Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

d I I all )ne Ing, out oit Put "These guys are fast, man, I of them," Hughes said. "l too many races that are two ahd it's iust like, 'gosh-dang - "l think the jetting might've tle off," Caselli said. "lt was ru - I iust stalled it after the pit I there forever!' These guys are and l'm not.'' Used to it or not, though, in consastent laps that kept him easi front of the field, though he over the last couple laps of l2Jap race. Behind him is where n-swaP- ping took place, with Caselli losi second place shortly after stopping for f Defendiry champ N.than Woods was dis- appointed with his flfth-place finish. "lt could've been a lot worse," Woods said. "l crashed on the first lap, and thefl I had to make a couple pit stops because my 8o88les were hammered and all kinds ol other issues. But coming ort fifth, lEuess it wasnt too bad. Definitel, I'm not too happy with it, but we'll come back in a month or so. and I'll be on top- All in ell, my team's been workin8 reelly hard. we didn't have much tirne to get this bike prepared." he raid of the KX450E 'All I can do is go home and work a little harder. This iurt gives us some- thing to drive for" Asked how the bike needed to be set up for him, Woods said, "The bittest thing is sr]rpension - just trying to get the suspension set up for off-road and my style, and obvioust some tire issues. we can take care of it - that's the thing, thar's somethinS that we can fix. lt s iust a mat(er of hme." Woods pointed out, "This year, everythin8 I have is different. The onty lhing that's the same is my tear and my boots, so everything on m), bike is changed, lt's a big change for me, but I'm a pretty ve6atile rider, and I've just got to make it happen." The rear tires on Destry Abbott and Nathan Woods' KX450s looked like they d lust linished the Baja 1000. woods said he noticed that his tire went away after about an hour. They weren't the onry bikes to shed knobbies in the race, even Huthes tire (pictured) had little .ubber left Pro motocrosser loe Oehlhof, who broke his neck eadier in the year, used the WORCS race toward his recovery. HavinS recently staned riding again, Oehlhof pilot- €d his Race Tech/Dunlop/ILD-backed Suzuki RIY-2450 to a l4th-place finish. while he doesn't have his program com- pleted yet, his goal is to be ready for the Nationals laterthis sprinS, and the WORCS event was part of his plan to 8et back into shape. Oehlhof said that he'll ride a few more rounds of the WoRcS series. Ryan Hughes' RJ.4-2450 sported a one-off, rwrn-mufller FMF exhaust system. Hugh- e5' teammate Mike Kiedrowski, however, sported a sin8le-mufller exhaust system, c LE NEWS . 1,2006 29 're t. made a bad mistake and just co n't get it started. I dropped back to, I fifth or something. lt was still good. I ld still see the Suys in front of me. I a lit- good - iust asI ride as smooth as I could and as could for that last hour." Carter Powersports/Pro Circuit/ARC KX450E Kiedrowski, Hughes' teammate and rwo-time WORCS Champion, held on for fourth, followed by defending champ Nathan Woods, who was racing his Team Green/Pro CircuiVMoose l(X450F for the first time. With one of the largest crowds in WORCS history on hand over the week- end (promoGr Sean Reddish reponin8 over a thousand entries), including a num- ber of industry insiders who were in town for the Phoenix Supercross the night before, Hughes gated well, but it was Caselli who claimed to have the best iump off the concrete start pad. "l actually thought lhad a holeshot, then Hughes came across on me," Caselli said. "He got a really good start so I was second, and I iust tried to follow him as much as I could. We got away from every- body, which was good,'' "l bring a lot more aggression to the races, lthink, than those guys do, but that's iust where I came from," Hughes said. Outwardly. though, he claimed to be a bit apprehensive. "They have a lot more experience at this than I do," Hughes said. Kiedrowski took advantage miscue to slip into second p Caselli's tem- porarily making a Suzuki l-2 he harbored no illusion of new teammate. "Hughes was going fast, " , though ng his said. "l don't think anybody his speed up there today. I i hung in there. lwas pushing hard as I could the whole time re just wasn't anything more I could do out there." And there was nothing he ld do about Dietrich, who surged in last half, carrying him past Kiedrowsk- rowski match kind of bake as I I I I il '/ d )t G i- Kurt Cqrolli (pittured here) never let Hughet rest

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