Jarrett Wins OMA National In Illinois

Mark Kariya | October 22, 2007

Parts Unlimited/Moose Honda racer Paul Whibley came close, but he ultimately failed to dethrone Team FMF/Suzuki Off-Road’s Jimmy Jarrett at The Race, presented by DP Brakes, in Fenton, Illinois, October 21, round nine in the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals.

Instead, Jarrett ran his record to seven victories in what will be his final series appearance this year, the finale in Kentucky conflicting with his participation in the ISDE in Chile next month.

Jarrett clinched the OMA Championship” his fourth in a row” at the last round and simply needed to start The Race in order to qualify for the $10,000 championship bonus.

“If I’m going to come to a race, I’m going to race to win,” Jarrett said, dismissing any thought of playing it safe.

Riding his Maxima/RG3/Sidi-sponsored RM-Z450, he found himself chasing Whibley, Adam Bonneur, Aaron Wegner and a few others as they sped through the corn fields before hitting the first woods section. That, however, didn’t last too long, and the Suzuki speedster soon settled in behind Whibley’s CRF450R, setting the scene for a late-race battle.

Unfortunately for Whibley, he snagged wire that stopped his bike dead in its tracks and blocked the way, forcing Jarrett to help the New Zealander get untangled. Whibley got going again only to discover that he was stuck in fourth gear” not the ideal cog for the tight woods and not enough to hold off Jarrett in the wide-open corn fields” so he could only watch the yellow machine motor past and beat him to the finish by 14 seconds.

Brian Garrahan put in another good ride to round out the podium on his Valli Construction/Maxxis/Moose YZ450F, 20 seconds behind Whibley and just 11 seconds ahead of local favorite Adam Bonneur’s Fun Mart Cycles/Maxxis/Moose YZ250.