WORCS ATV DIRT DIARIES ROUND 1 AT HONOLULU HILLS RACEWAY TAFT,CA VIDEO CREATOR @MotoEffeX

WORCS kicked off the 2024 racing season January 5-7 at Honolulu Hills MX in Taft, California, and Sunday’s Pro class battle is possibly one of the best we’ve ever seen. Missing from the pro lineup, Kenny and Cody Sandford had transport trouble, forcing them to skip the race. Travis Damon came to round one with a new strategy after putting time ion during the short break from the 2023 season. He’s focused on getting better starts and riding smart to retain endurance for 90 minutes start to finish. Racing was tight between Damon and Braxton Grosse from the gate drop to the end, with Damon leading all but the 6th lap. Beau Baron had a little catching up to do early in the race, but turned up the heat on lap 6 with the fastest lap of the weekend. When the checkered flag came out, it was Damon, Grosse, Baron with just 3 seconds between 1st and 3rd place!

1st         #2          TRAVIS DAMON – YAMAHA          9 Laps   01:26:09.649

2nd       #23        BRAXTON GROSSE – HONDA       9 Laps   01:26:11.097

3rd        #1          BEAU BARON – HONDA               9 Laps   01:26:12.471

4th        #33        AUSTON BAXTER – YAMAHA       9 Laps   01:30:04.025

5th        #506      COLE FRYAR – YAMAHA                9 Laps   01:30:42.962

6th        #814      LOGAN HUFF – YAMAHA              9 Laps   01:31:26.090

7th        #20        JOSEPH SEMAS – YAMAHA          9 Laps   01:32:14.166

In Pro-Am, the top three finishers were the only ones to complete nine laps and all finished on the same minute. Long time WORCS racer Johnny Shafe led most of the race after previously the Open A class and competing in the 30+ dirt bike class, and was the only Pro-Am racer turn a lap in under 10 minutes. But Justin Semas turned in more consistent times every lap and made the pass on the 8th lap and increased his lead by a half minute to the checkers. On the final lap, Eduardo Rojas was knocking on Shafe’s back door, but couldn’t make the pass with just three seconds separating 2nd and third. 2023 Pro-Am champion Gage Leaver started out the 2024 season with a DNF on lap one, but with there’s plenty of racing ahead so we expect him to climb back up the ladder quickly.

1st         #50        JUSTIN SEMAS – YAM                   9 Laps   01:33:21.091

2nd       #398      JOHNNY SHAFE – HON                 9 Laps   01:33:53.748

3rd        #771      EDUARDO ROJAS – HON               9 Laps   01:33:56.477

4th        #523      DAVEN DESILVA – YAM                 8 Laps   01:29:17.985

5th        #243      LANDEN JOHNSON – YAM            8 Laps   01:30:06.519

6th        #27        DANIEL ENCISO – SUZUKI             8 Laps   01:30:40.682

7th        #505      TRAVIS TARNO – YAMAHA           8 Laps   01:30:53.357

8th        #74        TROY SUDBERRY – YAMAHA        8 Laps   01:34:37.329

9th        #32        JAYTYN CHRISTENSEN – YAM       8 Laps   01:35:10.551

10th      #386      RYLAN STEADMAN – YAM            7 Laps   01:15:20.933

11th      #380      JULYSSA PESQUEIRA –  HON        7 Laps   01:31:04.595

DNF       #122.    MASON DEL GATTO – YAM

DNF       #131      GAGE LEAVER – YAM

DNF       #38        WYATT ROCK – HON