Dietrich and Garrison Go Down to the Wire in WORCS Finale

The scenario couldn't have played out better. Both of the primary contenders for the 2006 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC World Off Road Championship Series went into round 12, the finale presented by Carter Powersports, separated by just four points with Zip-Ty Yamaha's Bobby Garrison the leader over Team Green support rider Ricky Dietrich.But even with that lead, Garrison could afford no lapses in judgment, luck or equipment. Basically, whoever beat the other would earn their first WORCS championship.

So, when Dietrich got the holeshot at Mesquite, Nevada's Mesquite Motocross Park and Garrison tucked right in behind him, those on hand to observe knew that this could be the barn-burner of the season.

And they were right.

Both young Pros appeared to be evenly matched, with Dietrich unable to break away from his rival. However, being able to lead for much of the first half of the two-hour race seemed like the better strategy for Dietrich on his Carter Powersports/Pro Circuit/ARC-backed KX450F. "I didn't really let that get to my head," Dietrich explained. "I just kept riding my own race and just made sure that I kept him behind me. I knew that maybe if he sucked enough dust or something, that his bike would crap out or something.

"As it turned out, both our bikes were kind of doing that. Everybody's bikes were crapping out."

Indeed they were. The silt and sand of the off-road section laid out in the drier portions of the Virgin River wreaked havoc with nearly every bike's air filter, despite all the usual dust-proofing methods employed. If the beach dunes at the previous round in Pismo were hard on engines, the silt at Mesquite proved even more punishing. For example, Team Green's Destry Abbott, fresh off capturing the AMA National Hare & Hound Championship, DNFed when his KX450F started blowing blue smoke so he watched the remaining laps from the pits and cheered for his Kawasaki-mounted teammate.

And those cheers grew loud and hard when Dietrich appeared with the lead well in hand and the checkered flag in sight. Behind Garrison by a few seconds as they took the white flag, both rode coughing, wheezing bikes that probably had only half their usual power. It almost turned into a slow race, with Dietrich's bike running minimally better, but that's all it took as he ran down Garrison's sick Montclair Yamaha/Jardine/Moose YZ450F. The race--and the championship hanging on it--went to Dietrich.

"In the end, I guess my Kawi was running just that [little bit] much better than the Yamaha, and that's what made the race right there," Dietrich surmised.Though understandably dejected, Garrison offered, "I'm disappointed with how things turned out, but at the same time, second place for the season, that's above what I expected [in January].

"Next year I've got one more spot to improve, and that's what I'm going to try to do," he promised.

Bad starts hampered several others even more. KTM's Kurt Caselli rallied back from one and after fighting his way into third, found himself with a very badly running Michelin/FMF/Moose 450 XC. He pitted for a fresh air filter which helped for a while, but then he ran out of fuel on the last lap. After getting a splash from a good Samaritan, he came in third--not a bad way to finish out his injury-interrupted season.

Team Green's Nathan Woods saw his two-race winning streak stopped and with it, any hope of holding onto his number one plate for a third consecutive year when he got a poor start as well. While passing people, he crashed and chose to back it down a bit after that in order to salvage fourth on the day and third in the series.

After accepting his accolades at the awards banquet that night, Dietrich's focus shifted to his next goal: helping to win the Junior World Trophy team competition at the ISDE alongside teammates Caselli, David Pearson and Russell Bobbitt. In fact, they were scheduled to fly to New Zealand the day after the race, which should make for lively bench-racing on the 15-hour flight.

Top 10 Overall Results
1. Ricky Dietrich, Kawasaki KX450F
2. Bobby Garrison, Yamaha YZ450F
3. Kurt Caselli, KTM 450 XC
4. Nathan Woods, Kawasaki KX450F
5. Robby Bell, Honda CRF450X
6. Jamie Lanza (Semi-Pro), Yamaha YZ250F
7. Lance Smail, Kawasaki KX450F
8. Scott Simon, Kawasaki KX450F
9. Justin Soule (Semi-Pro), Kawasaki KX450F
10. Ryan Reina (Semi-Pro), Honda CRF450R