Whibley Wraps Up OMA Title With Moose Run WIn

Mark Kariya | October 18, 2010

Am Pro/FMF Yamaha’s Paul Whibley sailed to his seventh consecutive victory in the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals to claim his third straight OMA championship when he won the Moose Run, presented by Moose Racing, in Fenton, Illinois, on October 17.

As he’s done so often this season, he took the lead early and controlled the pace on a perfect day for racing in the tight woods interspersed with wide-open, top-gear dashes across corn fields.

Most of the action took place behind him, some of it ugly. JG Off-road/GEICO Powersports/Monster Energy Kawasaki teammates Jimmy Jarrett and Scott Watkins found themselves in a tight battle, running second and third, when they accidentally touched. Watkins went down hard, suffering a badly broken collarbone. Jarrett and many fellow competitors stopped to render what aid they could before Watkins was evacuated and taken to a local hospital. (He was reportedly scheduled for surgery the next day to repair a broken collarbone and is expected to recover without complications, according to race officials.)

That, of course, gave Whibley more breathing room and the race resumed behind him. Jarrett would eventually claim second over Husaberg’s Nick Fahringer. That would prove to be crucial, as they both ended the series tied on points after their one throwaway. With the Moose Run being the tie-breaking event in the series, Jarrett found himself vaulted from seventh to fourth (behind Whibley, Watkins and Thad Duvall, who missed the race). Fahringer ended up fifth in points, unofficially, followed by Jordan Ashburn and Adam Bonneur (who were fourth and fifth on the day).