FMF/KTM’s Kurt Caselli won both races of the World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) at Washougal MX Park, August 20-12, to take the overall victory and extend his points lead in the championship.
Caselli took the holeshot in the first race on Saturday and led until the checkered flag. The FMF KTM rider gated second in race two on Sunday behind teammate Mike Brown. Brown looked as though he was going to run away with the race win, but he lost his rear brakes about 40 minutes into the hour-long race and dropped several positions due to a long pit stop to fix the brakes.
Caselli took over the lead and continued a race-long duel with FMF/Suzuki Off-Road’s Josh Strang. Strang ran close behind Caselli until a late-race crash dropped him back and out of striking distance.
In the end, Caselli took the overall with a 1-1 sweep of round seven. “It’s been a good weekend for KTM,” said Caselli. “It’s been a crazy year, but the guys who really put in the work are my mechanic and the whole KTM team. The whole race was about getting out front and out of the dust, then I rode smart and got lucky with a win.”
Strang took a break from the GNCC Series to take on the riders of the WORCS Series and impressed everyone with a 2-2 finish for second overall. In race one, Strang gated well and quickly moved into third behind Caselli and Brown. For the next 40 minutes, Strang and Brown battled wheel-to-wheel until Brown pitted and Strang moved past. Then Strang went after Caselli and was able to close the gap, but he could not quite catch the KTM.
In race two, Strang, once again, gated well and found himself in a battle with both Brown and Caselli. Strang got past Brown when Brown pitted for the brake problem. He then hounded Caselli for most of the rest of the race but couldn’t get past the number-one KTM.
“Second overall is pretty good for my first WORCS race this year,” said Strang. “I’d like to come to another round and see if I can improve my finish. I’d like to win one of these.”
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert took third overall with a 4-3 finish. Brown came back for fourth overall and Justin Soule rounded out the top five.
Caselli’s victory makes it three in a row for Caselli and extends his points lead to 314/3 wins, ahead of Robert with 276/1 win and Bobby Garrison with 261/1 win.
