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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Round 1 OFF-ROAD ~ Kurt Caselli airs out his KTM 450 on his way to four class victories over the course of the weekend. GPR AMA District 37 Big 6 Grand Prix Series t T Kurt Caselli and Destry Abbott rise above 'he res' ter relocating the Taft Grand Prix to the Honolulu Hills Raceway. the Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Club found aradise. The venue offers one square mile of racing opportunities on a course that features all natural terrain. with recent rains giving it a tropical feel as green grass and lush vegetation can be found everywhere. This year. over 1550 participants turned out for round one of the GPR AMA District 37 Big Six Grand Prix Series - one of largest A series in the nation. Two riders owned this event: Kurt Caselli and Destry Abbott. Both claimed four wins in various classes. but neither was able to ride away with the coveted win in the GPR $3000 Purse Team Race. Caselli grabbed the holeshot aboard his Factory KTM and. running first overall after the first lap. handed the thundering KTM450 off to his partner. Joey Lanza. Though Destry Abbott and teammate Nick Pearson held on to second place for three laps. they were soon passed by the Montclair Yamaha/Zip-Ty Racing team of Ty Davis and Nathan Woods. From then on. it quickly settled into a two-team race until Caselli and Lanza made a decision to go an extra lap before pitting - a strategy that would come back to haunt them. "Ty [Davis] passed the bike off to me when KTM pitted. but Kurt [Caselli] caught and passed me right away," Woods said. "I was just going to ride my race and let Ty do the work at the end." The Yamaha team's strategy paid off as Davis was able to catch and pass Lanza on the eighth and final lap of the li/2-hour race. "Yeah. we should have gassed when we had the bigger lead," Lanza said. "It's a learning lesson." Davis recalled the pass that gave him and Woods the win. "I was riding really good. but I just had a better line than Lanza," Davis said. "In one of the corners, he went wide, hit some chop and lost his drive. and I snuck by him. This is a great course. It's slippery. demanding and rough out there." in the end, Caselli and Lanza settled 42 MARCH 9, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS for their hard-fought second-place finish while Abbott and Pearson held strong to complete the podium. As for Caselli, he had an exceptional weekend. He started off with a win in the unclassified race and two races later continued his dominance in the FourStroke Open class. Lanza claimed the holeshot on the Four-Stroke Open Expert line. but Caselli made a quick pass on his teammate and gapped out on the rest of the field. Temecula Motorsports Honda rider Mark Tilley ran in second place for the entire race, but a bad start and a fall kept him from putting too much pressure on Caselli. Abbott started a line behind Caselli and company in the 250cc Expert class but qUickly moved up to third overall on his Kawasaki. "This course is awesome." Abbott said. "I can't believe how big this series has gotten. It's a huge event. This is like an outdoor National with all the people. I really had fun in this 250 race." Abbott finished first in the 250cc Expert class. while Nick Pearson finished By KANDY THORNTON PHOTOS BY TONY LAMPING second. Caselli's and Abbott's third wins came in the I Ith race. which combined the Open. 0-200cc and the new Four-Stroke 250cc classes. American Honda rider Kendall Norman grabbed the holeshot on the Open Expert line. but Caselli would not be denied. passing Norman before the end of the first lap. Then Caselli came into the scoring chicane a little hot on his KTM450 and went down. Tilley was able sneak by, but Caselli was back on the gas before Norman could get ahead of him. After that, a little luck was on Caselli's side as Tilley's chain broke and Caselli was able to relax a little. Meanwhile. Abbott once again wowed the crowd by finishing second overall in a race he started one line down, from the top. in the Four-Stroke 250cc Expert class. Kendall Norman finished second in Open Expert. behind Caselli, while Joey Lanza was the top finisher in the 0-200cc Expert class. The Popular 30-Plus Vet division featured some exceptional racing between