Paul Whibley failed to get the holeshot, but that was about the only time he wasn’t in front and the Team FMF/Suzuki Off-road star ran away with the Cycra Buckeye Cross Country National, round six in the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals.
Teammate Jimmy Jarrett held second until late in the race when he crashed, hurting his wrist and hitting his head hard enough to leave him dazed so he packed it in early, effectively dashing his hopes of adding a fifth consecutive series title to his résumé.
That opened the door for Brian Garrahan to claim the runner-up spot on his Valli Motorsports/Maxxis/Maxima YZ250F while Fastway/Maxxis/Moose YZ250-mounted Adam Bonneur came back from a first-turn crash to earn the first OMA podium of his career.
The race at Area 330 outside of Carrollton, Ohio, co-sanctioned with the American Woods Racing Championship Series, found Brett Zofchak grabbing the holeshot and snaring the $200 Vemar Helmets Holeshot Award. (He would later encounter bike problems in the form of broken triple clamps, slowing him to 14th overall.)
Whibley got a midpack start while Jarrett remained on the line, kicking and kicking his RG3/Maxima/Moose RM-Z450, finally getting started well after the rest of the field.
It didn’t take long before Whibley got to the front on his Works Connection/Dunlop/FMF RM-Z450 and made the race for first boringly simple by staying well out of reach of his rivals, with Jarrett the closest.
Garrahan badgered Jarrett, but he didn’t see the four-time and defending series champ crash later in the race. His first indication that something happened was when he saw Jarrett going backwards on the course. He would end up over two minutes behind Whibley at the finish.
The best racing probably took place for the final podium spot with Bonneur going back and forth with Storm Lake Honda.com/Bachman Family Racing/Moose CRF450R-mounted Chris Nelson and Shane Klimek aboard his Dad/Buffalo Pit Riding Park and Shooting Range YZ250. After nine laps around the approximately seven-mile course that was faster than the average OMA layout, Bonneur came up with third, 19 seconds ahead of Nelson with Klimek 1:01 back in fifth. It was the best finish to date for all three.
Trey Verardo claimed sixth on his YZ250, a further 13 seconds back, while enduro specialist Jeff Melik needed assistance out of a mudhole to finish seventh on his YZ250. Yamaha-mounted Mike Wozny was the Lite A winner and first A overall at eighth, with Storm Lake Honda.com’s Cooper Bailey and 30-39 A winner Steve Leivan on his YZ250F rounding out the top 10.
Whibley’s fourth consecutive victory has him smelling his first American championship, but he’s not counting on anything yet: “I’m just trying to keep doing well race after race and keep building the points. With a round to drop, I don’t want to count on any points lead before the end of the series–we’ll just see how it looks at the end–but it’s looking good, I guess.”
