Paul Whibley clinches title with eighth-straight win
By: Mark Kariya
Photos: Wolf
JG Off-Road/GEICO Powersports/Monster Energy Kawasaki's
Paul Whibley wrapped up his second consecutive Parts Unlimited Off-Road
Motorcycle and ATV Championship after winning the Johnny Signs Cross-Country
National near Bedford, Indiana, Sunday.
Geico Kawa's Paul Whibley battled Duvall early, the dust later and won his eighth consecutive event.
Round eight of the series, co-sanctioned with the Kentucky Off-Road
Hare Scrambles Series and held for the first time on the Martin family farm,
saw Am-Pro Yamaha's Thad Duvall on his WR450F challenge Whibley in the early
going, but a crash sent him home early. That left KX450F-mounted Whibley alone
out front for his eighth straight win in the series, giving him 240 points with
two rounds remaining. Since teammate Scott Watkins finished third Pro on the
day, he has 162 points and can't mathematically catch Whibley. Jason Thomas
turned a good start on his Fred Andrews Racing/Monster Energy YZ250F into a
good finish, two minutes and 15 seconds behind Whibley's 2:23:41. Team AM Pro's Thad Duvall made an appearance on his back-up 450 and gave Whib's something to think about until he augered in hard.
It was
Thomas' fourth OMA appearance this year but his first since round three in
Ohio. Despite a good field of Pros, a couple of A riders made their way
through the pack after tussling with each other the whole distance. Jason Thomas ended up second overall on his Andrews YZ-F
Chris Bach
and Jordan Ashburn never seemed to be more than a few seconds apart, despite
numerous lappers and extremely dusty conditions in many places. But Ashburn
finally got his break when the chain derailed on Bach's bike and got a cushion
he kept to the finish; both rode KX450Fs with Ashburn fast enough to earn third
overall, while Bach ended up fourth overall, less than a minute
behind. Chris Bach has a great dual with Jordan Ashburn that actually had them running second and third overall! Jordan Ashburn in route to a great finish!
Watkins put his KX250F into fifth overall but third Pro over Am-Pro Yamaha's
Barry Hawk, Husaberg's Nick Fahringer, Gieson Motorsports' Adam Bonneur, Open B
winner Morgan Moss and 40-49 A winner Fred Hoess, who borrowed a pre-production
2010 Gas Gas EC 450 FSE that was on hand for the press intro and dealer
show. "It was always a goal to win the OMA series again," Whibley
said. "It's cool that I've done it so early; it takes a little pressure
off. Now, I can kind of maybe concentrate on the GNCCs a little more." Barry Hawk ran in the top ten, but never really challenged the leaders.
Fred Hoess piloted a new 2010 Gas Gas to 10th overall.
Justin Williamson is on the mend and ran in the lead pack until a flat and a toasted filter slowed him down.
Most of the uphills turned into total carnage from the silt and dust.
Jimmy Jarrett returned to racing, though he just poked around getting a feel for his wounded wrist.
