Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128407
wasn't done with his charge to the front, however, and by the time the third lap came around, he had set the fastest lap time for the entire race and had taken the lead. By lap five, Hughes' lead was up to 30 seconds over Weigand and it looked as though he was well on his way to duplicating his previous WORCS win - in 2003 at Glen Helen - where he left the field behind. However, the race was only a third of the way through and his blistering pace may have cost him the race, as his bike began to show the effects of the treacherous course and the constant hammering. "I got out front and everything was going fine," Hughes said. "Then around the sixth lap I started to hear the clutch slipping. I backed it down a little, which is not the way you want to ride in the sand. I went into the pits and they pulled my filter skin off and I immediately sucked in sand. At that point my day was done." "My whole weekend went that way," Hughes added, "I just didn't prepare the way I should have. I'm just glad it was this race and not one that counted for points. These WORCS guys are fast and I'm not going to take them lightly. We will be prepared, come round one, in Arizona. I'm going to step up my program and come out ready to go." With Hughes on the sidelines, Weigand inherited the lead, but was having troubles of his own and would soon relinquish the position to Lance Smail, who was riding a basically stock Kawasaki KX450F. "Man, I swear I crashed at least eight times in one lap," Weigand said. "I would go two turns and crash, get up, go another two turns and crash. I tried to run Hughes' pace instead of riding my own race and I think that cost me. You can't ride that pace all race long without something going wrong." While Weigand and Smail were taking turns at the front, Caselli had been slowly working his way up from 11th on the first lap. "Out here, you couldn't ride too aggressive, otherwise you would flip and get hurt," Caselli said. '" just kept a good pace and the race came to me. I was going to be happy just making the podium and then all of a sudden I see [Mike] Kiedrowski and I just went by. Then I passed Weigand after he got back by Smail and it just worked espite the fact that the Championship had been clinched at the previous round in Texas, anticipation was high as the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series wrapped up its 2005 season at the Mesquite MX Park in Mesquite, Nevada - especially since Ryan Hughes was scheduled to debut the 2006 Suzuki RM-Z450 in the off-road competition. There is no doubt that Hughes' pure speed will be an asset in the off-road world, but it takes a lot more than just speed to win a WORCS race, and KTM's Kurt Caselli ended up schooling the field on exactly what it takes to win. The Mesquite course was a brutal test of strength and determination, consisting of sand, chop, logs, and an assortment of other D 28 obstacles waiting for the chance to grab a bike and pitch a rider. Holding it wide open was a pure testament to the size of your will to win, and Caselli's will to win was bigger than everyone else's. At the start, Honda-mounted Tim Weigand exited the first turn out front, followed closely by Team Greens' Ricky Dietrich, who was still on a cloud after giving a whooping to the best off-road riders in the world at the Maxxis EnduroCross the night before. Following Dietrich were his teammates Destry Abbott and Lance Smail, while Montclair Yamaha's Russ Pearson ran fifth. After leading the way for the first two laps, Weigand came into the pits, followed by Dietrich and Hughes. Hughes had gotten off the line around 10th and had quickly worked his way into third. The former motocross star DECEMBER 7,2005 • CYCLE NEWS