Ricky Dietrich returned to his home state of Washington and claimed his first WORCS victory of the 2008 season in Auburn, April 13. Dietrich, on the Monster Energy Kawasaki, won with style, taking over the lead in the opening minutes of the two-hour race and virtually going unchallenged for the remainder of the day. He finished almost a full minute ahead of his nearest rival for the win.
That person was Kawasaki rider Bobby Bonds who had a troubled start, coming around in 20th place at the end of the first 13-minute lap. From that point on, Bonds put his head down and cut some of the fastest lap times of the day. Defending WORCS Champion, Red Bull KTM’s Kurt Caselli took third. Caselli actually got the holeshot aboard his 250 XC two-stroke ahead of the field of 450 thumpers but spun out, which cost him five places.
WORCS Championship points leader, Yamaha’s Bobby Garrison claimed the fourth-place spot after a turbulent first hour that saw him bounce around the charts, going from fifth to fourth, back to ninth, up to sixth, then back again to seventh, etc. Garrison finally settled in during the second hour and pushed his way into fourth by the finish, just ahead of Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Damon Huffman.
The round-four results closed the title hunt into a dog-fight between the top four men in the series. Garrison and Caselli are tied with 92 points each. Right behind the lead pair is Dietrich with 87 points, and Bonds sits just 10 points out of the lead with 82.
The points lead changed hands in the WORCS Pro 2 class, as two-time winner and point’s leader Taylor Robert was forced to sit out the main with a dislocated hip. “I hit the ground pretty hard in Friday practice,” said Robert. “I felt it pop out, then as I was rolling around, it popped back in. I tried to ride today, but I can’t.”
The Pro 2 win went to Monster Kawasaki’s Josh Morros, marking his second victory of the season, but the points lead fell to Nick Brozovich, the most consistent rider in the Pro 2 class so far. He leads the Pro 2 class with 96 points, Morros is second with 90, and Robert is third with 85. Third place on the day went to Corey Floyd, with Erek Arnold finishing fourth and Wes Johnson fifth.
