Two-time and defending series champion Paul Whibley put on a powerful show of force to win the DP Brakes Wolverine Cross-Country National, round five of the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals, July 11. Held at the Twisted Trails Offroad Park outside of Mesick, Michigan, the Am-Pro/FMF Yamaha racer recovered from a mediocre start to grab the lead after a little less than an hour and maintained it to the end. His victory vaulted him to second in series points and is now just three points behind JG Off-Road/GEICO Powersports/Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Scott Watkins, who was second on the day. Husaberg’s Nick Fahringer came off his injury-forced three-week layoff to claim the third step on the podium.
Fahringer’s riding sabbatical apparently made him antsy to get back on his FX 450, and he edged Jeremy Smith for the $200 K&N Filters Holeshot Award – the first time in his life he’d ever gotten a holeshot, he recalled.
But after leading a lap, he knew he couldn’t maintain that pace and let first Thad Duvall, then later Whibley and Watkins by. Duvall ended up losing lots of time fixing a clutch problem on his WR450F and would eventually a lap down, ninth in the Pro division.
Whibley would take the lead on the third time around the approximately eight-mile course. He built a cushion and easily kept it to the finish, completing seven laps in two hours, 24 minutes and 37 seconds with Watkins almost two minutes behind and Fahringer a distant but solid third.
“It went good,” Whibley said with a smile. “After picking my way through the field, I rode my own race so it was good.”
Unlike previous races this year, Whibley rode a YZ450F. “We’ve kind of got the go-ahead to start sort of development for racing them full-time next year,” he revealed.
Watkins reported, “He pulled a minute on me and then it just stayed that – it stayed right there, right around a minute, which was good; I was going the same pace as him, nice and consistent – and stalled my bike there with two laps to go. I kicked and kicked and kicked and finally got it going, but then that was it.”
Former series regular and Michigan resident Aaron Wegner proved to be as fast as ever, winning Open A on his trusty YZ250 and finishing fourth overall, 50 seconds behind Fahringer. Adam Bonneur was fourth Pro and fifth overall followed by fellow Kawasaki rider Jordan Ashburn, Shane Klimek on his RM250, Open A runner-up Zach Klamfoth, 30-39 A winner Steve Leivan and seventh Pro Cooper Bailey.
Watkins remains the series points leader after his fifth consecutive podium finish of the series.
