|
|
|
|
|
| 15.06.2010 |
| WORCS Series - 6th round Anza, CA |
| FMF/KTM rider Kurt Caselli put in an impressive ride aboard his factory KTM 450 XC-F at the sixth round of the WORCS to take home 2nd overall. |
|
Caselli and his teammate, Mike Brown, got off to a great start of the two-hour off-road race. Caselli took a big holeshot and Brown was a few spots back around 3rd. Brown moved around Caselli in the second turn but fell off the track a few turns later handing the lead back to his teammate. Caselli led the next lap and a half of the race before allowing Ricky Dietrich to pass by.
The talk of the day had to be the rock jump in the pro-section of the track. Only four riders were completing the jump which had the rider launching off a cliff onto a rock face on the other side. If you did the jump you could gain about 5 seconds each lap on your opponents. Caselli, Brown, Dietrich and FMF/KTM Hare & Hound rider David Pearson were the only four to complete the jump. It was this jump that Brown cased on the second lap of the race breaking off his foot peg and continuing to race the next four laps without his foot peg. The crash cost him a few positions and when he pit at the halfway point he dropped from 6th to 16th when it was replaced. He spent the rest of the race passing back riders that got by him and eventually was able to climb up to 5th where he finished for the day. Caselli finished 2nd and now stands 2nd in overall point standings.
Joining the FMF/KTM team of Kurt Caselli and Mike Brown was FMF/KTM GNCC rider Cory Buttrick and Pearson (as mentioned above). The two riders battled within the top ten the majority of the race staying close to one another. “I was leading Cory with three laps to go and we came to the rock jump,” mentioned Pearson. “I knew once I did the jump I could gap him by a few seconds.” Unfortunately Pearson didn’t quite clear the jump on this attempt and hit the rock face head on looping out his bike and smashing his face in the bars. Pearson was able to recover with just a swollen lip and a bent set of handlebars. “I was lucky the crash wasn’t worse.”
Pearson continued on his mission to get back up in the top ten. He eventually finished 10th for the day behind Buttrick. “I am pretty happy with my finish especially after my crash. I had a lot of fun out here on this course.”
Buttrick, in his first WORCS event, was quite pleased with his result. “Of course, it would have been nice to have a top five finish but for my first WORCS event I am happy to be in the top ten. I have never done an off-road race where you just pin it as far as you can see and hope for the best. I really had to think about each line I took today and focus on not making mistakes. This was definitely out of my element but I had a lot of fun and hope to do another WORCS event before the end of the season,” stated Buttrick.
Adding to the success of the weekend were KTM female riders Sarah Whitmore and Kacy Martinez who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in Saturday’s Women’s Pro class. Whitmore was able to take the win aboard her KTM 150 XC while Martinez finished 2nd and strengthened her championship points lead.
Overall Results
1. Ricky Dietrich
2. Kurt Caselli – KTM
3. Justin Soule
4. Nathan Woods
5. Mike Brown – KTM
9. Cory Buttrick – KTM
10. David Pearson – KTM |
|
 |
| FMF/KTM rider Kurt Caselli |
|
|
 |  |
|
|
|
|
