Caselli Wins WORCS Championship
| October 24, 2010
Kurt Caselli won the WORCS final today. Kurt Caselli won the WORCS Championship today. Details? It went like this – Holeshot Mike Brown with Caselli in second and Ricky Dietrich in third, and Taylor Robert in fourth. Then, like comic book heroes, a 2-hour battle ensued that included air-to-air dogfights, trench warfare, mud, blood and broken hearts.
In all, the best race of the season included five different leaders. Brown lead at the beginning, then Robert, then MX legend John Dowd threw a wheel in up front. Then for a while Dietrich took over. At one point about an hour into the cage-fight Dietrich had the lead and Caselli had been booted back to sixth, which would’ve meant Ricky D would take the title and Kurt would end up second in points.
Kawasaki had stacked the deck as best they could to put bodies and points between Caselli and Dietrich. Pro 2 Champion Ryan Abbatoye moved up to Pro for the WORCS final, sand-specialist John Dowd appeared under the Kawasaki tent, Dietrich’s teammate Justin Soule put in another great ride. Plus, Dietrich himself was ready to pin it and win it in hopes of winning the WORCS Championship. But it would not be enough…
Caselli’s second hour charge moved him back into the top three and eventually into first place at the checkered flag. Kurt’s FMF/KTM teammate Mike Brown had his own battle to win against Robert, Dietrich, Dowd and Soule with Brownie coming out with the second place slot on the podium and third in the title chase. Soule fought his way past the freight-train of talent to take third for the day and clinch his slot for fourth in the point’s chase. Robert took fourth and Dowd hung on for fifth after both riders had lead early on.
As for Dietrich, he almost certainly had a podium in his pocket, but coasted into the pit at the 1 hour 44 minute mark with a broken shift shaft, his bike stuck in first gear. The Kawi mechanics went to work and sent him back out with third gear, but Ricky D had to watch Kurt take the win from almost a lap down, credited with 14th place for the day.
The 2010 WORCS Championship is Caselli’s second title in the series which he also won in 2007. He had an amazing season amassing 226 points and four wins with a perfect podium season of 3-1-3-2-3-2-1-1-2-1. Dietrich took second in the title chase with 202/3 wins and a record of 5-3-1-3-1-1-2-2-3-14. Brown finished third in points with 193/2 wins and a record of 2-21-2-1-2-5-3-4-1-2. Soule garnered fourth in the title chase with 179 via a lot of top five finishes and four podiums. Pro rookie Colton Udall finished fifth in points with 127 earned with consistent top tens.
