Offroad Motorcycle and ATV Nationals 2009 OMA Racing Series Round #8 - Bedford, Indiana Johnny Signs XC August 29-30, 2009

Photos and Story By: John Gasso

OMA ATV Racing Links Round 8 - Johnny Signs XC Race Results

A lucky break early in the race at round eight of the OMA Nationals gave Kyle Martin the advantage he needed to run away with another victory. The Dirtworks Motorsports Honda took over the lead after just two miles of racing and kept his position to complete twelve laps of the dusty event forty five seconds ahead of Josh Beavers.

Bedford, IN - Bedford, Indiana is the home of OMA Nationals round eight title sponsor Johnny Signs. The Ken Martin family farm in rural Bedford is where the KORHS co-sanctioned event took place on a weekend where the weatherman’s forecast for rain would have been welcome. Instead, it was a very dry race course, which leads to a dusty race with some challenging situations. A brutal uphill section turned to powder and gave the racers the feeling of riding in mud without the goop sticking to their machines. The dust also made passing a much more complicated process due to poor visibility. Kyle Martin did not get the holeshot on this dusty day, but a lucky move past a bottleneck left Martin in a position to run away from the pack on his Dirtworks Motorsports Rekluse Honda. Martin said “right off the start, about sixth in to the woods, they bottlenecked and I got right in to second. I’ll take that. It was awesome to have that happen.” After twelve laps of the short but tricky course Martin had amassed a forty five second gap over the Rocket Ron Racing Rekluse KTM of Josh Beavers. The KTM was closing in on Martin in the final laps, but Beavers lost his opportunity when the orange machine began running rough and lost considerable power. The Indiana racer would have to settle for second place, holding off the charging Dirtworks Motorsports Rekluse Honda of John Pitts, who took home third place to complete the all Rekluse equipped podium. Fourth place went to former OMA Nationals series champion Rob Zimmerman aboard his Moose Racing Powermadd Honda, while the Aupperle Racing Lonestar Honda of Shane Gaunt rounded out the top five and was the final pro racer to complete twelve laps in the event.

Dust lingered in the air on a grass track section of the OMA Nationals Johnny Signs XC. Kyle Martin pushed hard to stay out front and capture his fifth consecutive OMA Nationals victory.	Defending OMA Nationals champion Bryan Hulsey was headed for a podium finish at the Johnny Signs XC near Bedford, Indiana until his Duncan Racing Dirtworks Motorsports Honda sputtered to a stop just two miles from the finish line. A fuel miscalculation left the Missouri racer stranded on the last last lap, dropping him back to sixth place.

Martin, who said he “had to dig down and push late in the race,” had a lucky break early on and capitalized on it. “I’ll keep taking them,” said the Maxxis Wiseco Performance Products Honda rider. “Early on, especially on a race like this, before the dust got too bad I was able to get up front. I got past the leader about two miles in and started just putting my head down and charging.” The Missouri racer took the lead and was at a point where he thought a comfortable gap had developed. To his surprise, others were pushing hard through the dust and gaining ground. “I kind of started slacking off in the rough field area,” he admitted. “And, sure enough, I noticed it going through here. I was, like, these guys are coming on strong. They’re not giving up.” After noticing the proximity of his competition, Martin bumped up the pace and took his Fox Shocks Roll Design Pivot Works Honda through the Moose Racing scoring tent for his fifth consecutive OMA Nationals victory.

Josh Beavers had his Medora, Indiana based Sick Racing Rekluse KTM headed for the lead when his motor began suffering from an overdose of dust, limiting Beavers to part throttle and a struggle to salvage second place at the Johnny Signs XC.

Just forty five seconds behind Martin was the Sick Racing Johnny Signs KTM of local Indiana pro racer Josh Beavers. The KTM was flying through the dust and trees, and it looked like Beavers just might terminate Martin’s winning streak. Unfortunately for Beavers, the dust was wreaking havoc with his KTM. “The last two laps I didn’t know if it was going to run. I couldn’t get over half throttle,” lamented Beavers. “I was right on Martin,” he said. “I’d caught up to him and was feeling pretty good. Out in that grass track I felt like I could have got around him, man, it just started missing and popping and carrying on. I was just kind of praying the thing would make it the last two laps.” Beavers was now in a battle to hold off the late race charge of John Pitts for second place instead of vying for the lead with Martin. “I was waiting on third place to blow by me, but I got lucky.”

::CONTINUED::

::Page 1:: 2