Chris Bithell victorious at OMA Maxxis Penn State XC
Article and photos by John Gasso

The OMA Nationals series round seven event was held near Boyers, PA on September eighth and ninth 2007. A number of series visitors made their presence known for this AWRCS co-sanctioned race. Chris Bithell ( Honda / Moose Racing ) took the victory after a long day of great racing and battles throughout the pack. Jeff Pickens ( Honda / Moose Racing ) picked up second place while Brandon Sommers (Yamaha / Fly Racing) rounded out the Pro ATV podium.

Sommers grabbed the holeshot aboard his GT Thunder, Maxxis, Yamaha and lead the swarm of riders in to a winding woods section. “It was going real good,” said the racer from Millersburg, Ohio. “We got the holeshot, we were running in the lead the first two laps. Then we got a branch stuck in the front end and Chris got around. He kind of waited up for me until I got it out, then we started cruising together.” According to Sommers “He (Bithel) pulled out a couple times, but the lappers and mud holes would pull us back together.” The duo of Bithell and Sommers battled for the early part of the race until Sommers experienced a chain failure. Sommers commented, “I felt real good running with him, then the chain flew off back there and got hung up in the cases. We probably lost four or five minutes with that. We got it back on and I just pushed and came back through. I was in sixth and made my way back up on the podium, so I am pretty happy.”

Chris Bithell picked up his win after taking over the lead form Sommers and staying ahead of Jeff Pickens. The LTV backed Honda 450r of Bithel crossed the finish line after seven laps in two hours, eight minutes, and twenty seconds. “I was running third for a little bit,” said Bithel. “Jeff (Pickens) had a little get off there. The bike smashed him into the ground there. I made sure he was all right.” The Irwin, PA pro racer said he “kept going, chased Brandon (Sommers) down, followed him for the first lap.” He recalled “I took over the lead then. Me and Brandon battled a good ways.” The battle with Sommers ended after his chain failed. Bithel said “I didn’t see him after that. The last lap I looked back. I saw Jeff after I went pretty slow the last couple laps. After I saw Jeff I picked it back up the last lap. It was fun, the track was fun.”

Second place was captured by a hard charging rider from Kennerdell, PA named Jeff Pickens. The Pop Clark Motorsports Honda 450r mounted Pickens “had a pretty good holeshot.” He said “I think I was second in the woods. I went about a mile or two and I went over the bars and Chris Bithell got around me.” After the incident Pickens gathered himself up and continued to charge through the woods and track Bithel and Sommers. “I pretty much hung third most of the day,” said Pickens. “Somehow I come through and I was in second, I guess Brandon had problems.” The Blingstar, IMS racer said “I ended up seeing Chris going in to the last lap when he pitted. Dummy me, didn’t stop for fuel and we got into the next field section and I started sputtering, so I had to run down to the pits and get some gas. All in all it was a good day, rough track, lots of fun.”

Johnny Gallagher captured fourth place aboard a Suzuki just eighteen seconds behind the leaders. Andy Lagzdins (Honda / Moose Racing) rolled in two minutes and thirty seven seconds later to round out the top five. Lagzdins said “Once I got in to a pace I felt pretty good and I was getting through all the nasty sections and getting around lappers real good. It just took me a little time to get real comfortable, and by that time the other guys were already gone.” The Duncan Dirt First Honda, ATVRiders.com pro commented “Those guys are the best. We race together in the GNCC’s, and I’ll take a second seat to them guys if I need to.” The Maryland OMA Nationals series regular did manage to collect some important series points in the race. “I’m in a pretty tight points race with Rob Zimmerman,” he said. “I put a few places on him, and that’s really what counted today.”

Reigning OMA Nationals series champion Rob Zimmerman had another unfortunate series of bad experiences in this race. Things started out well, but it literally went downhill from there. “I knew I was doing good in the first corner. Lagzdins was just on the inside of me, so I know I was at least one person ahead of him,” said the Ohio Honda durability tester. Unfortunately Zimmerman would have issues with lappers during the race and ultimately had a big incident. While rolling his quad back from a stuck position on a hill behind a lapper, he “clocked a tree, and went all the way down to the bottom.” He said “when I hit the ground I looked up, seen the quad coming, curled up in the fetal position and let it roll over top of me. Then I proceeded to try to finally get the heck up over the hill.” Zimmerman eventually finished the race in eighth place after two hours, twenty one minutes, and forty three seconds.

Dillon Abernathy ( Honda / Moose Racing ) made the trip from Royal, AR and earned tenth place in the Pro ATV class. “It was just a different race out there. I think I was out of shape a little bit and, plus, there was something wrong with the front end,” commented Abernathy. “It was wanting to push over all of the turns and everything. Just about every burm I was hitting I was going over. It wasn’t clickin right today for some reason.”

The Utility Quad class saw a familiar face at the head of the pack. Jason Grundey ( Honda / Thor MX ) man-handled his Honda Rincon around a course that “was not made for utilities.” According to Grundey, “it was rough. That’s the roughest race we’ve ran this year, I think.” Grundey “ran a pretty clean race,” except for a little trouble early on. “The second lap I hit a tree and bounced the bars out of my hands, dislocated my thumb,” he recalled. “So I was running the rest of the race trying to baby this (injured thumb). I tried to take it easy the last few laps. I saw the white flag and tried to pick it up for the last lap. That was about it.” Grundey finished thirty seventh overall with six laps at two hours, twenty five minutes, and fifteen seconds. Fellow Honda Utility racer Scott Batdorf picked up third in his first race riding utility class. He said “she’s a beast,” referring to the big utility quad. The race was “alright I guess. I only hit one tree.”

Tyler Carlson captured tenth place in the B ATV class aboard a Honda 400ex. He said it was “great, a lot of fun. I got run over a couple times.” Ben Carlson also rode a 400ex in the B ATV class and collected fourteenth place for his efforts. According to his dad, who was holding up a pair of brand new riding pants his son just destroyed in the race, it was “extreme fun.” Ben had an incident with a tree and put a hole in his ear and his knee. “I was really behind for a while there ‘cause when I wrecked, hit the tree,” said Carlson. “Then I caught back up. I think I did ok. I had fun.”

Another racer from the “camp Honda” group, Aaron Wright, picked up eighth place in the C ATV class aboard a Honda 400ex. Wright looked exhausted after the race, and was nursing an injured knee. He had a foggy recollection of the crash that caused his knee injury. “The second to last lap I centered a tree,” said the Raymond, OH racer. “I remember hitting the tree, then waking up and realizing I was racing. Some guy was, like, hey man, you ok? His wife was asking me if I wanted some water, and I’m, like, no, I’ve got a race to finish. I got up and went for another lap and got stuck, spent about ten minutes in a hole somewhere.” Even after the difficulties Wright said “It wasn’t too bad.” Travis Barkley, also in the Rob Zimmerman Honda group, took tenth place in the C ATV class aboard a 400ex. He said “it’s my second race and I took tenth place, so I’m pretty happy about it.” Slippery Rock, PA C ATV class racer Bill Kriess said “It was a good time. Pretty rough track. All in all it was set up real nice. A lot of places to pass. You just had to pick and choose your lines. I had a great time.” Kriess earned ninth place in class aboard a 2006 Yamaha Special Edition.

For more on this weekend see Dirt Bike Magazine-Cycle News-ATV Riders.com- Dust Magazine-Trail Rider Magazine-Parts Magazine!

Congratulations to all Rd 7 winners! Thank you for a great weekend of racing! Special thanks to PARTS UNLIMITED/MOOSE RACING - MAXXIS - and AWRCS!