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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128404
Round 11 OFF-ROAD ~ Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series efending WORCS Champion Nathan Woods came into the next-to-Iast round of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series in Texas determined to wrap up the 2005 title early, just as he had done the year before. And when the weekend was over, the 27year-old Californian had put in perhaps his most dominating performance of the season and left the Lone Star State with title number two in hand. At this very same venue, in 2004, Woods claimed the win after taking the lead at the halfway point of the race and went on to a 30-second margin of victory. That victory sewed up his first-ever WORCS off-road title with one round remaining on the schedule. This year, Woods needed less than a lap to take control of the race, and when he crossed the finish line two hours later, the competition was nowhere in sight. The win was Woods' sixth of the year, and it was enough to sew up the title with room to spare. Going into the Texas event, Woods had a 34-point cushion over GPR/Moose/ Brotherhood Industries KTM 450 MXCmounted Kurt Caselli and he needed only to finish ahead of him to clench the title early. He made it clear that he wanted get it over with, no matter how he finished. "I didn't really care about winning, I just wanted to lock the championship up," Woods said. "But I was in a position to win today, and I just made it happen. I did it here last year, and I'm glad to do it here again." However, this year Woods seemingly had more to deal with than he did in 2004. With the GNCC series over with and the title in the bag, KTM's Juha Salminen was on hand to give the WORCS series another try and, so some people thought, to lend a helping hand to Caselli. "Juha coming here was an added concern," Woods said. "I knew he came here to try to help [Kurt], because they didn't want me to win this thing today; they wanted to drag it out to the last race and see what happens. But I have some great teammates, too, with Russ Pearson and Ty Davis, and we had some strategy worked out on what we were going to do in different situations. Luckily, we didn't have to use nothing, and I just rode my own race and everything worked out for me." At the start, it was Pearson getting a rare holeshot, with Caselli and Woods in tow, while Salminen, riding a two-stroke, was just inside the top 10. Woods made his move about a mile into the off-road section, pushing his Montclair Yamaha! Zip-Ty Racing/Moose-sponsored YZ450F past first Caselli and then Pearson. From there, he tried to put as much distance between himself and whoever might be D coming up from behind. "I walked the course this morning and found some really killer lines, and I knew that if I didn't get a start, I was going to just go for it and get by 'em and pull my lead like I usually do," Woods said. "The first two laps, I hit all my lines and really put in some solid laps. You just didn't want to be behind anyone in some of these corners, because they were so Silty. You don't want to blow through a corner and crash, so it's better to just back off and just get through it." By the second lap, Woods had establish nearly a 30-second margin, while Team Green's Lance Smail moved his basically stock KX450F past a fading Caselli into second place. Caselli was developing a severe case of arm pump, and it wasn't long before Salminen was around, as well. During the second hour, Salminen got by Smail and was on the hunt for Woods; however, Woods was a man on a mission, and even the World Enduro Champ couldn't match the pace that the Yamaha rider was setting, his fastest lap almost four seconds slower than Woods'. When it was finally obvious that no one was going to catch the fleeing Woods, Salminen yielded to a rejuvenated Caselli with two laps remaining in the race. "He kind of just let me by," Caselli said. "He was yelling at me to go - he really wanted me to catch Nathan." However, Caselli, who was the only person left with a mathematical chance of dethroning Woods, ran out of gas on the final lap and passed out from exhaustion while attempting to push his bike to the finish. Woods crossed the finish line with fists in the air, while Salminen coasted in just over a minute later. After working up from a so-so start, Suzuki's Mike Kiedrowski finished third on his FMF/Dunlop/O'Neal RM-Z450, while Montclair Yamaha!Zip-Ty Racing/ Moose teammates Ty Davis and Russ Pearson rounded out the top five. "This year's been a great year," Woods said. "I've been on the podium every race but one, and I've been blessed this year to be able to do that. My bikes have worked well all year, and I haven't had any problems with a gas situation or flats or anything like that. In off-road, you never know what can happen." "The track was very fast, and it's really difficult with a two-stroke on this type of track," Salminen said. "On those straightaways, you're not even halfway and you have everything that you can get from the engine. So, I'm quite happy with what I did with a two-stroke today." After being treated for dehydration, Caselli quickly recovered, but he was visibly disappointed. He was credited with 13th place.