WORCS Round 12 Race Report
Woods Wins the Battle, Caselli Wins the War
November 4, 2007, Honolulu Hills Raceway, Taft, CA
2007 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off Road Championship Series
|
But it almost went completely wrong for both the title contenders during the Pro 1 Main event. When the gate dropped and thundered through the first turn, Woods was left sitting on the line with a stalled KXF450. The holeshot went to Bobby Garrison, with Justin Soule hot on his heels in second, Ty Davis in third and Damon Huffman riding in his first WORCS race in fourth. Caselli was mired in mid-pack with no knowledge of Woods where-a-bouts. As the string of Pro 1 riders disappeared into the Taft hills, Woods charged after them from a dead-last start.
Somewhere in the desert, Woods caught the pack and started moving up. He caught and passed Caselli, who jumped on his rear fender and tailed him through the mass of Pro riders. When they emerged from the desert and re-entered the MX track, Garrison had a huge lead, with Huffman in second, Bobby Bonds in third, Woods in fourth and Caselli in fifth.
|
And that’s how it looked like it was going to end, except now it was Caselli’s turn to fight the championship gremlins. With less then ½ hour remaining and Caselli secure in second, he motored through the pits, pointing at his engine and shaking his head. Clearly, he had slowed down a bit and something was wrong or going wrong with his mount. Garrison closed the gap on Caselli and Woods pulled away. Caselli hung on for two more laps, barely keeping Garrison at bay. And then Caselli’s KTM miraculously cured itself, as Kurt came through the pits he pointed at his engine and gave the thumbs up to his crew. He quickly gapped Garrison and kept Woods in sight.
Woods took the checkered flag at the end of more then two hours with Caselli close behind. Woods had begun the day nine points shy of Caselli, his victory giving him 30 points for the win. Caselli earned 25 points for second which kept him five points ahead of Woods in the title chase. After a great season of podiums, a few gremlins and two big victories, Caselli clinched his first WORCS Championship of his career.
|
Woods was gracious in defeat, “I won the battle, but lost the war. Kurt (Caselli) did everything right today and I guess I did everything right too, but… I want to congratulate Kurt, he’s a great rider. I think it will be him and me again next year.”
Third place went to Ricky Dietrich who just caught Garrison on the last lap, Garrison took fourth and Huffman finished fifth in his first WORCS race.