A week after his late-race pass to win in the GNCC mud, Team FMF/Suzuki Off-road’s Paul Whibley led almost all the way to win in much more enjoyable conditions on May 25 at the Motion Pro Coal Miner Cross-country National near Rio Grande, Ohio, round three of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals. His first OMA triumph follows a pair of runner-up results behind teammate Charlie Mullins, who could only manage 16th Pro and 17th overall, and gives Whibley the series points lead over Mullins, 80-65.
Another one of Whibley’s teammates, four-time and defending series champion Jimmy Jarrett, edged him for the $200 Vemar Helmets Holeshot Award and badgered him most of the way, but Whibley and his RG3/Works Connection/Moose-sponsored RM-Z450 would pull away at the end. Still, second was the best finish of the season yet for Jarrett and his Maxima/Dunlop/Moose RM250.
Red Bull KTM’s Nathan Kanney put in an appearance and raced to third, just 11 seconds behind Jarrett, on his Michelin/Motorex/KTM Hard Equipment 300 XC.
After nothing but mud-fests recently, conditions on the sunny spring day couldn’t have been more welcome, and Whibley took advantage of it on a course that was a little more open by promoter Bill Gusse standards (Gusse having decided to give competitors a bit of a break due to all they’d been through so far this season).
“I think my technique’s gotten better,” New Zealand-born Whibley surmised. “I’m getting more and more used to riding in these tight conditions that Gusse has here. After a couple years of riding these, it’s getting better and better so I’m pretty happy.”
Though Jarrett threatened throughout the first portion, he wasn’t able to make a pass stick and ultimately would settle for second about a minute and 20 seconds behind Whibley’s winning two hours, 18 minutes and 29 seconds. However, his runner-up finish puts him just one point behind Mullins and he’s nine ahead of Brian Garrahan, who was fourth on the day aboard his Valli Construction/Maxxis/Answer YZ450F.
After plowing into a fallen Mullins in the third turn, Jordan Ashburn came back and claimed fifth on his Powersport Grafx KTM 250 XC, edging fellow teenager Adam Bonneur and his Fun Mart Cycles YZ250 by six seconds with Johnnysigns.com YZ250-mounted Aaron Wegner just nine seconds behind Bonneur. Team Green-supported Brett Zofchak on a KX250, Storm Lake Honda.com’s Chris Nelson on a CRF450R and Husaberg’s Nick Fahringer on his FE450e rounded out the top 10.
