By the Staff of Dirt Wheels – Photos by Activate Photography
We’re only at round two of a nine-race season, and the pro-action is already an all-out gunfight. YFZ450R racer Travis Damon #2 did his homework during the short off-season, and it showed at round 1 in Taft, CA, where he pulled off the first win of the season, but not without the Honda riders #23 Braxton Grosse and #1 Beau Baron right on the heels of his Alpinestars. The three riders crossed the finish line with less than three seconds separating first and third.
Fast forward to round 2, and the racing has intensified. Baron got the holeshot with Grosse and Damon right behind him through Glen Helen’s famous banked high-speed Talladega turn. As the pro class completed lap one, the leaders came through the motocross section together with mere seconds separating the pack. YFZ rider #814 Logan Huff had the lead with #506 Cole Fryar, #362 Kenny Sanford, #61 Cody Sanford, #33 Austin Baxter, and #20 Joseph Semas all bunched up right behind him. Still, Baron, Grosse, and Damon were nowhere to be seen, as explained in the video below.
“Braxton hit a tough block behind me and crashed, and then Travis hit it and crashed too,” Baron told us in a post-race interview. He continued: “Braxton’s Honda was broken, and the block was in the track, causing the rest of the riders to go in the wrong direction. Travis and I were the only ones who completed the full first lap, and we ended up behind everybody, but we passed them all, so there were no questions at the finish.”
At the beginning of the last two seasons, and now coming into his mid-40s, 11-time WORCS champion Beau Baron talks like he might relax with nothing left to prove, but all bets are off as soon as the green flag drops. He was a full minute down in eighth place with the mixup after lap one but climbed to third place by lap three and took the lead on lap 5. Even more impressive, Baron turned in the race’s fastest lap on the final lap.
Damon came in nearly a half minute behind Baron on lap one but quickly moved up to the front of the pack by lap five and moved into second place by the eighth lap. Damon took the checkers just 19 seconds behind Baron. Cody Sanford earned the final podium spot, with his brother Kenny Sanford finishing in the same minute for fourth place.
1 #1 BEAU BARON – HON 9 LAPS 01:27:28.786
2 #2 TRAVIS DAMON – YAM 9 LAPS 01:27:48.126
3 #61 CODY SANFORD – HON 9 LAPS 01:29:02.000
4 #362 KENNY SANFORD – HON 9 LAPS 01:29:45.000
5 #814 LOGAN HUFF – YAM 9 LAPS 01:32:02.000
6 #20 JOSEPH SEMAS – YAM 9 LAPS 01:33:28.000
7 #974 LAYNE FRYAR – YAM 8 LAPS 01:30:36.000
8 #506 COLE FRYAR – YAM 5 LAPS 00:55:55.000
DNF #33 AUSTON BAXTER
DNS #23 BRAXTON GROSSE
PRO POINTS AFTER ROUND 2
1 #2. TRAVIS DAMON- YAM 47
2 #1 BEAU BARON – HON 45
3 #814 LOGAN HUFF – YAM 31
4 #20 JOSEPH SEMAS – YAM 29
5 #506 COLE FRYAR – YAM 29
6 #332 BRAXTON GROSSE – HON 22
7 #2117 CODY SANFORD – HON 20
8 #33 AUSTON BAXTER – YAM 18
9 #362 KENNY SANFORD – HON 18
10 #974 LAYNE FRYAR – YAM 14
16 Pro-Am racers filled the gate, a promising sign for the future of pro-ATV racing on the West Coast. Wyatt Rock and Justin Semas finished just 14 seconds apart to claim the top two spots on the podium and were the only two racers to complete all nine laps. This was a solid win for Rock after he was left with a DNF at round one; Eduardo Rojas finished out the podium. Semas and Rojas lead the points race after two rounds, with seven points separating them. Rock sits 7th in points but has seven more rounds to make up the difference
1 #38 WYATT ROCK – HON 9 LAPS 01:34:27.971
2 #50 JUSTIN SEMAS – YAM 9 LAPS 01:34:41.727
3 #771 EDUARDO ROJAS – HON 8 LAPS 01:28:45.129
4 #122. MASON DEL GATTO – YAM 8 LAPS 01:28:49.949
5 #27 DANIEL ENCISO – SUZ 8 LAPS 01:30:03.877
6 #523 DAVEN DESILVA – YAM 8 LAPS 01:30:13.756
7 #505 TRAVIS TARNO – YAM 8 LAPS 01:31:03.600
8 #43 ANTHONY BAXTER – HON 8 LAPS 01:33:36.459
9 #32 JAYTYN CHRISTENSEN – YAM 8 LAPS 01:33:59.239
10 #380 JULYSSA PESQUEIRA – HON 8 LAPS 01:34:53.327
11 #243 LANDEN JOHNSON – YAM 8 LAPS 01:35:48.415
12 #385. JOHN WARICK – KAW ` 8 LAPS 01:36:30.266
13 #74 TROY SUDBERRY – YAM 7 LAPS 01:26:07.889
14 #131 GAGE LEAVER – YAM 7 LAPS 01:28:35.611
15 #386 RYLAN STEADMAN – YAM 7 LAPS 01:28:37.112
DNF #26 HEIDI COLMAN – YAM
Torey Matajcich is no stranger to the top step of the Women’s Pro Class podium, as she once again was first to the checkered flag. But Layne Fryar was just nine seconds behind for a second-place finish. Fryar also stepped up on Sunday for what might be a WORCS first: a female racer in the Main Pro race! This is a trend we would like to see continue. How about it, Torey?
Multi-time GNCC champion Hannah Hunter made her way from Pennsylvania to try out some West Coast XC racing. While WORCS doesn’t have the tighter and more technical trails she’s used to racing on, Hunter still managed to claim the final podium spot on her first WORCS outing.
1 #1w TOREY MATAJCICH – YAM 4 LAPS 00:51:16.210
2 #974 LAYNE FRYAR – YAM 4 LAPS 00:51:25.757
3 #718 HANNAH HUNTER – HON 4 LAPS 00:54:32.050
4 #380 JULYSSA PESQUEIRA – HON 4 LAPS 00:58:01.216
5 #548 BAILEY BARON – HON 3 LAPS 00:48:56.389
6 #101 DONNA ESPENSEN – HON 3 LAPS 00:49:10.174
7 #26 HEIDI COLMAN – YAM 3 LAPS 00:49:23.442
8 #57 DAKOTA HIBLER – YAM 3 LAPS 00:51:01.051
For more information, go to the WORCS Racing website with this link.
