Kurt Caselli Wins Opening Hare & Hound Round
Factory FMF/KTM rider
Kurt Caselli got off to a great start at the opening round of
the AMA National Hare & Hound Series taking a dominating win over
the rest of the field.
Caselli, the reigning Hare & Hound Champion, came into the series
opener looking quite confident on his KTM 450 SX-F. "I feel very
comfortable on my bike. I am lucky to be riding the same model we
raced last season so we have a pretty good set-up already and had
to make minimal changes during the off-season," stated Caselli.
With little rainfall hitting the southern California desert area
this winter, each rider was concerned with getting a good start to
avoid the dust clouds that would follow the start of the race. As
the riders launched down the start straight, it was the KTM machine
of Caselli that earned the holeshot and headed into the desert with
a clear line of vision.
"Getting a great start was definitely the key to winning this
race," remarked Caselli. "My bike fired up right away and I was
able to get a good jump off the line and was out front early as we
set out on the first loop," remarked Caselli.
The event included two different 40 mile loops in the desert of
Lucerne Valley. Caselli had pulled out to a 45 second lead at the
end of the first loop over the 2nd place ride of Destry Abbott and
the 3rd place ride of David Pearson. "Once I was out front, I just
concentrated on riding my own race and keeping it on two wheels. I
had no issues and was able to pull to a nice gab early in the
race," reported Caselli.
At the end of the final loop, Caselli crossed the checkers 3
minutes ahead of the competition. David Pearson would go on to
finish 2nd, while David Kamo rounded out the podium in 3rd.
Factory FMF/KTM Racing Team Manager, Antti Kallonen, commented,
"This was a great way to kick off the Hare & Hound Series. Kurt had
a great race and suffered no problems. We are very excited with
this result and looking forward to the second round."
Overall Results
- Kurt Caselli
- David Pearson
- David Kamo
- Destry Abbott
- Justin Morrow
- Gary Sutherlin
- Ricky Russell
- Skyler Howes
- Max Eddy
- Axel Pearson
