Back On Top, and Fighting to Stay There
Story and Photos by: Bryan Grey

This years edition of WORCS Week in Olympia, WA kicked off with a weekend of Hare Scrambles racing in the woods surrounding Straddleline ORV Park. Tall old growth timbers, tree roots, rocks and a bit of mud challenged the racers as they navigated their way through the tight course built by the WORCS staff. Unlike a typical WORCS weekend, the racers had the added challenge of dead engine starts, longer laps, and they rode very little of the motocross track.

2007 WORCS Champ Kurt Caselli returned to WORCS racing this year after spending a couple years focused on GNCC racing on the east coast. Back home on the west coast, Caselli had been leading the points chase until Ricky Dietrich snatched it away in June at Cahuilla Creek. It’s been a close battle all season long with both riders consistently landing themselves on the podium.

In the Women’s Pro class, defending champion Kacy Martinez and RPM/KTM teammate Maria Forsberg played follow the leader all day long. On the start Martinez pulled the holeshot with Forsberg on her tail until Forsberg laid her bike down and had to play catch up. By the end of the first lap she had made up the deficit and the two riders stuck together the whole race. With Martinez leading from the start, Forsberg finally got around the champ on the last lap and took the checkered flag by a small 2 second margin over Martinez. It was Forsberg, Martinez and Jessica Smith on the podium, giving Martinez a sizable 29 point lead in the points standings.

Local boy Ricky Russell lead the Pro 2 race from flag to flag over series regulars Cody Schafer and Corey Floyd. Being from the NW area, Russell had experienced racing in the tight trees of Straddleline before and cited that as his advantage this day.

When the green flag flew for the Pros, Destry Abbott took the holeshot with Dietrich on his heels. Having been struck by lightning a few weeks prior, Abbott, dubbed “Dr Shock” by WORCS announcer Tim Shelman, is lucky to be alive, much less pulling holeshots amongst this tough field. Still recovering from the incident, Abbott let Dietrich and Caselli by to duke it out for the lead.

After getting around Abbott, Dietrich took the early lead and would maintain it until his gas stop midway through the race. At that point Caselli, who had been riding a close 2nd place, would take over the lead. Hoping to be more nimble in the tight trees, Caselli and teammate Mike Brown chose to ride KTM 250s instead of riding their 450s like most of their competitors would be. The larger tank on the 250 allowed Caselli to stay out while Dietrich refueled. It was at that point Caselli began his march to the number one spot on the podium and the points lead. At the conclusion of the race Dietrich took 2nd and Brown took 3rd. After seven rounds, Caselli regains the points lead by 1 point over Dietrich and puts him in the lead for the number one plate in the overall points for the WORCS Week Championship. – Bryan Grey