Juha Hauls In Texas

Mark Kariya | February 28, 2005

At the third round of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) in Floresville, Texas, February 27, it looked as though KTM’s Kurt Caselli just might get his second career WORCS win, but his teammate Juha Salminen of Finland had other ideas. After a bad start, Salminen reeled in early leader Caselli and went on to take the win, while Caselli held on to finish second.

“I tried to ride my own race, and on my pit board – I saw I that I was catching Kurt all the time, like sometimes two seconds, sometimes five seconds,” Salminen said. “Again, two hours is a long time; you have to look how you ride. If you start riding like crazy in the beginning, you make so many mistakes and you lose energy. Two hours is a long time, and you have to think like that.”

Caselli, who is still seeking his first WORCS win since 2001, was understandably frustrated. “I’m pretty disappointed, but Juha’s a World Champion. I guess I learned something from it – I’m not sure what. Juha rode really well. I got a little tired towards the end and started making mistakes, but besides that it was fine; my bike was running perfect, brake pads were still good, so I can’t complain.”

Another racer putting in a come-from-behind performance was Montclair Yamaha captain Ty Davis. After winning the Pro class at the Adelanto Grand Prix in Southern California the previous afternoon, he caught a red-eye flight and arrived in San Antonio at 7 A.M. race morning. Trying to switch gears from high-speed, choppy desert terrain on a four-stroke, to constant mud, ruts and some trees on a two-stroke took a few laps. After that, though, he charged through the field, passing Team Green’s Lance Smail on the final lap for the last spot on the podium. The first four finishers rode 250cc two-strokes, with Russell Pearson the first four-stroke pilot in fifth.