Jarrett Wins Ohio OMA

Mark Kariya | October 2, 2006

Andrews Cycles/Maxxis/Moose RM250-mounted Jimmy Jarrett won for the fifth time this season in the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals to effectively put a wrap on his third consecutive championship.

The Scott/Acerbis Coyote Cross-Country in Waukon, Iowa, saw Jarrett get off the start quickly, but Yamaha racers Justin Williamson and Jason Thomas tucked in right behind him, and those three steadily inched away from the rest of the pack.

An overheating rear brake prevented Jarrett from running away, however, and stopping to squirt water from his CamelBak let both Thomas and Williamson slip past with Williamson the official leader for the first two laps on his Williamsonracing.com/Kenda/Dirt Tricks YZ250. Jarrett lurked just a few seconds behind and retook the lead as they got the white flag on the third time around the 13-mile course, but Williamson squirted back around and had the upper hand with less than two miles to go.

Unfortunately for Williamson, an untimely spill provided Jarrett with the opening he needed to win for the first time since injuring his knee in a photo shoot a couple months ago. “I kind of got lucky, but I’ll take it,” Jarrett admitted after taking the checkered flag.

Williamson rebounded for the runner-up spot – the fifth time this season he’s finished in that position – though his 14-second deficit was not indicative of how close they’d been for most of the race.

Thomas lost contact with the first two after making a mistake about halfway through the race and ended up a solitary third on his Fun Mart Cycles/Maxxis/Moose YZ250.

Aaron Branham claimed fourth on his Marysville Honda Motorsports/Cycra/MSR CR250R-his best series finish to date-with Matt Crouch rounding out the top five on his PMP/Zip-Ty Racing/MSR YZ250.

Jarrett now has a practically unbeatable points total going into the final round in Illinois at the end of the month; essentially, he needs only to start the race to top the points chart again.

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.