Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ricky Dietrich became the first two-time winner in the 2010 World Off-Road Championship Series after taking top honors in round five at Honey Lake MX Park in Milford, California, on May 16. Dietrich, who also won round three at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, took the holeshot and led the entire two-hour race.
“It was an almost perfect race for me,” said Dietrich. “We chose the correct set-up, the Kawasaki was perfect, and I got a good start and just rode a hard pace. This was a real technical off-road race and I’ve never won here before. I always liked it here, but I really like this course now.”
The technical Honey Lake course featured rocks, mud, dust, trees, waterfalls and chutes, but Dietrich handled it all in supreme fashion.
Finishing second was FMF/KTM/Muscle Milk’s Mike Brown. Brown gated fifth and then worked his way up to second by the second lap. He began to close on Dietrich, coming to within five seconds of the leader late in the race. However, Brown was unable to close in from that point and had to settle for second, a victim of a bent front-brake rotor.
“A good race for sure,” said Brown. “I would’ve liked to have caught Dietrich, but he was riding well and I hit a rock and bent my front rotor and lost my front brake, so I couldn’t charge the downhill’s as fast as I needed to. Still, another second place and a 2-3 finish for KTM is a pretty good day.”
Kurt Caselli made it two FMF/Muscle Milk KTMs on the podium. Caselli gated mid-pack and charged through the pack, settling into third late in the race.
“My plan is to stay on the podium,” Caselli said. “But I need to start better and be up front to win more of these in the second half of the season. this was a great course today, fun, tough and fast. It looks like it’s going to be between myself, Dietrich and Brown for the Championship, so the next five races are going to decide it all.”
Fourth place went to Justin Soule, followed by Robby Bell, who rounded out the top five.
Kevin Rookstool crossed the finish line in sixth, while JCR Honda’s Colton Udall finished a WORCS personal best seventh. Brenden Ritzman finished eighth with Bobby Garrison ninth.
Motocross legend John Dowd completed the top-10 overall in what was his first WORCS race.
After five rounds, Caselli leads the title chase with 107 points, followed closely by Dietrich, who is just one point back. Brown is third with 92 points.
