Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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INTERVIEW P78 AMA HARE & HOUND & WORCS CHAMPION KURT CASELLI Caselli's WORCS title was his third in five years. ened with a class win and a Trophy team bronze medal at the ISDE in Finland and a podium finish in a World Enduro round. Anyone who follows World Enduros and the ISDE or has been to either one knows that those two accomplishments alone aren't much less impressive than winning off-road titles here. The Euros know how to ride off-road like Americans know how to ride Supercross. In some ways, Caselli has been down this road before. This was his third WORCS crown and second class win at Six Days. He's also stood on the podium after the ISDE with his fellow American teammates, but that came in 75-88 Caselli Interview .indd 78 the Junior World division, not the premier Trophy class like he got to do this year. But what was a brand new feeling for Caselli was standing on the top step of the podium at the end of the AMA Hare & Hound Championship in what was his first full attempt. Strangely enough, you would've thought that an H&H title trophy would have been on his mantle long ago, after all, he was raised and still lives in a house where the California high desert is his back yard. "I had some success in the desert, a couple of 125 championships," he says of his early years racing, "but I never really got to the place to go for a nation- al overall championship. That's when WORCS came about and I started doing that instead." But the desire to go after an H&H title never left him and after winning a couple of WORCS titles he convinced KTM to head to the desert. "I've been putting the idea into KTM's head the last two years that I wanted to go desert racing, and they were open for me to do both [WORCS and H&H]." Once he got the green light, the race for two off-road championships was on. "I knew this was going to be the hardest year for me as far as races go, and it definitely was. There was a lot on my plate. 12/9/11 2:19 PM