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FMF District 37 Big 6 Grand Prix Series Round 3: Hilltoppers Grand Prix 29 Palms Motocross Park tone by blowing everyone away - just like the wind that was ripping over the area all day, with gusts upwards of 40 mph. Fighting the elements, the Hilltoppers did their utmost to keep the course raceable. With the aid of local townsfolk, a bulldozer had been secured and placed halfway around the track, atop the knobby hill. After each race, they used it to groom the track as best they could, even in sections of the course that the spectators never noticed. Caselli's KTM USA teammate, Joey Lanza, riding a 250 as opposed to Kurt's big 520, comfortably rode to a second in the opener, over Adams, on a 450cc Honda, in third. Adams would get his glory several hours later, winning the fourth race's Over 40 Open Expert portion over former motocross Pro (and still promoter) Goat Breker, who rode his Kawasaki to first Over 40 250cc Expert. Caselli then capped his Saturday by teaming with Lanza in the nine-lap team race and, not surprisingly, dominating the affair. The Temecula STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOHN BETHEA 29 PALMS, CA, APR. 6-7 mv;v]hen I came in and gave the bike ··W over to you, I didn't tell you about the rear brakes ... " Kelly Yancey, Kurt Caselli's Team Two coracer, began to explain. She paused without finishing the sentence; perhaps she didn't want to provide more of an explanation - or provide Caselli with any more ammo. It didn't matter, as Caselli removed his helmet, grinning enough for the both of them. "What did you do - stand on them?" he asked; without waiting for an answer, he added, "Hey! Did you see me bouncing off that berm out there?" The opening event on Sunday morning was designed to be just for fun, a chance for racers to compete without the real pressure of trying to attain the District 37 GP points being dished out to riders in all the other events in the two-day program taking place at 29 Palms Motocross Park, just a few miles east of the desert community of 28,000. It was round three of the Big 6 campaign for 2002, with more than 1200 entrants testing their cross country skills over a 5-mile-plus course set up by the Hilltoppers MC of Signal Hill, California. Caselli had ridden the opening lap of the Team Two event, and he had carved out a huge 50-second lead over the second-placed rider when he handed the wrist-band and throttle over to Yancey. This female rider is tough, as she had proved the day before when she had won the Women's Expert class in Race Three and, in the process, beat the other 170 riders in the race - 148 of which were guys. Off she sped, and she was nearly out of the motocross portion of the course when she - or rather, the KTM !Above) Kun Caselli (150) leads the other 253 riders off the stan of the Unclassified race at the third round of the FMF District 37 Big 6 Grand Prill Series. (RIght) At 29 Palms Motocross Park, Kelly Yancey (W14) won the Women's Expen class by three minutes! - hiccupped, and she nearly went down. Just barely avoiding a complete stall, she was again on the gas. At this point, the team of Bruce Thompson and Steve Hengeveld had their XR Only/IMS/Sidi/Race Tech entry in second, with the Kawasakimounted duo of Craig Adams and Dave Ondas closing in. One lap and about 11 minutes later, Yancey pulled back into the switching area - and did not report the brake problem to her teammate. Caselli sped away with a 30-second advantage, but now with the AdamsOndas squad in second. "I saw Caselli crash," said Adams later, "and I got by him for a while." However, Caselli was having one of those super weekends when he was winning just about everything in sight.... Caselli had gone up against more than 250 riders in the all-out weekend opener, the five-lap Unclassified race, on Saturday morning, and set the "There's a brake problem•.• ?" Caselli and his teammate Yancey switch off during the Team Two race. They would place second. 32 MAY 8, 2002' II: U II: • e n D _ so Motorsports tandem of Scott Myers and Mark Tilley took runner-up on a Honda, with Team Green's Ondas and Adams taking third. ... So, now, on Sunday morning, the winds had died, the smell of suntan lotion was in the air, and Caselli was passing Adams to regain the lead on lap three. In spite of the spill and subsequent lead changes, Caselli still gave Yancey a 20-second head start for the fina I tour. Spectators with calculators running in their brains shook their heads: It wouldn't be enough.