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BARON WINS, AND GROSSE LANDS ON PODIUM IN 1ST PRO RACE

The Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS series is back with a bang to start the 2023 season. To kick off the season, we headed to the newly renovated Buffalo Bills Casino in Primm, Nevada, with just over a 7-mile course to battle it out on. Beau Baron, last year’s champion and 10x WORCS champion, would return and race his unique TRX450/CRF450 hybrid quad, and lots of new additions to each of the pro classes were a great thing to see. Womens Pro would be the first of the pro classes to hit the course racing on Saturday and saw Torey Matajcich take home the win, hoping to redo her championship season in 2022. Uriah Tsinnijinnie won his first-ever Pro-AM race beating his previous best, a second-place finish last season. After a heated battle between the two for most of the race, Baron would win the season opener over Travis Damon.

For the pro race on Sunday, there would be a few pro sections that included a rock garden and “raw” sections that allowed riders to choose their line through ungroomed sections. Still, the big one was the endurocross section which had four k-rails that suspended a log which caused quite the backup on the second lap of the race.  Braxton Grosse looked as if he shot out of a rocket on the first lap, grabbing the holeshot on his first-ever Pro race, but a big crash had him falling back to 5th place on the first lap. Perry Concepts Racing rider Travis Damon would capitalize and take the lead at the end of the first lap with a ten-second split from Baron. Each lap, Baron would shave a few seconds till the 4th, where Baron made a pass on Damon in the back to grab the lead and begin setting the pace with the open air in front of him. Baron adds some more hardware to his collection as he takes the win at the season opener, which saw him land on two podiums in the three classes he would compete in. Damon would finish in second, which also compliments his 1st place finish in the first 125 Pro race earlier in the weekend. After the first lap, Grosse would sit in 5th place behind Roberto Villalovos and Auston Baxter, but that would not stop him as he would put his head down and shave time off each lap and, by the 4th lap, saw him past Villalovos for the 3rd place spot where he would finish for the day.

Pro-AM had quite the wild beginning of the race, with the brother/sister duo of Cole and Layne Fryar coming in 1-2 after the first lap. Sadly, Layne would have trouble with the Pro section, and Cole would have a mechanical problem putting them out of contention for a podium spot, but I’m sure they will be back in Delano ready to battle. With the shakeup early in the race, Tsinnijinnie took quick advantage going from 4th to 1st in the second lap and not looking back as he finished in first place 25 seconds ahead of second place. Pedro Montes and Steven Lopes would be in striking distance for most of the race until the 6th lap when Lopes fell behind but still could secure that 3rd spot, with Montes landing himself on the box in second place.

There was some new firepower in the Women’s Pro Class as Dakota Hibler would snag the holeshot in front of Fryar and Matajcich to show there were some new ladies on the block. Hibler finished in 5th, but don’t count her out; she will be back just as strong in Delano. Matajcich would find her groove being the only one in her class to drop into the 12-minute mark, and she did it in style with a 12:09 and would finish over 5 minutes ahead of her competition. Heidi Colman, another fresh face to the pro class, made a last-lap pass to secure the second position over Donna Espensen, who settled for third place in the season’s first round.

We want to thank all the sponsors, workers, and especially the racers who came to round one of the 2023 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS Series. We hope to see everyone at Delano for the second round on February 10-12th!

SAXTON WINS IN NEW POLARIS TURBO R AT SEASON OPENER.

The 2023 Season has arrived for the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS series, with the action returning to Primm, Nevada, right behind the Renovated Buffalo Bills Resort & Casino. Pro Stock would line up on Saturday evening without last year’s champion Brayden Baker who suffered a big crash while testing his desert car this offseason; we hope for a quick recovery and to see him back contesting for the championship soon! On Sunday, Pro Production would line up with some new faces and machines, with Braden Judge, son of champion Beau Judge making the jump to the class and Beau Baron switching from a Polaris over to a brand new 2022 Honda Talon. They battled it out over a just under 7-mile course with old and new terrain that proved rough for many of the racers.

The Pro Stock class saw Sebastian Marquez move up from the 1000 class in his Polaris RS1 to compete with some of the best in the business. As the green flag dropped, Cayden MacCachren and Marquez would find themselves out front battling into the first turn, with Marquez getting the advantage as the dust settled. MacCachren was on the move, but a slight mistake when he overjumped a table before heading into the off-road section caused him to slow down as he had discomfort from the rough finishing in 4th place just under 2 minutes behind 3rd place. Baron racing his brand new Honda Talon, which had a whopping 6 miles on the odometer before this race, put his car through the paces battling with the top racers finishing on the box in 3rd. The battle for the lead was a good one, with Casey Sims and Marquez challenging each other with only a few seconds separating them for the first three laps. Sims would put down the fastest lap with a time of 10:43, also passing Marquez in the same lap. He wouldn’t allow Marquez the opportunity to pass again, finishing on top of the box and taking the first win of the season, with Marquez finishing 18 seconds behind in 2nd place.

Pro Production would bring the heavy hitters out to play, with Shawn Saxton debuting his brand-new Polaris Turbo R build and Braden Judge driving one of his dad’s old cars while Judge finishes his brand new car which he will debut later this year. As they lined up based on last year’s point standing, we would see Judge and Saxton fly into the first corner together and put on quite the show for the beginning of the race. Judge found himself in the lead with Saxton on his bumper for the first two laps, almost causing him to rollover as he went over a berm while blinded by the sand from Judge. After the third lap, Judge would find himself having some mechanical troubles leaving him only one working wheel by the end of the race, salvaging himself a 5th place finish. Once Saxton got around Judge it was a clear track allowing him to set his own pace while breaking in his Polaris Turbo R, finishing just over a minute from the second-place finisher. Both 2nd and 3rd battled from the second row to land themselves on the podium. Larry Heidler arrived to the races this season with a fresh car as over the off-season, he went through the entire vehicle to get it prepared for the new season and came out swinging, fighting his way back up, being only a minute behind Saxton. Braden Judge, who had some practice at the last round of the year in his dad’s car, would make the official jump this year, and he did it with a bang! On the final lap, he would pass Baron on corrected time by just 4 seconds to take the final spot on the podium as Baron would have trouble getting around Beau Judge on the tight track.

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We want to thank all the sponsors, workers, and especially the racers who came to round one of the 2023 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS Series. We hope to see everyone at Delano for the second round on February 10-12th!

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