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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
::Continued::
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Cam Reimers
would make his debut in the OMA series
& come away with a very resctable
3rd place overall finish albeit on a machine
that wasn't set up for the tight woods
sections!
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Third place was taken by a newcomer to the series who
crossed over from the atv motocross world. Iowa
based Cam Reimers struggled a bit with his Can Am
DS450 in the woods. The machine was wearing a wide
front end setup for motocross and it was a challenge
to get it through some of the trees. “I couldn’t
get my front end through two of these trees,”
recalled Reimers. “It would clip me every
time. I tried to stay on the throttle and pick the
front end up to narrow it up, but it just wasn’t
working.” The friendly young racer recalled
a litany of crashes throughout the event. He said
“I had the lead on the first lap and just
rolled it. And then the second lap I went over the
bars. And then the third lap I went over the bars
in the exact same spot.” His DWT BCS Performance
Can Am held up through all of the abuse the Moose
Run trails could dish out and landed young Mr. Reimers
on the podium at his first OMA Nationals event.
Reimers said “It was fun. I mean, a two
hour race, you’ve got to keep your head
on straight and try to be smooth. I can tell you,
the spots I was the most tired was when I would
crash and then had to pick my bike up and flip
it back over. That just drained me. It was good
riding with these guys and I learned a lot.”
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| 2010
OMA ATV Nationals Overall Pro Racing Podium
(left to right)
Cam Reimers (3rd) , John Pitts (1st) , Bryan
Hulsey (2nd)
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Jason Ochke
would put his Suzuki ATV in 4th place
overall on the day after a very hard faught
day!
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Jason Ochke finished fourth aboard his Tusk Racing
Maxxis Suzuki and said “It’s just an
honor to be on the line with some of the best riders
in the country.” The friendly racer who has
dominated the local MXC series pro class struggled
a little bit with endurance, but ended up with a
good finish on the Two Brothers Exhaust Maxxis Suzuki
after a hard day’s work. “I am beat,”
declared Ochke.
“I don’t think I was quite ready
for today. I went out and had fun and held on
as long as I could anyway. It was a long trail.
I didn’t realize how long it was until about
the third lap in and I was getting tired for some
odd reason. I just held on as long as I could
and tried not to hurt anything.”
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Kyle Martin
would suffer a little heartbreak at this
round as he watched his championship hopes
slip away after going off-course &
into a drainage ditch where he & the
quad would get stuck for some time before
being towed out - nevertheless he was
able to finish in 5th place overall
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Kyle Martin closed out the top five riding his Duncan
Racing Dirtworks Motorsports Honda, but the defending
series champion was not pleased with his results.
“It was a cool track,” stated Martin.
“I just got a little wild and run into that
and, like I said, it cost me the championship. It
was a tight one all year. None of us had the best
of luck, but it was a decent run.” After a
respectable start, Martin had his Moose Racing Monster
Energy Honda running mid pack and found out firsthand
how tough the terrain can be at the Moose Run.
“I came around a corner and the next thing
I know I was under water,” he said with
dismay. “I crawled my way out and the bike
was still running. It was just stuck in the peat
moss and swamp water in a big ditch.” He
said “I couldn’t get it out. I ran
back up here and luckily one of the guys was able
to bring a four wheel drive down and pulled me
out.” After spending considerable time and
effort recovering his machine Martin was still
determined to finish the race. “By the time
I got out I was over a lap down. So, I just rode
by myself all day and hopefully put in some good
times. It was my fault, riding a little ragged
on the first lap. I should have learned the track
first. A bad break cost me the race and championship.
I guess it’s my turn for a bad one. It’s
just the wrong time for it.”
The Parts Unlimited OMA Nationals series has
a new champion. John Pitts spent a long and difficult
year accumulating enough points to earn the title
of champion. Bryan Hulsey tied Pitts for total
points and the results from today’s race
provided the tie breaker. Unfortunately for defending
champion Kyle Martin an early race miscue ended
his hopes of taking the championship this year.
The racing was exciting to the very end, and nobody
could have predicted the final outcome of the
Moose Run. This series that clings to the roots
of woods racing still manages to provide a unique
and exciting venue for riders to develop their
skills and their character. Bill Gusse has a reputation
for creating trails that challenge everyone who
rides a Parts Unlimited OMA Nationals event. When
the day is over and the gear and machines have
been packed up, these racers will have one more
experience that could help to make them better
riders and possibly better people in the process.
This is off road racing.
OMA
Nationals Moose Run XC ATV Top Five |
- John Pitts -
Honda
- Bryan Hulsey
- Honda
- Cam Reimers
- Can-Am
- Jason Ochke
- Suzuki
- Kyle Martin
- Honda
photos
by John
Gasso
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