Polaris Factory Racing Sweeps 2014 WORCS Season Opener at Honolulu Hills Raceway

RJ Anderson

The 2014 World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) kicked off in Taft, California on January 18, 2014 and the Pro SxS race turned into a Polaris Factory Racing sweep.

Honolulu Hills Raceway is a unique track set in the hills outside of Bakersfield California among a sea of oil wells. The track itself is actually run on a network of access roads and canyons that snake up and down some pretty large hills. The lower portion of the track has one of the coolest MX tracks of the series, complete with some big table tops and one 140 foot step up that is impressive for a side by side. The 7.3 mile course has over 500 feet over elevation changes and Director of Operations, Tim (TPQ) Shelman made sure there were plenty of challenges.

The Polaris RZR XP 1000 was just introduced last August, and WORCS racers have flocked to this new RZR in the Pro SxS class. With an industry-leading 107 horsepower, 90-inch wheelbase and 18-inches of rear wheel travel, the XP 1000 was well suited to dominate the WORCS on paper, and after round one, it looks like it is on the track as well.

Mitch Guthrie Jr. takes the holeshot

Mitch Guthrie Jr. moved up from Production 1000 to Pro SxS this year and took the holeshot in the first row of racers in his new Muzzys Performance powered XP 1000. Guthrie would hold the physical lead the entire race, but end up in second after RJ Anderson who started on the second row beat him on corrected time. With less than a second between 2nd and 3rd place, Ryan Piplic who finished second for the 2013 season in Pro SxS would round out the podium.

Ryan Piplic