If you looked only at the lap charts, you’d think Russell Bobbitt had a pretty easy day at the Maxxis National at the Seven Springs Lodge which served as both the opening round of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals and the sixth round of the OMA Winter Nationals. After all, the FMF/KTM Factory Off-Road Racing Team star rocketed off the line on his 250 XC to claim the $200 FMF Holeshot Award and was never headed after that.
But a closer look reveals that he had heavy pressure the entire race from three-time and defending series champion Paul Whibley, the Am-Pro/FMF Yamaha rider staying within a few seconds every inch of the way around the rocky, mostly dry woods trails. Despite several passing attempts on the final lap, he came up short in his bid for victory while Jordan Ashburn rolled in almost six minutes behind them for third aboard his Obermeyer/Am-Pro Yamaha.
Bobbitt’s victory took some of the sting out of his last-lap loss at the previous Winter National outside of Nashville. “It definitely was a frustrating point,” Bobbitt said of his loss to Shane O’Banion, who missed this event. “A lot of people asked me, What happened? It gets under my skin. But I just really wanted to win [today]–we’ve been working for it and we’ve done a lot of good preparation, I think.”
Though some thought Whibley was simply laying back the whole time and waiting until the end to make his move, the YZ450F-mounted Kiwi denied that, explaining, “I wasn’t purposely hanging back.
“I was kind of looking for places to pass, but it was kind of hard to find them out here today.
“As the race wore on and on, I was like, ‘I’ve got to find somewhere and, like, really make it happen!
“I was working hard trying to make some passes on that last lap and I ended up losing some time, but that’s the way it goes. It was a good race; we were pushing each other hard.”
After a less-than-stellar start, Ashburn moved into third and said, “It was a pretty good day; I’m happy with it. We started off on the podium so that’s where we’ll finish this year, hopefully.”
Also having to come back from a poor start was four-time series champ Jimmy Jarrett, he and teammate Scott Watkins making their Honda debuts for the JG Off-road/GEICO Powersports team. Jarrett fared the best, moving to fourth at the finish aboard his CRF450R, some 16 seconds behind Ashburn. Husaberg’s Nick Fahringer was another 25 seconds behind Jarrett, having dispatched Watkins for fifth place within sight of the white flag. Watkins, ‘Berg FX 450-mounted Kenneth Gilbert, RM250 rider Shane Klimek, Brett Zofchak on his 250 XC and KX250F-mounted Michael Williams rounded out the top 10.
