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Offroad Motorcycle
and ATV Nationals
2010 OMA Racing Series
Round #10 - Moose Run XC
October 16, 2010 |
Photos and Story
By: John Gasso |
John Pitts Claims OMA
Moose Run XC Win & Pro ATV Championship
2010 Parts Unlimited OMA
ATV National Racing Series
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OMA
ATV Racing Links
Round 10 - Moose Run XC
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John
Pitts would come away at the OMA Season
finale with his first ever National title
win along with winning the race as well |
Morrison, IL - The Moose Run
capped off ten rounds of ATV racing for the OMA
Nationals series and was also the deciding factor
in the season championship. After the dust settled
it was John Pitts and the Duncan Racing Dirtworks
Motorsports Honda taking the win along with his
first national title.
A close season of racing had packed the top three
riders, Kyle Martin, Bryan Hulsey, and John Pitts
within six points of each other for the championship.
At the end of the Moose Run John Pitts and Bryan
Hulsey ended their season with a tie for the championship
after finishing first and second respectively
in the race. Martin suffered an early race mishap
that landed him in a drainage ditch, ultimately
putting him over a lap down and out of contention
for the race and his second OMA series championship.
Martin ended his day with fifth place, leaving
him eight points behind his fellow Missouri based
buddies. Fortunately for Pitts the traditional
tie breaker is the results from the Moose Run,
giving him top honors for the season. Meanwhile,
motocross racer Cam Reimers took home third place
at his first OMA Nationals event riding a Motoworks
Holz/BCS Can Am DS450 and Jason Ochke picked up
fourth place aboard his Brenny’s Cycle Works
Suzuki LTR 450.
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John Pitts
launches his TRX450R ATV in one of the
woods sections enroute to his overall
victory at the Moose Run XC
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“This is the race I needed to win,”
declared Pitts at the finish line. “Everything
worked out perfect; exactly how I needed it. I
can’t be happier about today.” According
to the Dirtworks Motorsports Rekluse Honda racer
“it was good once I got out of everybody’s
dust. The fields and the dust worked a little
bit to my advantage.” While the Amp Energy
Moose Racing Honda ran well, Pitts did have some
trouble keeping Hulsey at bay. “I’d
have a little gap going into the woods but by
the time we hit the end of the woods I was glad
there was a field again because he’d get
back with me,” he recalled. “Once
you were in the woods, it was so tight, if you
picked a line, more than likely it wasn’t
gonna come back to where you needed it to go.
There was a tree down, or a stump, or limbs, or
something that you couldn’t get through.”
Bryan Hulsey took home second place, but he also
had a shot at the win. “I had the lead on
the first lap,” said the Duncan Racing Dirtworks
Motorsports Honda mounted former series champion.
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Defending
series champ, Bryan Hulsey would make
a mistake in one corner which would cost
him the chance of staying in the lead
& taking the championship for a second
year in a row
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“I guess, looking back now, I can say I threw the race away on the first
lap. I blew a corner. I was coming up on it real
fast and didn’t see the arrows turning to
the left and ended up blowing through the corner.
As I was turning around, that’s where John
got the lead.” According to Hulsey, he wasn’t
too concerned at the time about riding in second
place because it would be a long race with plenty
of opportunities to re-take the lead. He said “I
didn’t really think it was going to be that
big of an issue so I figured I would just follow
him for a while. I never even tried to make a pass
as we were picking our way through on the first
lap.”
It would soon become clear to Hulsey that he
may have misjudged the balance of the race. “Once
we knew where the track was,” he said, “it
was so fast and dusty there wasn’t anywhere
to do anything. My only hope then was for a mechanical
difficulty or a mistake by John. He ran a perfect
race and never let me get within five seconds
in the fields. The woods were really tight, believe
it or not. There was nothing you could really
do unless your bike was just outright faster than
somebody else’s. I don’t know how
you were going to make a pass today.”
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