Woods Wins First National at Hollister Hare Scrambles

What a difference a year makes. Last year, veteran Nathan Woods bore the number one plate in WORCS and, with five wins, would successfully defend that championship as a member of the powerful Montclair Yamaha/Zip-Ty Racing team. On the other hand, Ricky Dietrich was a rookie pro, though his dominance of the Semi-Pro ranks in 2004 certainly signaled he'd be a threat in 2005.

Now, two months into 2006, Woods is on a Kawasaki as the newest member of Team Green, but he's had little luck as he attempts to recreate his success of the past two seasons.

That is, until he decided to try his hand at round two of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series, the Hollister Classic at Hollister, California. For the first six laps, Woods recovered from a poor start at his first off-road race at Hollister and finally worked his way into second place behind Dietrich, who'd placed fourth last year.

The race of KX450Fs went down to the seventh and final lap when Dietrich swapped and crashed his Carter Powersports/Maxxis/ARC machine. "I went as good as I could go; I was holding him off then I crashed on the last lap," he said. "I picked myself up, and I said, 'All right, I'm just going to cruise.'

"I'm a little tired from yesterday and everything."

The day before, you see, Dietrich raced two classes at the Adelanto Grand Prix in the SoCal desert, his first time at that event marked by high speeds and square edges. "I've never run so fast in my life!" he exclaimed, and his hands bore the blisters to prove it. "From yesterday to today, what a difference—let me tell you!"

"And everything" might also have included the drive from Adelanto to Hollister in his pickup truck. Woods also drove his own truck to Hollister, though he stayed home for his son's birthday and didn't have as far to drive. But both seemed like privateers—working out of the backs of their trucks and having friends pit them instead of having the Team Green semi and technicians on hand.

"I like working out of my truck; I really do," Pro Circuit/Maxima/Moose-backed Woods insisted. "I'm not used to having the big [transporter] and all that stuff, to be honest with you. I didn't come from that era. I came from my own self working on my own bikes and the whole deal."

Combined with his round one win in Arizona, Dietrich finds himself in the series points lead with Woods second. Neither, however, figures to stay there as they're not contesting the rest of the series. Of the series regulars, KTM's Robbie Jenks did the best, finishing third on his Enduro Engineering/V-Force/Sidi 250 XC.

"It was just so different than what I'm used to," Jenks said of his first race at Hollister (which, for a change, was dry until the last lap). "It was so hard and slick and fast. I stayed with those guys really good until the last, probably, two laps. Then it started getting slick with the rain and everything."

NorCal regular Ryan Powell ended up coming from a bad start to fourth on his Mach 1 Motorsports/Motul/MSR YZ250 while early leader Patrick Garrahan ended up fifth on his Maxxis/Hlebo Bros./Shift KTM 250 XC.

Hollister Overall Results
1. Nathan Woods, Kawasaki KX450F
2. Ricky Dietrich, Kawasaki KX450F
3. Robbie Jenks, KTM 250 XC
4. Ryan Powell, Yamaha YZ250
5. Patrick Garrahan, KTM 250 XC
6. Jordan Brandt, KTM 450 XC
7. Beau Baron, Kawasaki KX450F
8. Dennis Stapleton, Kawasaki KX450F
9. John Wear, Yamaha YZ250
10. John Beal, KTM 250 SX
11. David Kamo, KTM 450 XC
12. Jason Voss, Honda CR250R
13. Eric Ducray, Suzuki RM-Z450
14. Tim Stowe, Suzuki
15. Mason Harrison, Yamaha
16. Rodney Spencer, Yamaha
17. Steve Silvestri, KTM
18. Brad Gooslby, Yamaha
19. John Sicley, Yamaha
20. Greg Ghione, Honda CRF450R