Ashburn Wins OMA Winter National Opener

Mark Kariya | October 4, 2010

The Moose Racing Hangman Cross-country National appeared to be a case of deja vu. As was the case at last year’s inaugural Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Winter Nationals series kickoff, it took place in Hanging Limb, Tennessee, at Daryl Hoover’s farm. And just like last year, Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green’s Jordan Ashburn ran away with the win aboard his Traxxas/Maxima/Moose-backed KX450F.

He didn’t have the entire race go his way, though. At the start, Monte Gusse’s green flag caught him off-guard so he had to follow 40-49 A racer Randy Smithson and a few others for a few hundred yards. “I wasn’t paying attention on the start,” Ashburn admitted. “I was looking down at my watch, doing something on it, then I saw the flag drop so I took off.”` But when the course ducked into the woods, Ashburn took control, only to stall and lose time trying to restart his bike.

Michael Williams–who’s dominated the Lite A division in the regular OMAs this year and plans to ride Pro from now on–took the lead at that point aboard his Barry Heath Racing/GEICO Powersports/FMF KX250F and didn’t fold when Ashburn eventually caught back up to him, leading the first few laps. Even after Ashburn re-passed him for the lead, putting the speed advantage of his 450 to good use, Williams kept it close. “My goal was to stay with him and I managed that pretty well with the dust,” he said.

But it wouldn’t last and Williams crashed when he hit something he didn’t see.

Chris Huddleston moved into second at that point aboard his KTM 250 SX, though the 30-39 A leader didn’t realize it at first. He was unable to hold it to the finish, however, because Williams’ teammate Colin Brasher was on the move aboard his KX250F. As they headed for the white flag, the younger Lite B racer’s momentum carried him past and into the runner-up spot to stay.

Behind them, Harvey Whitaker–the 2009-2010 overall series as well as 40-49 A champ–put in consistent laps on his Husaberg FE 450 to claim another class win and fourth overall, Smithson rounding out the top five.