2023 WORCS round 1 – Primm

Tyler’s race got off to the perfect beginning as his KX450X quickly fired to life on the dead engine start. As the field entered the first turn, Lynn was able to claim the point position for his own. From there, the course headed straight into the first pro section of logs and tractor tires. Tyler cleaned it well and opened up a few seconds worth of a gap. Over the next fifty minutes, the Kawasaki rider held a cushion of just under ten seconds over the pack of 450 pro racers behind. As the hour neared, and pit stops loomed, Lynn relinquished the lead momentarily when the Yamaha of Justin Hoeft stayed out an extra lap. Even so, Tyler was able to close back up to Hoeft and retake the lead the following lap, when Hoeft pitted, extending his overall advantage out past fifteen seconds.

During the early part of the second half of the race, the Honda of Cole Martinez made his way into second place and paced with Tyler. However, with just over thirty minutes to go, Tyler put in an effort to stretch the lead out further, which solidified his grasp on the top spot. As the checkered flag came out, Lynn crossed the line to take the first top-flight grand prix win of his career.

As the green flag flew, Zach’s bike was unfortunately slow to fire. This saw Bell slot into ninth place as the riders entered the log/tire section right off the start. Zach was quick to make a couple moves and pushed forward to sixth place early in the first lap. From there, Bell and his KX450X showed good pace, passing the likes of Martinez, Tallon LaFountaine and Mateo Oliveira to move into third place. Quickly after moving into third, Bell set his sights on Hoeft for second. However, as Zach was closely following, searching for a way through, the Kawasaki rider hit a bump he wasn’t prepared for, which bucked his feet off the pegs. The course then entered a high-speed corner, for which Zach wasn’t able to get his feet back on the pegs in time. He hit the outside berm at pace, which sent him flying into the desert in a vicious crash.

After getting on his bike and coming into the pits for some minor bike adjustments, Bell got back into the race outside the top-five. No doubt sore from the impact, Bell was still able to match the pace of the frontrunners through much of the event, making it up to fifth place and salvaging solid points by the time the checkers came out.