Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kiedrowski almost looped out and had to turn around and try again. Unfortunately, in the process, he was struck by another rider, Mark Tilley. Both riders went down, though Tilley got the worst of it. Kiedrowski thought Tilley was okay and continued on, but the Honda rider was, in fact, badly shaken up. Kawasaki rider Nick Pearson stopped to help Tilley until medical personnel arrived. Luckily, Tilley was not seriously injured. Shortly thereafter, the silty hill was bypassed. Meanwhile, Woods was starting to experience his own problems. The YZ4S0F pilot stalled his bike, allowing Davis to catch up. Kiedrowski was also on the move and had Woods and Davis within striking distance. Davis saw Kiedrowski coming and kept the pressure on Woods. Soon, Davis rounded a turn and saw that Woods had stalled his bike again and was feverishly trying to start it. Davis took the lead and tried to gap Woods and Kiedrowski as much as he could, figuring that he was going to be pitting for fuel and that Kiedrowski would get by in the pits. Once Davis and Woods were in the pits, their crews tried to get them in and out as fast as they could to stay ahead of Kiedrowski, but Kiedrowski never came around. About 500 yards from the pits, Kiedrowski's RM-Z4S0 ran out of gas. While Kiedrowski dealt with this problem, Abbott was able to get by and take third, while Smail had worked his way up to fourth. Karlsen ran a distant fifth, followed by David Pearson. Abbott's promising ride suddenly came to halt when he developed a rear flat tire. Abbott limped back into the pits on the next lap, losing valuable time and positions. Smail benefited from Abbott's troubles and was now in podium position with less than a few laps to go. Up front, Woods hounded Davis and showed his teammate his front wheel whenever he could. Davis, however, is not one to back down, and he held on to take the win, his first of the year. "The race went good for me," Davis said. "I got a good start, which was important because of the dust. I rode a good pace the whole race. "Woods started to gap me a little," Davis continued, "and I saw that Kiedrowski was coming, so I just kept hammering away, and pretty soon I started to catch Woods. He made a few mistakes and stalled his bike, and I got by. I was going to pit the next lap and thought that Kiedrowski would pass me there, but he never came. "The last laps, it was Woods and I," Davis added. "He kept pushing me but could never get close enough to make the pass. Finally, he backed off, and I was able to take the win. It feels good to finally win one of these things this year. It basically came down to who was going to last in the heat." Woods was satisfied with his secondplace finish. "The race was good except that I got second," Woods said. "I made a few mistakes, and they cost me the race. I thought I might be able to reel Davis in at the end but just couldn't get close enough. I knew that the guys I had to beat for the championship were out, so I decided to not take any chances and took second. "I'm racing for the championship," Woods continued. "I always want to win and am unhappy when I don't, but at the end of the day, I did what I needed to do to extend my points lead, and that is what really counts. It's good for Davis to win. He is a great rider. I'd rather have him win than anyone else besides me." Smail came across the line in third and was elated to have finished on the podium. "My race went pretty good except for crashing in the second turn and not making the hill that they threw out on the first lap," Smail said. "You couldn't see your fender on that hill; it was like a whiteout. "I just kept charging all day," Smail added. "The track was really tough and the heat was a big factor. I drank plenty of fluids and just kept plugging away. Guys were dropping out right and left, and I ended up on the podium. I'm stoked with a good result. It's time, however, for me to be winning these things." Karlsen turned a lot of heads with his fourth-place ride. "I got an okay start," Karlsen said. "My biggest challenge was getting through the dust to try and catch the lead group. I felt strong the whole race. The track was good; it's just like back home in Colorado - dust and hard-packed." Kiedrowski learned after the race that he had been docked a couple of laps for receiving outside assistance when he ran out of fuel. He was credited with 12th place. "My bike ran perfect," Kiedrowski said. "I just ended up having some bad luck. I got stuck on the dusty uphill and had to turn around and go back up it. I Briefly... Sean Reddish, WORCS Racing vice president, had a bad get-off on his ATV while he was en-route to the Tilley/Kiedrowski accident. Reddish went over the bars, and the quad he was riding landed on top of him, knocking him out. Reddish was taken to the hospital but later returned to the track, looking a little worse for the wear. KTM's Kurt Caselli has been invited to compete in the World Enduro Championships in July. He will compete in two rounds: one in France and one in the Czech Republic. When asked if he would like to race the WEC full time someday, Caselli replied, ':Absolutely! I'll race anything!" Motorcycle-racing fan Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey on the television series "Friends," attended the WORCS race in Taft. LeBlanc drove his black Ferrari (pictured) to the race to cheer on his Team Suzuki friends and hang out with his close pal, Suzuki team manager Mike Webb. LeBlanc is an avid motorcycle rider and enjoyed his time at the WORCS race. was in a corner when I went to turn around and listened to see if anyone was coming and didn't hear anything. So I turned and, of course, sure enough Mark Tilley came around the turn and hit my back tire. I yelled at him, 'Sorry,' and went up the hill. He was moving around, so I didn't think there were any problems. HONOLULU HILL MX PARK TAn, CAUFORNIA RESULTS: MAy 22, 2005 (ROUND 6 OF 12) OVERALL: I. Ty Davis (Yam); 2. Nathan Woods (Yam); 3. Lance Smail (Kaw); 4. Matt Karlsen (Han); 5. David Pearson (Kaw); 6. Glenn Kearney (Suz); 7. Ricky Dietrich (!

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