VOL. 50 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 27, 2013
P135
NSHIP SERIES
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY
MARK KARIYA
K
urt Caselli of the FMF/
KTM Factory Off-Road
Racing Team sealed his
third consecutive title in the
AMA Racing/FMF/GPR Hare &
Hound National Championship
Series after winning round nine,
the Muley Run, hosted by the Silver State Trailblazers. He also led
a KTM sweep of the podium, with
(Left) Kurt Caselli flicks it sideways
en route to his sixth win of the
season. He clinched his third
straight title.
(Below) The race for second was
essentially settled on the first
hill. Ivan Ramirez chose the most
popular line while David Pearson
swung wide right. Pearson's line
proved to be faster.
Bonanza Plumbing-backed David
Pearson finishing a strong second in his only start of the series
this year and Caselli's teammate,
Ivan Ramirez, third.
As promised, the Trailblazers
switched things up for their second annual National. Starting just
outside of the Lincoln County
Fairgrounds, they laid out a 103mile point-to-point run this year,
with the finish in the town of Caliente. In between was a little of
almost everything, from fast Best
in the Desert dirt roads to deep
sand washes, a loop in the Chief
Range mountains and even water
crossings. Add to that, weather
that ran the gamut from rain, hail
and lightning at the start to warm,
dry and dusty in the middle miles
and back to rain at the end, and
it was a memorable race by any
measure.
As he has so often in the past
three years, Caselli got the holeshot on his Dunlop/Motorex/
Red Bull-sponsored 450 XC-F.
"The start was really important,"
he said. "It was obviously dusty
in a lot of areas then got wet in a
few spots too.
"I got a really good start; the
KTM fired right up and I was able
to get out front so it made it easy.
The course was marked really
well - they did a great job on the
corners and dangers.
"I got out front and felt good
and just carried a consistent
pace and didn't do anything too
spectacular."
Comparing this course to the
one he won on last year, Caselli
