Graffunder Gains Traction, Bonds Just Outside Top 10
March 2 – Corona, CA – Despite the threat of “the storm of the century,” the majority of the wet stuff held off at the second round of 2011 WORCS series in Primm, Nevada. In fact the cool weather and lack of dust worked to Team Zip-Ty Husqvarna Racing Cory Graffunder’s favor as he grabbed another podium position. However he had to battle a tough break when he broke his brakes!
“I had a bad start and then a rock hit my front brake lever on the second straight, so I raced the whole way with no front brakes,” says Graffunder of his bit of bad luck. “It was difficult riding with no front brakes at first, but I started to push harder in the last half hour and made up some time.” He also made up several positions to finish a hard fought third to get on the podium again. Combined with his third place finish at the first round in Taft, Graffunder moves up into second over all in the chase for the WORCS Pro 2 title, just seven points out of first. “It’s a long season, but I would rather be leading than trying to play catch-up!”
After experiencing one of the first real mud races of his life at the aptly named Deep Creek Western Hare Scrambles a week earlier, “Desert Master” Nick Burson arrived prepared for a mudfest at Primm, but it failed to materialize. There was some standing water on the course, but the traction was perfect and dust wasn’t an issue. “I had the weekend off, but decided to do the WORCS race for some training,” says the defending U.S. Desert Racing #1 plate holder.
For 2011, the WORCS series features a new format with pros racing two one-hour motos. “It took me about half the race to start feeling comfortable on Saturday. I finally started feeling good and moved up a couple of spots.” Burson used Sunday’s second moto to race test some tweaks to his new TXC511. “It was a good weekend of practice for me because I finished both days and had no crashes.”
See the entire Husqvarna Motorcycle lineup ( http://heroesridehuskys.com/pages/11motorcycles.html )
After finishing well inside the top 10 at WORCS Round #1, former pro motocrosser and 2008 series champ Bobby Bonds had looked forward to improving upon his 7th place Taft finish. Unfortunately, bad luck struck “Bondo” at Primm forcing him off of his normal rapid pace. However with eight WORCS series events still to go, Bonds is focused on moving up from 12th position in the series standings. “Plenty of time to catch up!” he says.