 2007 may be the best year of American Off-Road Racing to ever hit the history books. While the premier classes of Supercross and Motocross have become one or two man shows, the elite classes of off-road in almost all series have turned into dog-fights with multiple winners and anyone’s guess as to who is going to take which championship. Winning an Off-Road Championship requires a greater variety of skills then any other form of motorcycle racing. Many of the top series employ large national motocross tracks, which then branch out into the neighboring countryside. There are big jumps, hill-climbs, water crossings, trials-like rock sections, tight-woods, stadium whoops, sand-whoops, high-speed fire roads, bogs, mud, deserts, snow, fallen trees, dry waterfalls, extreme heat and cold, and pit-stops in almost every series as they traverse the seasons and landscape of the United States. Add in the physical factor, which requires these athletes and their machines to put forth a maximum effort at high-speed for 2-3 hours in most series and you have the best trained, most highly skilled, and best equipped racers on the planet.   he WORCS Series is one of the premier championships to aim for in American Off-Road Racing. The 12-round series begins in January and ends in November while touring most of the American west. A WORCS rider competing for the title can expect to race for 2-plus hours in 105 degree temperatures in the Arizona badlands and then ride through snow-capped mountains a few weeks later in Washington State. In fact, the WORCS series travels from California to Arizona, Idaho, Washington, and Utah, with each event employing the best and toughest terrain of each landscape.Team FMF Suzuki Off-Road’s Ryan Hughes looked to be the early favorite in 2007, taking second in the opener in January and then winning the next three in a row. But Ryno had problems in the next three events; those problems had names; Kurt Caselli and Nathan Woods. When Ryno was winning three in a row, Caselli (Red Bull KTM) was finishing second all three times. Then in the sixth race of the series Caselli finally put it all together and took a victory while Ryno finished third. The other rider in the hunt is Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Nathan Woods. Woods missed the third event of the series with a broken hand, but returned a few weeks later to land on the podium in his first race back. Since then Woods has taken two victories and put himself in the title chase. The only other rider to take a WORCS victory this year is defending champion Ricky Dietrich, who won the opener and then broke his arm in the second race of the series. He’s returned strong, but is out of the title chase against Hughes, Caselli, and Woods. Here’s how the top three stack up: 1. Ryan Hughes: Team FMF Suzuki Off-Road–56 points/3wins The second half of the WORCS series begins August 12 in Olympia, Washington and finishes in November in Taft, California. |
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  ong considered the premier American Off-Road series in the U.S. the GNCC has been dominated since 2005 by KTM’s Juha Salminen from Vantana, Finland. For 2007 Juha, a 10-time World Enduro Champion, returned to Europe and Red Bull KTM brought in David Knight to take Juha’s place. Knight, from the Isle of Mann, has an impressive off-road record already. He is a 2-time World Enduro Champion, 2-time Erzberg Extreme Winner, U.S. Red Bull Last Man Standing Winner 2005 and 2006, AMA EnduroCross Champion 2005, and ISDE Overall Winner 2005.Knight hasn’t disappointed so far in the GNCC season, despite injuries in the early rounds, the big Brit has won four overalls and leads the points chase with 133. Still it’s a close series with five different winners in the eight rounds run so far. There are five riders within 20 points of Knight with five races still to go in the 13 round series. New to the GNCCs in 2007 is the XC2 Pro Lites class for riders on 250cc four-stroke machines (just like the MX Lites class). And a great hero has returned to dominate the XC2 Pro Lites. That rider would be Rodney Smith. Smith is a five-time GNCC Champion and holds several motocross and other off-road titles as well. He became the oldest man to ever win the GNCC Championship when in 2004 at age 40 he crushed all the competition (most were half his age) and took the title. Now, at 43 Rodney is “semi-retired” but still winning races. Tagged by Team FMF Suzuki Off-Road to develop their new RMZ250, Rodney has won three of eight XC2 Pro Lites events and finished on the podium two more times to lead the series with 147 points. So far there have been five XC2 Pro Lites winners this season and only Rodney and Kurt Caselli can claim more than one victory. It would be amazing for the 43 year old to beat the teenagers and twenty-something’s for the XC2 Pro Lites title. The GNCC Series resume September 2 with round 9 and concludes its 13th and final round October 28 with the Iron-man in Indiana.
 he Hare & Hound is one of the AMA’s oldest off-road Series and is contested by some of the toughest riders in the U.S. A real desert racer’s series, it begins in January and ends in October. Destry Abbott and Russ Pearson are past champions and for the last few years have been in the fight for the title with each other. However, this year a new straw was added to stir the drink in the form of Pearson’s cousin David.David Pearson (Red Bull KTM) surprised everybody in 2007 by winning four of the first six rounds and finishing on the podium for the other two. With only one round remaining, David Pearson is the first to clinch an off-road title in 2007. With one round to go Pearson has 166 points to Abbott’s 126. An overall Hare & Hound victory in the final would net Abbott 30 points making it mathematically impossible to overtake Pearson. So congratulations to the 2007 AMA FMF National Hare & Hound Champion David Pearson.
  ith 10 rounds ending in October the National Hare Scrambles Series is one of the only series to race through the month of August and one of the few off-road series that spans the entire continent. As a result the Hare Scrambles attracts some of the best and most diverse riders. Of the three races run so far this season there have been three different winners. Team Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Nathan Woods won the opener in Febuary, followed by Red Bull KTM Mike Lafferty’s win in April and then Red Bull KTM David Knight’s victory in June. However, the current points leader for the Hare Scrambles title is Robbie Jenks (Red Bull KTM) who hasn’t won a round yet, but is the defending champion and plans to race for the title in this series. He has a good chance because Woods is going to focus the rest of the season on the WORCS Championship, Lafferty is leading and going after the National Enduro Championship and Knight is leading and focused on the GNCC title chase.The AMA National Hare Scrambles Series is racing right now and concludes with the final round in October, 2007.
The American off-road scene is the most diverse and exciting motorcycle racing there is. All these riders are heroes and every championship is important. Pick your favorites, cross your fingers and cheer them on. We’ll let you know how each title is won as they conlude. Utill then, good luck and best wishes to all racers and sponsors.
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or the last three years the OMA Series has been ruled by Jimmy Jarrett of Team FMF Suzuki Off-Road. 2007 looks to be no different. In the four rounds run thus far Jarrett has won the last three after finishing third in the opener. Jarrett’s quest for a 4th OMA Championship is right on track, add the fact that Jarrett is in the top 10 in GNCC points and scored his first GNCC podium at the last round makes it a great season so far for Jimmy. Currently, Jarrett leads the OMA series with 111 points/3 wins with his nearest competition 38 points behind. The OMA Series is 10 rounds ending in November.
