RACE REPORT: WORCS #8 | Glen Helen

By Precision Concepts | September 20, 2016

BELL AND SEEDS BATTLE SCORCHING TEMPS AT GLEN HELEN WORCS

Riverside, CA (September 20, 2016) –

Temperatures breached the 100-degree mark at the always physically taxing Glen Helen venue for round eight of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC WORCS championship series. The conditions would push everyone physically, and after nearly three-months off the bike with a severely broken collarbone, series points leader, Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, Precision Concepts, Maxxis Racing’s Robby Bell was feeling less than a hundred percent, and surprised even himself as he was able to hold on to a third place finish at the checkers.

“I can’t believe I got third today!” commented an ecstatic Bell, post-race, “All I have to say is not too bad for pretty much coming straight off the couch. My collarbone’s still a couple weeks from being fully healed, but I’d done some limited training for a couple weeks, and got on the bike for the first time in nearly three months on Monday, so I was pretty nervous as to how my body, and especially my shoulder, was going to hold up.”

Bell got off to a mid-pack start and was able to work his way into second place just past the halfway point of the two-hour event. “At the pit stops [about the midway point of the race] I was inching on Eric [Yorba] and I thought I might even have the win in me. Then a lap later I was like, ‘Nope, don’t have it’ and I backed it down a little to survive to the finish.”

Blayne Thompson made a late-race pass on Robby, who admittedly didn’t put up too much fight at that point, pushing him back to third, but the finish was good enough to pull a few more points in the championship, giving Bell a nine point lead as the series heads to the finale in a month’s time.

Robby’s Rocky Mountain ATV/MC teammate, Justin Seeds woke up feeling less than his best, which wasn’t good news on such a physically demanding day. “It was weird. I woke up on the day with zero energy. I tried everything to turn it around, but nothing helped so I basically went to the line with no energy at all.”

An early-race mistake didn’t help Justin either as while he was battling for sixth place on the first lap he lost traction in a freshly watered corner, nearly falling to the floor and allowing numerous riders by. Pushing through his ailment, Justin was able to come back from twelfth place on the first lap to finish ninth as the checkered flag came out, salvaging points to keep him in fifth place in the championship, just one point out of fourth.

Both riders take to the track again at the sixth round of the MSR Big 6 Grand Prix championship on October 1st.