Las Vegas NV – GPS Offroad Products saw tremendous success this past weekend with their first ever WORCS Pro podium as well as a first and third place in the highly competitive Pro Am class. After suffering mechanical issues at each of the first three rounds Dillon Zimmerman has been hungry for a finish, not to mention a win, and after Fridays unclassified race, felt like this might be the track to do it.

The fourth round of the World Offroad Championship series was held at the incredibly scenic Sand Hollow State Park.  Race fans could enjoy not only some of the best offroad racing action on the west coast but also some amazing bass fishing or swimming in Sand Hollow Reservoir throughout the weekend.

The course itself was a 13 mile loop through the red sands of southern Utah with a couple sections taking riders through the actual dunes themselves.  Because of the sandy conditions, ruts and deep whoops developed over the weekend, greatly altering what the racers had experienced during Fridays Unclassified race.

When the green flag dropped, Keith Johnson nabbed his second holeshot of the season aboard his Goldspeed Racing Products equipped TRX450.  Johnson would lead much of the first lap until an unfortunate crash would move him to the rear.  Despite being in pain, Johnson managed to ride the remainder of the race and salvage an 8th place finish.

From the dead engine start, Zimmerman left the line in 4th position right behind Dustin Nelson.  He managed to make a pass on the Yamaha rider where the course split near mile marker three.  Nelson chose the whooped out line and Zimmerman let his JRI Shocks do the work through a rough, rocky section to make the pass.

As the race wore on, riders became more and more spread out and Zimmerman managed to hold the third place position all the way to the finish giving him his first podium of the season.  “The track was super rough but that’s what I prefer because my shocks work great in the rough stuff,” said Zimmerman.  “I came into this round not as conditioned as I should have been but I was able to hang on to third place and my GPS Offroad Products/JRI/Can Am DS450 was working great.”

Collins Webster had trouble coming off the line from the dead engine start and would be forced to start from the rear.  He made up several positions on the first lap, passing all the way up to fourth place but a crash would drop him to 7th where he would remain for the rest of the race.

For Pro-Am rider David Flores, Sand Hollow was the round of firsts.  After earning his first ever Pro-Am podium at Havasu with a second, Flores was eager to stand on the top step of the box.  Not only did he manage to nab the Pro-Am holeshot but Flores held the lead from start to finish giving him the victory and his first Pro-Am overall.

After sucking sand into his motor in the Production A race, Chandler Waxman was unsure if he would even make it to the line for the Pro-Am race, let alone be able to finish.  “The oil filter was literally caked with sand when we took it out after the first race,” said Mark Waxman, Chandler’s father.  “We just flushed it several times with diesel fuel and hoped it would hold together.”

By some miracle it did and Waxman was able to ride all the way to his first Pro-Am podium with a third place finish.

Series points leader Mike Sloan was looking for redemption after his chain fiasco in Havasu and had worked his way up to second place when he had an unfortunate get off on lap two.  The crash rattled his axle nut loose which forced him to slow his pace in hopes of salvaging some points.  Unfortunately his 16th place finish was not enough to retain the points lead and he now trails Bryce Peart by four points.

Alexander Ortiz continued his dominance in several youth classes going three for three in his ATV classes as well as earning a 2nd place finish in the 85 B dirtbike class.

With no MX portion of the track and the longer than usual course structure coupled with the spectacular scenery, this Sand Hollow round was definitely one for the books.  The GPS Offroad Products crew was ecstatic to finally make the podium in the Pro class and is very pleased with the slew of amateur riders helping to keep them out front in the Pro-Am class.

Racers will have just a short 3 week break before heading to Taft California for round 5 which will mark the halfway point of the series.