Riverdale Raceway WORCS, Toutle, WA 2007
- Updated: June 17, 2007
WORCS Round 6
Riverdale Raceway
Toutle, WA
June 17, 2007
photos, video and story by Jeff Bertuzzi
Doug signs the goggles he just gave to a young fan
One of the great things about WORCS racing is the diverse race settings; one month you’re in the desert, the next you’re racing in tight trees and the cool weather of Washington, with Mt. St. Helens peaking over the horizon (when the clouds part that is).
Speaking of Mt. St. Helens, Riverdale Raceway was actually built on the mud flow from the Mt. St Helens eruption; so all the trees that caused so much havoc for the racers, weren’t even around 27 years ago.
With 556 entries, round 6 was the biggest of the year so far; it was a great turn out and the weather was perfect for racing. Even though the high was around 70 degrees and it rained often, the track was in perfect condition. Well… it was in perfect condition, until the 556 quads went around it at least four times each! This caused the roots of those young trees to become exposed, making some deep holes, and nasty ruts; I was having enough of a problem trying not to hit the parts that were above ground, let alone being pounded by the parts that should be covered by dirt! No lie, in the unclassified (paid practice) I hit the same tree two laps in a row. On the contrary, the motocross track held up perfectly the whole weekend. All in all the track was a good blend of some big jumps, with a few tables and doubles, with a small whoop section and a few singles with a whoop area to land on.
Pro Production
Mitchell & Shafe take two different lines through the tricky log section.
With 11 Pros on the line, Doug Eichner took the lead right from the start on his 525 Polaris Outlaw. Eichner led from start to finish and took and easy win over the second place #49, Dillon Zimerman, finishing 17 seconds in front of Dillon. Wait a minute, Dillon is a Production A rider? If he took second that means that he left 30 seconds after the Pro’s and he would have had to have passed all but one of the Pros! And the next interesting fact is he is 14 years old and he doesn’t ride with gloves, nice ride Dillon. In third place it was also a Production A rider, Andrew Lattimar, who also is in the under 18 category, if you added their ages together Eichner would still have about 10 years on them (I would have a few years as well). The forth overall finisher was a Pro rider, Denny Dedrum Jr. of Oregon, who put in a good ride.
Open Pro
Josh takes his fifth win of the season.
The Open Pro had 10 riders, with Eichner, Schell, and Fredrick using this race for practice, it allows one of the other Pros to take home the cash. Jeremy Schell put down one of his patented holeshots, except he forgot he had to turn and blew the first corner allowing Eichner to slip into the lead. Later in the race, Eichner went back to the start and practiced his starts, which may have backfired in the big race on Sunday. John Shafe held down first place until the end, where Robbie Mitchell was able to pass him for the win. Shafe held down second place and once again we had an Amateur in the top three; Justin Waters was running strong this weekend and would have finished third in this class if he wasn’t still an amateur.
Sundays Pro Race
With 19 Pros on the line and only 14 spots, some of the slower qualifiers had to line up on the back row (I had the same fate in the Pro-Am). With Schell blowing the first turn in the Open Pro race, Eichner working his starts, and at the last round Frederick was caught in a pile up, this was going to be an interesting first turn. After the gate dropped Schell was out front to no one’s surprise, but with much surprise to all was who was in second place! In the two spot was Frederick, the man who usually can’t buy a start, he usually isn’t warmed up till the second lap. This meant trouble for Eichner and Schell and the other Pros. In the Pro riders meeting Sean Redish announced that there was a split section on the riverbed wash and according to Sean the right lane looked a bit quicker. Boy was he wrong! Eichner, Schell, and few other Pro and Pro-Am riders including myself all lost positions when they took the right lane. Schell went to the right and Fredrick went left and Josh was gone, well that is until he got a flat and Jeremy took the lead back. But Jeremy got a small case of arm pump and Frederick got him back by in the log and tire section, which was added only to the Pro & Pro-Am race. Eichner was able to secure the third position after dropping back to sixth place after taking the right lane through the riverbed. With this win, Josh Frederick took a commanding lead going into the summer break. Jeremy Schell’s second place puts him within three points of second place, Doug Eichner, who finished in third place.
After the summer break the Epic boys (Josh & Jeremy) will be known as the Can-Am Epic boys. They will finish off the last half of the season on the new DS450, which they will debut at the July 22 Glen Helen Quad cross.
Pro-am Report
With so many young up and comers in the Pro-Am class (and a few not so young J), I felt they deserved a few words. With Waters and Zimmerman winning the Production A and the Open A races, and with this event being in Lattimar’s home state, it was sure to be a battle to the finish. Off the start Waters and Zimmerman did pretty good until the first turn (I know because I was lined up behind them) then Waters bobbled to the inside and Zimmerman drifted wide, this put them back into 7th and 8th place after the first lap. Both battled back to the front where Lattimar was in second the whole race until the end where Zimmerman passed him. Waters took the lead on the third lap and ran a solid race and took the win.
Pro:
1. Josh Frederick
2. Jeremy Schell
3. DOug Eicnher
4. Levi Marana
5. Robbie Mitchell
6. Brandon Brown
7. Timothy Shelman
8. Zack Herrera
9. John Schafe
10. Justin Zembo
Pro-Am:
1. Justin Waters
2. Dillon Zimmerman
3. Drew Lattimar
4. Bronson Bundy
5. Paul Wilkerson
