Jarrett Tops Missouri OMA

Mark Kariya | July 9, 2007

Jimmy Jarrett got out in front early and ran off with his fourth win in a row in the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals in Missouri, July 8.

“I knew the dust was going to be bad, so I definitely wanted to get out front early and have a couple laps to myself,” the Team FMF Suzuki rider said. After grabbing the holeshot on his Dunlop/RG3/Moose-sponsored RM250, Jarrett ended up having the entire race to himself, as he cruised to victory at the hot and dusty Maxxis Moonshine 100. With five rounds left, the win puts Jarrett in good position to hang on to the series number-one plate for a fourth straight year.

Brian Garrahan quickly made up for a bad start, getting into second place early on and remaining there on his Valli Construction/Maxxis/Moose YZ450F. “I figured even if I did try to catch up and catch [Jarrett], he’d see me and pick up the pace and dust me out, so I just kind of protected where I was at, keep tabs on people behind me, and just kind of do the Sunday ride.”

Garrahan’s runner-up finish moved him into second in series points, as well. Fellow Yamaha racer Jason Thomas went into the race second in points and ran in the lead pack early on, but after losing his seat, things fell apart and he retired to the pits early and was credited with 15th place.

Third on back would see quite a few changes over the course of the race with Aaron Wegner finally claiming it in the last few laps on his WER/Fastway/O’Neal YZ250 after going down in the second turn.

“As I was going into the woods, I thought, ‘It probably ain’t going to be a very good day,’ but it turned out good, so I’m happy with it,” Wegner said. Cole Kirkpatrick ended up fourth on his Cycle Shack of Lubbock/Enduro Engineering/Moose KTM 250 XC, with Northern California’s Ryan Powell fifth in his OMA debut aboard his Mach 1 Motorsports/RTT Stabilizers/Moose YZ250.