Whibley Takes Muddy Win in Missouri

Mark Kariya | September 20, 2010

Conditions at the Sidi Moonshine Cross-country National outside of Memphis, Missouri, couldn’t have been much more different than the previous round of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals. That one, in Indiana, featured temperatures in the high 90s and possibly the dustiest conditions yet faced by OMA racers, but in Missouri for round nine of the series on September 19, that was but a memory. Overnight storms turned the course at the Kirkpatrick Farm into a mudfest that tested all and broke a few.

When it was over, however, the winner hadn’t changed, with AmPro/FMF Yamaha’s Paul Whibley recording his sixth consecutive series victory to march one step closer to a third straight series championship. JG Off-road/GEICO Powersports/Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Scott Watkins gave chase all afternoon but couldn’t run him down, settling for second place and staying alive mathematically for his first series title. Husaberg’s Nick Fahringer rounded out the podium with his third overall, the third time this year he’s accomplished that despite having to stop a couple times late in the race to clean off the radiators when his bike started overheating.

Whibley appeared to have the start in the bag, but drifting just a bit wide and setting up for the turn into the woods allowed RM250-mounted privateer Shane Klimek to banzai past and steal the $200 K&N Filters Holeshot Award. Immediately after that, however, Klimek went tumbling while Whibley and several others motored by, but Klimek was stoked to grab the loot.

From that point on, however, the race belonged to Whibley. “We were all sort of bunched up on the first lap. After the end of the first lap, I got a bit of a gap when Scotty stopped for goggles. Once no one was [close] behind me, I started to ride my own race and started to pick it up a little bit [and] pulled a little bit of a lead.”

Once he’d lost contact with Whibley, Watkins couldn’t close the gap, though no one came up from behind to threaten either and he easily held second, finishing about two minutes behind the winner.

Fahringer had a somewhat slow start, picked off a few people, then lost ground and had to re-pass them back. His hopes of catching Watkins faded when his bike began overheating, leading him to stop a few times to clean debris from the radiators. Still, he finished about two and a half minutes up on K’s Motorsports KX450F-mounted Adam Bonneur who spent most of the afternoon chasing Klimek, finally finding an opening on the final lap to secure fourth.

Zach Klamfoth would win Open A and finish sixth overall aboard his Sport Cycles Racing YZ250, the final rider to complete four laps of the very challenging course. Watkins’ teammate Jimmy Jarrett, Open A runner-up Jake Fiddler, Lite A winner Daniel Janus and Kirk Foster rounded out the top 10.

The 10th and final round of the series takes place next month in Illinois at the Moose Run. But before that, the second annual Parts Unlimited OMA Winter Nationals kicks off in Hanging Limb, Tennessee, on October 2-3.

Mark Kariya | Contributor

Kariya spends way too much time in the desert, but we’re glad he does as he’s the man who gets us our coverage of all things sandy.