Offroad
Motorcycle and Atv Nationals
Nationals 2006 Series
Round #8 - Boyer, PA
Maxxis Penn State GP
September 16th, 2006 |
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Jeff Pickens victorious at OMA
Maxxis Penn State GP
OMA Round 8:
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Overall
Winner Jeff Pickens
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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.
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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.”
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“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.
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Rob
Zimmerman |
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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.
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Cory
Vickerd aboard his Yamaha YFZ450 |
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Pickens,
Shaw, and Sommers on the podium |
OMA Nationals
Round #8 - Results
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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
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