Eric Yorba tops the 29th Annual Shamrocks/Doug Heil Memorial Grand Prix, round five of the AMA District 37/MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series.
Story and Photos by Mark Kariya
An unexpected early morning storm created some chaos at the 29th Annual Shamrocks/Doug Heil Memorial Grand Prix, round five of the AMA District 37/MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series. With a flash flood taking out part of the new course, the Shamrocks Motorcycle Club members found themselves scrambling to create a way around the damaged section while the majority of competitors steeled themselves for a very muddy day.
And while most of them aren’t fond of racing in the slop, Maxxis/FMF/RPM Racing KTM’s Eric Yorba isn’t one of them. In fact, the 2014 Big 6 champ declared, “I love the mud! I got my first Big 6 win in the mud at Glen Helen three years ago.”
But at the Pro level, most guys can ride mud pretty well. Besides, the only really muddy portion of the nearly eight-mile-long course was the motocross and off-road truck tracks. Out in the desert at the Primm, Nevada, property, it was predominantly sand, which did a great job of soaking up much of the storm’s precipitation.
Though Yorba got an excellent start, young rival Dalton Shirey came from about fifth place off the line to power into the lead, the Zip-Ty Racing Husqvarna rider also very comfortable in the conditions. In addition, he also had some momentum, having won the latest WORCS race.
“Yeah, I was thinking two [wins] in a row,” he said. “I was like, ‘Dude, this would be awesome! Two in a row would be a hell of a week. It would show it wasn’t a fluke, me winning Sand Hollow.”
Yorba said he could see that Shirey was riding really fast.
“I thought to myself, I said, ‘I kind of want to pace myself,’ but I knew if I backed it down a little bit, Dalton would just get away from me,” Yorba said. “So I knew, just push and stay with him as much as I could. Try to force a mistake, try to tire him out.”
Yorba’s persistence paid off as he was close enough to take advantage when Shirey began to slow while dealing with arm pump, the KTM rider taking the lead for good less than an hour into the 90-minute AMA Big 6 West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) Series feature race.
When the checkered flag came out on the ninth lap, the clock showed Yorba winning in one hour, 33 minutes and 3 seconds, Shirey filing in at 1:34:48 and Fasthouse Yamaha’s Blayne Thompson third in 1:36:51 after having gone the wrong direction on suspension setup. The winner of the first two rounds of the series, Thompson remains atop the points chase with 117, Yorba moving from fourth to second at 108, unofficially.
Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/Precision Concepts Kawasaki teammates Justin Seeds and Robby Bell finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with Bell falling from second to third in points at 96, unofficially. But in light of a small oil leak from the first lap, Bell considered himself lucky to have finished. Coming into the race, he was tied with reigning Big 6 champ Colton Udall, but the Ox Motorsports Honda rider DNFed with a reported clutch issue.
Ryan Reina, Michael DelFante, Benny Breck, Justin Wallis and Travis Damon rounded out the top 10 overall followed by the top three WCGP Pro 2 riders: CST Honda’s Beau Baron (his first-ever Pro 2 triumph), CST KTM’s Mitch Anderson and 3 Bros. Husqvarna’s Nick Stover. Unofficially, Baron turned the tables on his teammate and now leads WCGP Pro 2, 119-116.
The series now takes its traditional summer break with round six taking place in Ridgecrest, California, on October 1-2.
Results are available at www.big6racing.com.
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