Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

,!D( Fork OFF.ROAD Round 7 June I I, 2006 Rocku Mountain AVMC WoPld Off-Road ChamPionshiP SEri€s time, I said. 'You know, lets iust be safe.' No podium today, but fourth is better than my I 9th last race. lt was toughi it was definitety the tough- est pure off-road race we've had in some time." ln the earty laps, it looked like a Team Green parade with Smail' Abboft and reigning two-time series chamP Nathah Woods running behind Dietrich, their order getting shuffled around among themselves Around the same time, Kiedrowski finally caught uP to the Kawasakis and zoomed by all of them except Dietrich to latch onto second place. He didn't make a dent in Dietrich's lead, but he managed to stay just ahead of Abbott for the remainder of the race. "There was one time lwas Soing to go into second fplace] behind Lance," Abbott said, "and I got stuck and ended up going to fifth because both Nathan and f'lK got around me, so I was like, 'Oh man!' Br-rt I just worked my way back up. lt was really fun because there were hundreds of people on the hill, some ofthem are helPin8 you push it uP, hooting and hollering. lt was definitely really excitinS " After the halh,,/ay Point. however, Woods pitted for rePairs after tearing off the front-brake caliper on a rock. That dropped him way back, though he would come back for eiShth. Garrison came from a bad first lap to secure fifth behind Smail. "The first lap was not good," Garrison said, "l lost it all on the first lap on the little rocky hill; I had to push it all the way up. I messed up bad on the last lap, too, and had to push it uP. The Pro sections were difficult - at least for me they were." The infamous rocky hill, the second Pro section, taxed nearly every rider and was the site of a lot of crashing and passing. Hike Kiedrowski describes his first-lap encounter with the hill: "There was iust a ton of people sittinS there and there was really nowhere to go," MK said. "l went to turn at the bottom lof the hill] and lost my momentum. l've got to hand it to IWORCS chief] Sean [Reddish]; he was down at the bot- tom, and he helped me push my Rl'4250 up to the toP, lt definitely helped me, but I was way back lbefore] Setting going," ln the end, Dietrich smiled widest and said, "To win it here is even cooler because I've got family [here]. I've got grandparents; l've got friends: l've got uncles: l've got cousins. I mean, there's a lot of people out there; I saw them in every corner rooting me on and that was iust really spectacular. lt was awesome to take my first [WORCS Pro] win in front of all my friends and family like this." Cl{ WAsHouGAt MX PAf,x WAsHoucaL, wasHr GroN Rlsulrs: JuNt I l, 2OO5 (RouND 7 oF 12) Continued lrom poge 63 Managerl Mike [Webb] lwanted to get a tlvo"stroke ready and he said it'd be okay So I came here, and then everybody didn't bring two-strokes! Thq/ w€re all on four- strokes! lt was fun riding a little two-stroke again," he said. The last tirne he could remember raaing one was when hc cam_ paigned the GNCCS in 20(N. Brendan Ritzman proved to be the bes! of the Semi-Pror, leading his cla5s from start to finish iust as Carter Powe6Ports reammate Ricls), Dietrich did in the Pros. His finalfinish time was fast enough that he would've p,aced sixth in the Pro division, desprre breaking his throttle hand in Saor_ day's races. Honda's Robby Bell found it somewhat difiicult to lransition from pre-runninS and racing the Baia 500 (which he won with partner Kendall Norman) the week before to the ti8ht, technical and often slick trails comprising WashouSal's off-road section. "lt's a challente," he admitt€d. "Pan oI it is because this is my fiRt-ever neal woods race. So not onry making the adiustment but tryint to learn this [course] as quick as I could and get used to rr was definitet diffi- cult. lt was fun, though; the course was awesome-" ln addition. Bell continued to cope with the naSSing ankle iniury he incurred three weeks ago at the round in ldaho. 'After ldaho I only had a week lbefore the Baia 5001, and my ankle felt pretty good through Baia, but the whole week of pre-running and racinS in Baia defi- nitely set [the healing process] back a little bit. Then ltweaked it a couple times in practice up here so it wasn't 100 percent. Let's just say I'm really looking forward to some weeks ofll" After finishint third, Destry Abbott observed, "l've just been strutgling in this series, and I don't know why. Hopefully this is a tu.naround point for me. This was definitely a true off-road race vs. all the o[her ones. Garrison, Huthes, all these 8u),.s are so Sood at motolcross]; it's been kind oI'moto-ey'so it's kind of nice for a change to have a nice off'road raae. lt was definitely one of my favorite events, for sure." oVERALL: ' tut r,/ OEs'

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