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r~~ll CRA Parts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series L~r~.4J Round 4: Las Vegas M ! i , ..: r Speedway STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA lAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 30 lIinJeam Suzuki Off-road's Mike -.L.r Kiedrowski dominated round four of the Cross Roads Adventure (CRA) Parts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and led a Suzuki 1-2 on his Yoshimura/Dunlop/AXO-backed DR-Z400, finishing 14 laps of the course in 2:02: 11. Teammate Rodney Smith rode a close second, finishing in 2:02:36 and protecting Kiedrowski from any possible threats, though they never came, enabling the "MX Kied" to pick up his first major off-road series victory and the $5000 prize money. Smith's take of the $10,000 purse was $1500. Team Green's Destry Abbott claimed third and $500 in 2:03:29 aboard his Pro Circujt/Dunlop/O'Neal-sponsored KX250, but he lost the series points lead to Kiedrowski. With temperatures near 100 degrees and a slight wind sucking water out of the dirt, staying hydrated and out of the dust was as important for spectators as racers. As the race started, Smith, Nick Pearson and Scott Meyers got the best jumps off the concrete pad and launched into the lead with Kiedrowski in the mix as well. Smith took the lead coming out of the first corner with Meyers, Kiedrowski, YZ426F racer Ty Davis, Abbott, Brian Garrahan and Shane Watts, on a 300 EXC, dropping in right behind. After zipping around the MX track in a bowl that characterizes LVMS, the course popped up and out to the south parking lot portion, returning to drop back into the MX pit and skirt the outside of the track, up and out on the northern side for another zig-zagging loop, which included a unique side-to-side slalom around evenly spaced tire barriers. Then it was back to the MX track. As they returned to the motocross portion of the course for the first time, Smith retained his slim lead over Kiedrowski. When Mey~rs slowed and pulled off with suspected mechanical problems, Davis moved into third, with Abbott now into fourth. Smith led for about another lap before allowing his teammate to go around, demonstrating his team spirit and reflecting team strategy: have Smith wrap up the GNCC title the following week and get Kiedrowski back into the WORCS points lead to maximize his chances of taking his first off-road title. "I had orders to go out and have fun and try to stay out of any kind of trouble or battles and do the best I can and not get hurt," Smith said. "I got a great start and got out front. When Mike came up on me, I just moved over and let him on by and 30 OCTOBER 17, 2001 ' cue (Above) Mike Kiedrowski (12), Rodney Smith (31) and Scott Meyers (19) lead the pack In the first tum. Also visible are Robert Naughton (46), Destry Abbott (behind Meyers) and Brian Garrahan (36). (Left) Though hot and dusty, a water pit provided another element and obscured the bikes, even Kiedrowski who stayed In front most of the day to win his first major series event and retake the series points lead. protected his rear wheel the whole day and kept pushing him. "Like I told him, I said, 'After [pitting for] gas, if we push another three or four laps pretty good, they're going to give up on [catching] us. "We rode flawlessly. I don't think we made any mistakes. We just kind of kept hammering away, and we • rode those laps the same every lap. If you look at lap times, I'U bet you they didn't move much." n • _ s • Indeed, the Suzuki teammates proved to be untouchable and quickly gapped the field. Abbott moved into third after a few laps and stayed there for the duration. Third Suzuki team member Steve Hatch fought long and hard to move up through the pack and try to catch his teammates after a bad start, though he wasn't able to make it a Suzuki sweep. "I spun off the start, then everybody kind of got pinched in at the first corner, and it was the same at the second comer, so I was back in 10th or 12th," Hatch said. "My Yoshimura Suzuki worked good. I kind of settled down and got going again and started picking guys off, started getting in the flow about the second or third lap. "I was chasing Destry and gaining on him, then I made a few mistakes. My goggles, the string broke on the Roll-Off's (sic) so the mud kept spraying them. I wanted to stop a few laps before the gas, but [my pit crew] said, 'No, wait until gas,' so I couldn't really see anything. That didn't help. "I was pretty close to them at gas. Leaving gas after the motocross track, I snapped my rear brake pedal clean off, so the whole second half of the race I had no rear brake. "It would've been nice to try to get up there on the podium. Mike and Rodney looked real good; Destry rode good. I'll take fourth. I'm glad I'm safe after that because a lot of corners I was coming in at a million with no rear brake and I actually overheated the front brake [as a result] so I didn't have a whole lot of brakes all the way around!" Abbott, who rode Vegas to Reno two days before on a 500, said of his race on a KX250, "Swapping back and forth from a 500 to a 250 isn't too easy, but I got a few laps in yesterday and knew it was going to be tough. The four-strokes I knew were going to be tough because it was so slick. I don't know if I could've done much better because I was trying the whole time. Hats off to Mike and Rodney because they rode really well.