2022 Glen Helen WORCS

As the gate dropped to release the pack of 450 pro riders onto the course, Tyler didn’t get the greatest jump off the line. The KX450X-rider was quick to recover, though, and pushed his way up to fifth through the first couple corners. Shortly into the first lap, Lynn then made a pass by Trevor Stewart, which left just Austin Walton, Cole Martinez and Dante Oliveira ahead of him.

As the opening thirty minutes of the race saw the riders settle in, a bit of a gap had opened up between the top-three riders and Tyler, who found himself in a three-way battle for fourth with Stewart, and Dare Demartille. Lynn held a strong pace, but was caught in a bad line behind a lapped rider, which opened the door for Demartille to pass by. Then, shortly after, Tyler caught his foot on the lip of the “hip jump” on the MX track. Tyler’s feet came flying off in mid-air, but the Kawasaki rider was fortunately able to save it as he landed. While he took a moment to regroup, Stewart was able to push by.

As the riders came in to pit, right around the hour mark, Tyler looked to remount a charge. Just a couple corners after exiting the pits, Lynn was able to out-power Demartille up a hill for fifth. Then, the next lap, he out-broke Stewart into a corner, right in front of the pits, to take back fourth place. From there, Tyler put in impressive lap times—he had moved to third place as Martinez crashed and needed to repair his bike. With thirty minutes to go, Lynn had out time into Walton for second and looked to have a shot at catching him.

Then, with twenty minutes to go, tragedy struck Tyler’s race as his rear tire suffered abnormal damage and he had to slow his pace. Lynn limped it to the pits and the team changed a rear wheel in time to get Tyler back on track in sixth place, where he would eventually cross the finish line.

There was a surprise addition to the full row of Vet racers on Saturday, as Blayne Thompson returned to the WORCS series to race Vet Pro. Blayne had uncovered some serious health issues over the past couple years. So, it was great to see him back at the races, and he definitely hadn’t lost much in the way of speed.

As the Vet race took off, Robby pushed to third around the first turn, from the far outside. Through the next couple corners, Bell overtook second place, and found himself right behind Thompson. Blayne’s early-race speed was tough to match, and he stretched away from Bell through the first couple laps. Then, just around the midway point of the race, Robby began reeling him back in. Bell put in a good effort to get right onto the rear wheel of Thompson. The Kawasaki rider was then was able to get a better drive up a hill and motor by to take the lead. From there, Bell was able to stretch a gap and take the win.