(Above) Kurt Caselli came on strong toward the end and cut Sma il's lea d in
half, but he still finished 30 seconds behind in se cond.
(Above right) Thlrd -plece finisher Destry Abbott (12) leads Ty Davis (1),
Caselli (66) and David Pearson (15 ) down a steep, rocky descent early in
the race.
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(Right) After a bad start, Davis worked his way to the front, only to have
his chain come off and wad up into the engine cases.
"It was a matter of finding good lines,"
Case lli said. ':At the halfway point, I st ill felt
strong and just kind of kept my pace going
and stay on two wheels. I wasn't really close
enough to see Lance , and it's hard for me to
pick it up if you can't see them ahead of you.
I was about fi fth or sixth off the start, but I
got buried in the mud [on the first lap], and
Lance was gone."
Fo r Davis, on the Montclair Y
amahalZipTy RacingIY
oshimura-backed YZ250, the
race started off fairly well. After a so-so
start, Davis got as high as second befor e
things started going south.
"My bike started to burble, and I
thought, 'Uh-o h, I'm running ou t of
gas," Davis said.
At that point . Davis started conserving ,
but things went from bad to worse when
the chain on his YZ250 derailed and wadded
up against the cases , leaving him stranded
far from the pits around the halfway point of
the race . After a w hile. Davis got a tow
back.
Finishing a distant third was for mer
National Hare & Hound Cham pion Destry
Abbott on the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki Team
Green KX250. Abbott had a fairly uneventful race after getting off to a mediocre start
and spe nding the rest of the race clawing
and scratching his way to the fro nt.
"I didn't get the best of starts, " Abbott
said. "and I felt kind of tight, but about 30
minutes into it, I started loosen ing up. I
knew after a few laps that a lot of guys
wou ld go into survival mode , so I just kept
plugging away."
After burying his Montclair YamahalZipTy RacingIYoshimura YZ450F in the mud on
the first lap and also suffering a hard crash
that nearly tore off one of his fingers later
that same lap. Woods came from way back
to finish fourth.
"Despite it all, it was actually a good ride
for me ," Woods said.
eN
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