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/1542343
u Hillr .rlx Iofr. CA Honol lt { ,, I I il rallied back from an early mistake to win the second round of the Rocky Mountain ATVi MC World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS), demon- strating that hjs round-one triumph was certainly no fluke. Early leader Hike Kiedrowski, Hughes' teammate, made sure this one was no runaway, though, and stayed within about l0 seconds of the leader for most of the race on the Honolulu Hills Raceway track. Rain Saturday afternoon and again that night eliminated the threat of dust, but it didn't make the course any smoother, lnstead, as per usual at Taft, larye, square- edged holes appeared along with the usual complement ofwhoops to tax com- petitors in the two-hour Pro race. KTM'S Kellon Walch led the way into the first turn on his Michelin/Fl''1F/Fox 450 SX, the same bike he rode last year, but he drifted wide and let Hughes and sever- al othe6 sneak past. Kiedrowski was quick to pounce and slipped past Hughes to lead for a few turns on his FMF/ECC/Made 2 Race RM-2450, but when HuShes saw his chance, he put his FMF/ECC/Moose RM-2450 out front. But that didn't last long. Near the end of the first lap, Hughes stalled his bike in the telephone-pole spectator section and needed more than a few seconds to get it relit, "i made a mistake in the logs and fell over," he said. "l thought I had it in neu- tral, but I didn't. Finally I got going. I think I dropped back to fourth. "l picked the first two guys [Ricky Dietrich and then Rusty Hollandl ott pretty quick, then l'4ike had a good lead, and I iust ried to steadily close am Suzuki's Ryan Hughes mistake. I got around him, and we iust stayed the same for an hour and 45 min- utes, I think. RiSht at the end I kind of pulled out iust a little bit." lndeed, two-time series champ, Kiedrowski, led for the first two laps until the mistake. "The second lap I stalled it - just flamed-out in the tight turn at the top of the hill - and "Ryno" [Ryan Hughes] went by," he said. "l was iust starting to get the flrst kick in, From there I iust kind o{ rode behind him the whole time, iust tryinS to catch up. My drink system Eot caught in the back - the hose and stuff - so I didn't have much water. I had to stop and get a bottle of water one time. I didn't want to get dehydrated or anything. lt was cold, so I didn't have to worry about it too much." The localfavorite, Holland, vrho won the Big 5 GP here a couple week earlier, ran up front on his Clawson Motorsports/Pro CircuiVO'Neal-backed CRF450R. He was second on the flrst lap behind Kiedrowski, but slipped slowty back through the top 10, ultimately fi nishinS 24th. Carter Powersports/Pro CircuiVARC KX45OF-mor.rnted Ricky Dietrich slofted himself into founh place early on, then he held third place for most of the race and appeared to be headed for a podium spot to match his result from the first round. Unfortunately for him, he also bobbled in the telephone poles. ''That last lap I had to kind of ride a lit- tle over my head," Dietrich said. "l stalled it in the logs. I don't know how or why - bad luck or what. I stalled it in the loSs and kicked it, but both Garrison and Corder went by. lt sucks, but it happens." Hontclair Yamaha/Zip-Iy Racingl Moose YZ450F racer Garrison admitted he lucked into third place. "There was somebody behind me catching up, and I could see Dietrich ,ust a little bit ahead, but I couldn't catch him," Garrison said. "lt was coming down to the logs - I knew it. I was hoping he was Sqing to stall it or something, and he did, so I got a gift at the end!" Having linished his SuPercross season, KTM'S Corder had gotten off to a mid- pack stan and steadity worked his way uP on his Race Tech/Dunlopfiroy Lee Designs 450 XC. 'At the beginning of the moto, I didn't feel like I had it all in me," he admitted. "l had arm pumP." His hands went numb by the end of the race, too. But he concentrated on breathing and kept plugging away, latching on to whoever was in front of him. "l would see them, and it would amp me up. l'd get on the attack and freak out and try to get them. When I saw them, I iust wanted to try to catch them- Me and Destry [Abbott] - we were bat- tling forever. He's actually the one that 8ot me going." a I a /5' .1 , I lu, on him. Then, finally, he made a I l I Ryon Mike s Hughes outlosts leommo Kiedrowski of Toft sroRilll-D 40 MARCH 8,2006 CYCLE NEWS OFF.ROAD Round 2 Februory I9, 2006 Rockg Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road ChamPionship s€nics l- )r t J* .;t ! I / (Righr) Ryon {ughes kepr hir rool ofreftolling hir, bike, ond ur*rl on lo win his se.ond woRcs rd.e in q row ot Toft. (Below) llike Kiedrowlki kepr his $rarki teommote honest rrpughour rhc rore. ! r! / u t: li* I I I q iH +.. 't ,l i- Ir [ft. Tf, q \ ,\l { .l It lI