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Offroad Motorcycle
and ATV Nationals
2010 OMA Racing Series
Round #6 - Spring Creek GP XC Race
August 1st, 2010 |
Photos and Story
By: John Gasso |
Kyle Martin Masters
OMA ATV Nationals Maxxis Spring Creek GP
2010 Parts Unlimited OMA
ATV National Racing Series
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OMA
ATV Racing Links
Round 6 - Spring Creek XC
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Kyle Martin took the win at Spring
Creek after grabbing the $100 K&N Holeshot
award |
Milleville, MN - It was the last
day of July in 2010 when the Parts Unlimited OMA
Nationals made their trek to the Spring Creek Motocross
Park for round six of the ten round racing series.
The weather was good and track conditions in the
woods were as perfect as the immaculately groomed
national motocross track. When the green
flag dropped, the Dirtworks Motorsports Maxxis
Honda of Kyle Martin blasted around the first
sweeping turn and cleared the first jump to claim
his $100 K&N holeshot award. Fellow Missouri
racer and traveling buddy Bryan Hulsey was close
behind, and his motocross skills turned the famous
Millville whoops into a passing zone.
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Bryan Hulsey
grabbed second place overall on the podium
but actually lead for much of the first
lap until Martin took back over the lead
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Hulsey kept his Duncan Moose Racing Rekluse Honda
out front for much of the first lap, but Martin
used a great line in the woods to retake the lead
and he never looked back. The first pass through
the Moto Tally scoring station showed Martin with
a thirteen second gap over Hulsey and John Pitts
with his third place Duncan Dirtworks Motorsports
Honda just one second behind Hulsey. Martin kept
plugging away and finished his day with a one minute
and twenty seven second margin of victory after
nine laps and nearly two hours of racing. Meanwhile,
Hulsey and Pitts closed their day with only fifteen
seconds between them. Hulsey held on to second,
and Pitts kept it together to take the final podium
spot. Fourth place was captured by the A class
Honda of Andrew Snyder while rookie Pro racer
Jason Ochke rounded out the top five aboard his
Brenny’s Cycle Works Maxxis Suzuki.
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Kyle Martin
was on his game for round 6 at Spring
Creek & secured the win which he had
been looking for since the beginning of
the season
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“I liked it today,” said Kyle Martin
with a huge smile and a sigh of relief. “It’s
been long overdue, but, we got there, and we’ll
keep this momentum going the rest of the season.”
The defending series champion has suffered a lackluster
first half of the season. He currently trails Bryan
Hulsey by nine points and is tied with John Pitts
in the championship points chase. According to Martin,
today was “good.” He said “I’ve
got the Dirtworks Honda. It worked awesome from
the get go. I pulled the holeshot. I have the Rekluse
racing clutch in there. That thing was a big help.
It’s working awesome. Right off the start
I was able to get the holeshot. Bryan actually
got around me on the motocross track. I followed
him for a little while and ate all his dirt, then
I passed him back on a good line in the woods.
I noticed my bike was handling a little bit better
in all those corners up in the woods. I was able
to put a little space and I just kept working
my lead the rest of the race and it worked out.”
Martin was pleased with the performance of his
machine, but concerned with his fuel consumption.
After the race he pointed out a nearly empty tank
and commented “it got a little close on
gas at the end. I had to take it easy last lap,
but made it to the end.”
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Bryan Hulsey
excelled in the motocross section of the
track but his ATV setup hindered him in
the woods & fast fire road sections
of the Bill Gusse course
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Second place went to past series champion Bryan
Hulsey, with his Moose Racing Dirtworks Motorsports
Honda quicker on the motocross track but struggling
in the woods. “I guess it went ok,”
said Hulsey. “I got off behind Kyle off the
start. I got by him in the whoops and I lead a lot
of the first lap.” After clearing the motocross
section, his strong section of the course, Hulsey
had to contend with a machine that seemed less suited
to the woods conditions and two racers that wanted
to get by him. “I think he (Martin) found
a good line around me,” Hulsey recalled with
a sigh. “It ended up being the line for the
race. I tried to stay with him. On the fast fire
road sections I couldn’t. I think I was losing
time to John and Kyle on those. The only
place I was good today was the motocross. Luckily
I could make up time and get away from John far
enough every lap.” According to Hulsey,
“he (Pitts) was on me all the way through
the woods. We’d get to the motocross and
I’d pull a little bit of a gap and he’d
reel me back in on the fire roads section. We
just battled back and forth like that all day.
He tried a pass attempt on me on the last lap
and we came together, which worked out for me,
because that put a gap on us. Today wasn’t
exactly the finish I was hoping for, but I’ll
take it. Any time you can have a race that you
didn’t feel good and still come out second,
that’s a good day.”
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