Mullins Wins OMA Opener

Mark Kariya | March 19, 2007

After using the opening lap to get his bearings, Am-Pro Yamaha’s Charles Mullins took the lead for good on his FMF/Bridgestone/MSR YZ250 and won round one of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals, the Maxxis Rough River Run, by a commanding margin over teammate Barry Hawk. Three-time and defending series champion Jimmy Jarrett, of Team FMF Suzuki Off-road, ended up third.

“I led pretty much the whole first lap, then I made a mistake and blew a corner; Jimmy caught up to me and I let him by because the track had a lot of virgin stuff on it-I didn’t practice on Saturday so I figured I’d just follow him,” Mullins said.

“I got around him on the second lap, and we came to a lot of lappers. I think I got a break; I got through pretty clean. I think him and Barry had trouble.

“After that, I just put my head down and charged to the end, and I was able to hold on for the win.” His total time for the five laps on the Triple E Ranch outside of Short Creek, Kentucky, was two hours, 14 minutes and 31 seconds.

Hawk fought back from a low-speed endo and getting hung up behind lappers to pass Jarrett on the fourth lap. He would finish just over two minutes behind Mullins in 2:17:35 with Jarrett losing time with a crash but holding on for third in 2:19:40 on his Maxima/Dunlop/Moose-sponsored RM250.

The largest field in recent history faced 13 totally virgin miles as this was the first race ever held at the Triple E Ranch. Plenty of it included single-track, but there were a few open sections and creeks to keep things mixed, and with rain earlier in the week, conditions were close to perfect.

Local favorite Alan Westerfield put in an inspired ride on his Mid-State Motorsports/ATEK Suspension/Moose YZ250F to finish fourth, just holding off Kalib Russell, who was making his Pro debut at age 17 on his Powersport Grafx/KTM Hard Equipment/Sidi KTM 200 XC.