Mark Kariya | September 11, 2007
It didn’t take long for the eventual top three to find their way to the front of the pack at the Maxxis Penn State Cross-country in Boyers, Pennsylvania, round seven of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals. But it took the entire two hours plus before they sorted out the final finishing order among themselves, with Charlie Mullins (center) extricating himself from a mud hole on the last lap in time to best Am Pro Yamaha teammate Barry Hawk (left) and Red Bull KTM’s Mike Lafferty (right) for the win.
“It was definitely a lot of fun riding with Barry and Lafferty and those guys; they rode really well today,” Mullins said after passing Hawk for the lead on the final lap of the wet, slick 11-mile course.
“From the second to the [fifth and] last lap, it was all just throttle control; you had to be really smooth and not whiskey-throttle it or anything like that or you’d be on the ground because it was definitely like it was frozen out there. It was pretty challenging.”
Hawk, Lafferty and Mullins found themselves just feet apart for most of the race, with the biggest gap between them only at the finish. Mullins took the checkered flag on his Bridgestone/FMF/MSR YZ250 in two hours, 23 minutes and seven seconds; Hawk was 16 seconds back with Lafferty and additional seven seconds behind on his Michelin/Motorex/KTM Hard Equipment 450 XC-W.
A number of local racers participated, aided by the fact that the race was co-sanctioned by the American Woods Racing Championship Series, and current AWRCS points leader Joe Scherer did them proud by holding his own to finish fourth. OMA regular Chris Bach turned in his best ride to date, finishing fifth despite having to complete the final two laps without a front brake after another rider crashed into him and tore off his front brake line.
Team FMF/Suzuki Off-Road’s Jimmy Jarrett, who rode a five-race win streak coming into the event, DNFed after reportedly crashing in the first half of the race while running with the leaders and opting to pack it in. Teammate Josh Strang joined him in his early exit.
Mark Kariya | Contributor
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