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Offroad Motorcycle
and ATV Nationals
2010 OMA Racing Series
Round #4 - Whiskey Run XC Race
June 13, 2010 |
Photos and Story
By: John Gasso |
Bryan Hulsey
Takes Victory at Whiskey Run OMA ATV National
2010 Parts Unlimited OMA
ATV National Racing Series
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ATV Racing Links
Round 4 - Whiskey Run XC
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Bryan Hulsey
put his Quad Tech IMS Moose Racing Honda
ATV in the number one spot despite the weather
& tricky layout of the track
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Clay City, KY - The OMA Nationals
FMF Whiskey Run at Clay City, Kentucky was run under
conditions that alternated between downpour and
smothering heat. The ATV racers were greeted with
a torrential downpour to begin their practice lap
followed by blue skies at the start of the race.
The rain only made things more challenging on a
race course that held many surprises. Numerous logs
and off camber rocky sections of trail made this
race course a serious challenge for the competitors.
After nearly two hours traversing seven laps
of another Bill Gusse monster of a race course
Bryan Hulsey emerged with his first victory for
the season. The friendly racer from Missouri was
series champion in 2008 but was beaten in the
2009 series by Kyle Martin.
That order was reversed today with Martin taking
second place, while fellow Missouri racer John
Pitts recovered from a huge crash on the first
lap to collect the final FMF podium slot.
The race started with Kyle Martin blasting his
Dirtworks Motorsports Honda to the lead to take
home his second $100 K&N holeshot award of
the season. Bryan Hulsey and the pack followed
through the first short woods section and re-emerged
from the woods for a short straightaway in front
of the spectators. Then it was off to the woods
again and some tight battles. Less than a mile
from the start of the race the situation became
pretty interesting for John Pitts and his Moose
Racing Duncan Honda. Pitts said, “I went
to get around somebody and went wide. There was
a little ditch or a bump there, which I thought
would be no problem. It was a little bigger evidently,
and it kind of catapulted me over the front of
the bike. The bike ran over me. Then, evidently,
a guy behind me ran over me. It was quite a crash.”
After collecting his bearings, Pitts decided to
wait out the first lap and join up with the leaders
as they completed their first circuit. He finished
the race one lap down and just forty seven seconds
behind race winner Bryan Hulsey to take third
place in the pro class.
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| Bryan
Hulsey piloted his Honda TRX450R ATV to
the first overall position but it was not
without a battle & a battle plan for
that matter, as the ultimate deciding factor
was how Hulsey's strategically planned pit
stop won the overall for him |
Hulsey was happy to finally be back on top of
the podium after a long dry spell. The Quad Tech
IMS Moose Racing Honda entered the woods just
behind Kyle Martin and the two friends swapped
places as well as some paint throughout the event.
“We kind of just followed each other for
a few laps,” recalled Hulsey. “We’d
each make little mistakes and get around each
other.” Indeed each racer lead three laps
in the race, but Hulsey managed to pull out the
seventh lap and a victory with some strategy.
Hulsey said “about half way through the
race, I was in the lead and I pitted for goggles
and gas. That may have been kind of the strategy
to have today. A couple laps later Kyle was leading
and he had to stop for goggles and gas. That gave
me back the lead and gave me enough of a cushion
with only two laps left to hold the lead. Any
time I can run with Kyle (Martin) all day and
be with him to the finish it’s going to
end up being a good day. It was just both of us
making little mistakes here and there taking the
lead back and forth from each other. It makes
for a pretty fun race.”
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Kyle Martin
was on & off as the front front runner
& in the end, time was not on his
side as he couldn't close the door on
race leader Hulsey before the checkered
flag flew
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Martin also enjoyed the race, but did not get the
results he really was looking for. “It started
out real well,” he said. “It just didn’t
end the way I wanted.” The Rekluse Maxxis
Honda had a great run, but a little luck and a little
strategy played out in favor of Bryan Hulsey in
this race. “For the conditions, it went as
good as it could,” lamented Martin. “Right
there to the end, like Bryan said, his pitting strategy
worked a little better. He pitted early, I pitted
late, and that basically decided it.”
According to the reigning series champion “we
were back and forth probably ten times out there
throughout the race. Neither one of us were giving
it up. We’d bash in to each other, and a
few times out there we got stuck together and
had to help each other out. With two laps to go,
I pitted for gas and goggles and I just couldn’t
make up the time. By that time we had the track
figured out and knew where we could get hung up
and where the good lines were, so it was really
hard to make up time on each other.”
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