Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

District 37 Desert Racing Series: Final Round Bv MATT FREEMAN PHOTOS BV PHOTOS Bv GRUMPV [, TONV LAMPING RED MOUNTAiN, CA, DEC. 12 ~ oing into the Dirt Diggers MC Winter Hare Scrambles. the final round of the District 37 Desert Racing series, Team Green KXl25-mounted Kurt Caselli had already earned every number-one plate that he could for his class. The District 37 Enduro, Desert, Best in the West and Big Six Grand Prix Championships in the 0200cc class all belonged to Caselli before the year was even over. In addition, Caselli also won the 125cc National Hare and Hound Championship in October. Though his accomplishments for 1999 were many, Caselli had not won an overall - that is, until the final desert race of the millennium. The Dirt Diggers MC laid out a 33mile loop in memory of longtime desert racer Dave Johnson, a club member who passed away a few weeks before the race. Nearly 300 riders showed up to earn crucial yearend points on a course that turned out to be very fast. Somehow, Answer/Pro Circuit-backed Caselli was able to ring enough speed out of his 125cc machine to beat out Montclair Yamaha's Paul Krause and KX500 pilots Abe Baumann and Ron Schuler, but luck played a part in the outcome. Although Krause was the odds-on favorite at the start of the race, the Open-class number-one plate holder's race ended less than six miles into the event, when he plummeted into a pile of rocks, punching a hole in his engine case. Vet Open Expert racer Baumann and Open Expert Schuler battled for the lead early on, the two dicing back and forth for the first trip around the 33-mile loop. Heading out on the second and final lap, Schuler was following Baumann, but with the dusty conditions, he had to back off a bit. "In between check one and check two, he [Baumann) started to dust me out a bit, so I hung back plus, we'renot in the same class, either, and all I needed was a class win for points," said Moose/IMS/FMF-backed Schuler. "Apparently, before we got to check two, Abe crashed and fell out of the race, so I was in the lead and didn't even know it." Schuler went through check two unknowingly in the lead, and at the same time Caselli was moving up fast. Going down a high-speed road into check three, disaster struck for Schuler, and it probably cost him the overall. "I was running into some lappers the second time around," explained Schuler. "On the road just before check three, I came up on this one guy and right as I was going to pass him, he changed lanes. I was going pretty fast and I just rear-ended him. UJ We both crashed, and his subframe got all bent up. I probably sat there with him for almost five minutes, and no one pessed me. At that point, I still thought Abe was in the lead, so I got back on and just started cruising." With Schuler not riding at full speed, Caselli sneaked up on him and passed him just after check four, some 55 miles into the 55-mile event. "When I caught up to him, he wasn't moving very fast," said Caselli. "I went by him and just kept up my speed all the way to the finish." Schuler held on to finish second, followed by Four-Stroke Expert-class winner Mike Kornwinder. For the second weekend in a row, KX250-mounted Paul Shafer posted the Vet 250 Expert honors. A week earlier, Shafer won the overall at the final District 37 enduro. Rounding out the top five in his best finish ever was 250 Expertclass winner Luke Dodson. CN Dirt Diggers Me Hare Scrambles Red MDuntain, Califomia Results: December 12, 1999 [finel RDund) Two Loops 125 NOV: I. Miehllel Kempe; 2. Gena Uchitin: 3. Cole Cates: 4. Junior Pugh; 5. Ed Craft:. 125 INT: I. Craig Gulledge (Suz); 2. Jason Ughthart. (Above) Kurt Caselli rode hi. Team Green-backed KX125 to the overall win at the Dirt Diggers MC Winter Hare Scrambles. (Left! Ron Schuler heel the moat eventful race of all who entered, battling for the lead with two different competitors and running Into a Iapper at speed. Stili, Schuler managed to win the Open cl_. and finish second overall. 125 EX: 1. Kurt Cl!lselli (!'

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