Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

the end [of the 2003 race] - so I know this race." Dietrich had things figured out before the start. "I've heard about this race, some good and a lot bad," Dietrich said. "[I heard] that it's dangerous, but Destry [Abbott], who has won this race before, gave me the heads-up on what to do - be really careful in the first turn off the start because everyone is going crazy, watch the holes and ride safe. And learn the ridges because it gets really dusty up there and you don't want to be flying off the edges." Sound advice. But when the green flag flew, Dietrich "got pinched in the first turn off the start and followed someone who took a bad line. I fell back somewhere around 20th," he explained. So much for the advice. With Lapaglia and Mickey Griffen taking the early advantage, Hughes suffered first-lap nightmares again. "I really don't understand why they don't water the track," Hughes said later. "Going up to the top of that ridge, I was going straight, and suddenly I was off the cliff." Stuck in ruts and gullies, it took Hughes nearly three minutes to get the RM-Z450 - the same machine he used to win the World Vet Championship a week earlierback up the hill and on track. When he did so, he was nearly last. When the first lap was checked off at the corner of Prospect and Main, Lapaglia was setting the pace, with Griffen second, Meyers third, Tilley fourth, Soule fifth, Caselli sixth and his KTM teammate Brock Harden seventh. After finishing ninth last year in his first 100, Griffen had high hopes. He sneaked in and grabbed the pole on the front row as they lined up, confident he'd finish in the top five this year. "The ridges were ridiculous," Tilley said. "It was really dusty." He quickly realized it wasn't a motocross and that pacing himself was the key. Despite his poor start, Dietrich was reeling in the leaders and was 12th after the first lap. Amazingly, Hughes had already climbed to 47th. Meyers was, for the second year in a row, one of the first to call it quits. Another flat tire on the first lap had his head spinning. "I just don't understand it," he said. "Last year's problem was entirely my fault. I don't know what to say. I just don't know." The sorting-out process began with Lapaglia, who had twice been in the top lOin his previous two 100 starts, picking off laps while holding Griffen at bay. On the fourth lap, Caselli moved into second and began his hunt for the 16-year-old rabbit out front. A half-hour into the race, Tilley had moved to.third, with Griffen fourth. Dietrich had clawed his way into the top five and Hughes was pounding away behind him - finally reaching the top 10. Most had scheduled their pit stops for around lap 10, but just before reaching that point, another major player was out. On lap nine, runner-up Caselli, who had cut Lapaglia's lead down to only a few clicks, disappeared. "I was having a good ride, but the bike was getting a little hot," he said while walking back to the KTM trailer. "I think a rock came up and broke the cases. Nothing we could do." So there was breathing room again for Lapaglia, but not for long. When Caselli exited, Dietrich had already moved to third, with Hughes right behind in fourth. Dietrich pitted; Hughes took over third and then almost immediately found second handed to him. With his momentum in high gear, the Hughes Express was heat-seeking his teammate. Lapaglia got a stay of execution on lap 10 when Hughes pulled into the mechanics' row for his scheduled pit. A splash of gas and he was back out. Just as the halfway signal was shown at the finish line at the end of lap 13, Hughes officially placed him- self in the lead, having taken it just as the lap began, when Lapaglia limped into the pits with a flat tire. By the time his crew had it replaced, he was some 30 seconds behind, though still in second place. End of story. Nobody would get any closer to Hughes, though Dietrich tried. "He passed me when I pitted, and for about five laps we'd see each other in the same spots, so we were doing the same lap times, but I had to pit a third time and never saw him again," Dietrich said. Why the extra stop? "It was a stock tank and we weren't sure on gas," he explained. Lapaglia slowed a bit more, slipping to fourth, with the ever-present Tilley plodding along into third. "It was an uneventful race for me - I just rode, and rode, and rode," Tilley said. "I had a flat tire, but they were really (Right) Red Bull KTM's Scot Harden rode the big Dakar rally bike. CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 30, 2005 35

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