Havasu City, March 16-17.

Justin Hoeft at 2024 WORCS Lake Havasu City — **Justin Hoeft took the overall win at the Lake Havasu round of the WORCS Championship.**

Story & Photos by Connor Moore

The course at Crazy Horse Campgrounds is grueling from start to finish, with deep sand and huge rocks giving even the best riders challenges throughout the race. At least this year, they didn’t have to contend with the usual brutal heat, as temperatures were mild. Large crowds showed up as the event brought in more than 1300 entries, with spectators lining the beaches.

Justin Hoeft dominated the Pro 450-class racing. He put his Purvines Racing Yamaha YZ450F on top with his first win of the season, and Mason Semmens came from the back of the pack to put together another win in the Pro 250 class.

Dustyn Davis was on rails as he guided his GasGas to victory in the competitive Pro-Am class.

After dealing with cloudy weather and spotty showers earlier in the weekend, the weather on Sunday was at an all-time best for the Havasu race with a slight breeze and mid-70s temperatures.

A dead-engine start caused a shakeup early on as Tyler Lynn and Semmens started in the back of the pack with a stacked field of competition pulling away. Early in the race, a trio of riders, headlined by Hoeft, switched positions with Dare DeMartile and Cole Martinez while pushing their machines to the max.

Mason Semmens at 2024 WORCS Lake Havasu City — **Mason Semmens was the 250 Pro-class winner.**

The course at Havasu is one of the shorter ones on the circuit, with the leaders doing just over 20 laps, which made the ruts and holes a huge deciding factor in the race. At about the halfway point, DeMartile, aboard his Beta Liqui Moly Fiji Water 450, was sitting in third as Lynn battled with him and made a pass to put him right behind his teammate, Martinez. Clutch issues caused him to fall back after the halfway point as he toned it down to keep his points in good standings, falling back to fifth place.

Hoeft’s teammate Jack Simpson took advantage and put his bike into fourth place. As the dust settled, it was DeMartile in the third spot, battling with Martinez for the entirety of the race but could not make a pass stick. DeMartile’s solid ride keeps him in the points lead as the series approaches its halfway point at the next round.

Martinez grabbed the second spot again after an excellent ride on the beach course. But it was the Hoeft show, as he put on a clinic, pulled away from his competitors and achieved his first win of the season. He is now just seven points from DeMartile in the points standings.

This season, the Pro 250 class gets more exciting with each race; anyone in this class has the speed and potential to win, which keeps the points race interesting.

Jake Alvarez, riding his FMF/RPM Racing KTM, grabbed the holeshot and was flying, as he was one of the only riders to hit the significant step-down by the Lagoon Jump. Unfortunately for him, he had an early end to his day with a mechanical.

SLR Honda-backed Collier Martinez competed in his first WORCS of the season, and he showcased his smooth riding style and finished in fifth place.

Colton Aeck, Kai Aiello, Semmens and Cole Zeller put on a show for the fans in the Pro 250 class. Zeller and Semmens started near the back of the pack, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

Semmens shot up the leaderboard, going from last to first in just a few laps after being more than 10 seconds behind off the startline. Once he had the class lead, he kept it that way even after a minor crash left him without a visor in the second half of the race. He is now just one point ahead of Aeck in the 250 Pro-class championship points.

Another fantastic race of close battles continued as Zeller, who had come into this year absolutely on fire, continued that pace, keeping Semmens in his view and getting close after Semmens’ fall, but settled in for second place.

Kaitlyn Jacobs at 2024 WORCS Lake Havasu City — **Kaitlyn Jacobs won Saturday’s Women’s Pro race.**

Aeck put his Hatch Racing Kawasaki in third for the third time this season, as he and Aiello also had quite the battle, with the crowd cheering them on as they passed by on the beach every lap.

Davis was on rails all day in the Pro-Am class, leading wire to wire on his GasGas. He grabbed the holeshot, and it was all he needed to do to separate himself from the pack of riders.

A new rider to the WORCS Pro-Am division this season, Noah Gordon fought hard with current points leader Jackson Glathar, but just past the halfway point Glathar found himself on the ground for just a few seconds, allowing Gordon to pass. Gordon kept that position for the rest of the race. Glathar, however, extended his points lead with consistent podium finishes, making it three podiums out of four chances.

On Saturday, Kaitlyn Jacobs finished first in the Women’s Pro class.