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Offroad Motorcycle and Atv Nationals
Nationals 2006 Series
Round #8 - Boyer, PA
Maxxis Penn State GP
September 16th, 2006


Jeff Pickens victorious at OMA Maxxis Penn State GP

OMA Round 8:

Overall Winner Jeff Pickens
Jeff Pickens captured a win at the OMA Maxxis Penn State GP on Saturday September 16 with a little luck on the seventh lap. The Yamaha YFZ450 mounted rider passed two racers with mechanical failures in the last lap to secure his place at the top of the podium. A very happy Jeff Pickens said “I was running fourth most of the day back and forth. On the last lap I was just pushing. I come down the hill and (Chris) Bithell was pushing his quad and I just kept going. I looked up and (Jeremy) Rice’s number plate was right in front of me. We battled about three or four miles. About two miles to go I was on him going down a straight stretch and his bike just died. I guess it was my lucky day.” Bithell put his Honda in the lead for much of the race but ultimately finished tenth in class while Rice restarted his Suzuki after it cooled off and finished in fifth.

Brian Shaw grabbed the second podium slot aboard another Yamaha. Jerry Bernardo, a nationally recognized television sports commentator, interviewed the podium riders after the race for the crowd. When Bernardo asked if Shaw had anything to say Shaw replied “I got lucky. Everybody else broke.” Shaw also thanked “everybody standing around the creek.” He said, “at first it wasn’t too bad. At the end it was getting impassable.” With a string of sub twenty two minute laps and some help from spectators at the creek Shaw was in the right place to take advantage of the mechanical issues experienced by the race leaders.

 
Brian Shaw grabbed the second podium slot aboard his Yamaha YFZ450

The third podium position went to Brandon Sommers to complete a Yamaha sweep. Sommers had a strong race pace going but he had some bad luck near the end also. He said, “on the second to the last lap over here in the creek crossing I smoked my clutch. It was smoked bad enough that I had to unhook my clutch cable just so I could finish. I ran the rest of the race in second gear with no clutch. It was a little tough but it worked out good. Rice and Bithell both dropped out and I was able to get a podium.” Sommers told the crowd, “I thought the track was awesome out there. We had a lot of virgin trail. It got a little rough towards the end, but that’s how a track should be.”

“that creek crossing down there, it kind of got a little wacky down there. I was stuck there a couple laps but the spectators helped me get it un-stuck.” - Krupinski
Todd Krupinski finished just off the podium in fourth with his Hillbilly Racing Honda. The OMA regular contender said, “that creek crossing down there, it kind of got a little wacky down there. I was stuck there a couple laps but the spectators helped me get it un-stuck. On the last lap I ran out of gas. It was a rough race, a long race.” His fellow Ohio racer and OMA series leader Rob Zimmerman had some issues and could only manage a sixth place finish. When asked what happened in his race, Zimmerman said “the question was what didn’t happen.” After a decent start Zimmerman came to a big mud hole. He took a line to the left that he noticed on the practice lap only to find a marsh. His Honda “dropped right in, front tire just sank.” After clearing the marsh Zimmerman ran with Krupinski for a while until he met a rock. Zimmerman said, “I was coming down this long straightaway just hauling and peeled this rock. It was about two foot tall and about four foot wide. I barely caught it. Todd said if I would have caught it a little bit harder I probably wouldn’t be standing here talking to you. When I caught that it just blew the tire right off the rim.” He made it back to the pits and received some assistance from Lazz from GT Thunder with the tire change and completed his seventh and final lap at just over two hours and forty three minutes.

 
Rob Zimmerman
Chris Bithell

All of the racers had a tough day at this OMA and AWRCS co-sanctioned event. A large group of spectators helped everyone out at an extremely gnarly creek crossing. The crowd became a big part of the action and many of them, including Jeff Pickens’ girlfriend, were covered in mud when they returned from the creek. The Maxxis race support truck was on hand for the weekend and their driver also competed in the event. It was a great day for racers and spectators to enjoy a beautiful part of Pennsylvania. Bill Gusse from OMA and Chuck Greenlee from AWRCS put their heads together to create another unique and challenging race course. This is off road racing.

 
Cory Vickerd aboard his Yamaha YFZ450
 
Pickens, Shaw, and Sommers on the podium

OMA Nationals Round #8 - Results

ATV Top Ten Overall
1.
Jeff Pickens
Yamaha
2.
Brian Shaw
Yamaha
3.
Brandon Sommers
Yamaha
4.
Todd Krupinski
Honda
5.
Jeremy Rice
Suzuki
6.
Rob Zimmerman
Honda
7.
Cody Buchanan
Honda
8.
Cory Vickerd
Yamaha
9.
Mark Notman
Honda
10.
Chris Bithell
Honda

Article and photos by John Gasso

For More Photos from
the Event visit:
www.photosbyjohn.com

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