Jarrett Tops OMA Nationals Podium Again In Illinois
Article and Photos by John Gasso

The Race is a very simple name for a racing tradition that is anything but simple. The event has existed since 1976. The 2007 installment continued the tradition of providing a very tough course that challenged racers and left them smiling at the end. Team FMF Suzuki racer and now four time Parts Unlimited OMA Nationals series champion Jimmy Jarrett (FMF Suzuki / Moose Racing / Dunlop) battled New Zealander Paul Whibley (Honda / Moose Racing / Pirelli) for nearly two and one half hours before taking the win. Whibley crossed the I-beam bridge first and led the pack on their first of two circuits of the nearly thirty five mile course. The two racers would share identical checkpoint times throughout the event. Jarrett finally managed to put a fourteen second gap on Whibley in the last leg of lap two while Whibley struggled with a gearbox stuck in fourth gear. Brian Garrahan (Yamaha / Moose Racing / Maxxis) rolled in twenty seconds later to hold off a hard charging Adam Bonneur (Yamaha / Moose Racing / Maxxis) and take away the final DP Brakes podium position. Bonneur narrowly beat out series points rival Aaron Wegner (Yamaha / O’Neal / Kenda) by a slim six second margin to capture his second consecutive fourth place finish behind Garrahan.

The first lap of the event turned in to a two hour and twenty minute sighting lap with multiple lead changes as the racers discovered the good, the bad, and the ugly that made up their loop for the day. “It was funny,” Jarrett recalled, “cause I don’t think I’ve ever turned around before and seen, like, ten blue plates behind me. It was fun. You know, there was guys up there that don’t always get to ride up front. I’m sure they had a ball too.” The start finish checkpoint on lap one showed the first five racers were on the same minute, while the next ten were within two minutes after nearly thirty five miles of racing on some of Bill Gusse’s finest work. “It was awesome. The trails were perfect today and we had a ball,” said Jarrett. The Ohio racer also commented on an interesting early miscue in the race, saying “he (Whibley) took off a littler earlier than I wanted to go. He was pinning it and I was pinning it trying to catch him. I went one way, and he went another way, and we both went the wrong way. And then we ended up coming back and just laughing at each other.” Lap two got more serious and the times came down considerably. Familiarity allowed the pro racers to cut their lap time in half for the second go around. “We were stuck to each other like glue on the last lap,” said Jarrett, “and then I got by him, and then next thing I knew, he wasn’t behind me. I didn’t know what happened. I think he had a little bit of bike trouble, but I’ll take it.” FMF Suzuki teammate Josh Strang had some bad luck the first lap and wound up with a dnf after he “hit a big hole and just endo’ed.” The young Australian racer said “I think I broke me nose. It’s not good. The bike’s a bit bent up. It’s a bummer. I was looking forward to it. I’d heard how fast it was. Just these first couple straights it was a bit of fun. I only got five minutes. Next year.”

Whibley also enjoyed his day in Illinois with the OMA. “Everyone said it was pretty fast, and it kind of was fast in the open bits, but it was more tight stuff than I was expecting anyway. I should know better by now from your races. A lot of logs, a lot of tight corners and stuff; it caught me a bit by surprise the first lap.” The race also held a surprise for Whibley that would highlight the mutual support and respect the racers hold for each other. “Me and Jimmy, on the last lap were going pretty hard out, passing each other backwards and forwards, and we were having a good race. Then I got caught in some wire and actually Jimmy helped me out. He helped me get out of the wire.” Whibley and Jarrett battled hard after they cleared the wire from the New Zealander’s Honda. Unfortunately for Whibley, there seemed to be some damage done to his bike. “I think what happened was when I first got in the wire it bent my gear lever out a little bit,” Whibley surmised. “Next time I went past a stump or a log it just caught the gear lever and just bent it so far back it was jammed in fourth gear. I’d get on the straights, I was, like, revving it so hard, then through the trees I was slipping the clutch so much it was like really hard work. That’s when Jimmy got away from me in the last part of the lap.” Whibley would have to settle for second place on his first visit to The Race. He said “Second’s pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that. I actually love The Race. It’s awesome fun having a big long lap like that. Two laps just makes the race seem really short to me. I could have gone another lap; I was having so much fun. Thanks to Moose, Parts Unlimited, Honda helping me out; it’s awesome.”

Brian Garrahan captured the final podium spot for his third time this year after a long Battle with Adam Bonneur and Aaron Wegner. “It was really fun,” he noted. “We were just all in a big group, just holding it wide open across the fields. It was really fun out there. We all had a real good time.” The California racer recapped his race like this. “I got a mediocre start. I got out in the lead pack. The first lap was kind of follow the leader. Me and Jimmy were out there; we were just kind of having our own little race like in the third, fourth place, just dicing back and forth, just passing each other just for fun. Once we all gassed up we all put in a good charge. They pulled out from me a little bit and I was actually racing Adam Bonneur and Aaron Wegner. We got away from Wegner and then Bonneur, he’s a local here, got a hot line on me at the very end of the track and he passed me. He probably would have finished in front of me, but he ended up crashing pretty hard in the whooped out stuff and I got by him. I could tell he was going hard trying to keep me back, but that little mistake made my Yamaha, Maxxis, Valli Construction, Moose get in front of him.” Garrahan said it was “a typical OMA race, just a good value. Adam definitely would have beat me today if he didn’t crash that last section. He got out in front of me and he was just flying and I was like, wow.” Garrahan now has second place in the series points battle locked up with a thirty six point gap on Wegner. “I just want to thank my sponsors, Maxxis, Yamaha, Moose Racing, Smith Goggles, FMF, Valli Construction.”

Another visit to fourth place awaited local racer Adam Bonneur at the end of his second lap. Bonneur has taken fourth place in his last two outings along with two sixth place finishes in rounds five and six. The race started out well for Bonneur and he took some opportunities to lead the event at various stages. “I had a good start,” recalled the Fenton, Illinois teenager. “I wasn’t planning on winning it on the first lap but I was trying to stay out of the dust. I actually geared up my bike a little bit for the big fields and the 450’s, just trying to keep up. Just rode with everybody for the first lap. I was trying to be there for when they finally did hit the go button.” The race was not without incident for Bonneur, as he recalled. “I had some trouble. I got knocked off into the ditch. I didn’t see a rut, and I got put into about six inches of water in a ditch and things weren’t looking good. I climbed up out of there, and that’s when Aaron got around me and he gained a little time. So I just kept pushing pretty much my whole second lap; pushing real hard to catch up to the top three. I caught Brian. In rock creek I passed him. He had trouble going up the other bank. I got through fairly clean, other than Brian getting me with a little roost,” he said with a grin. “That next field, it was too long for me, and he just killed me with his 450. So he got the lead back right away, but then the following section I had a good line. I put a pass on him. The pass held for quite a while.” It looked like Bill Gusse’s friendly young neighbor might finish on the podium until a late race incident where Bonneur said “I hit my noggin.” According to Bonneur, “up until the last five miles I had him, until I hit a tree root. My front tire washed out and I hit a tree head on. It gave me a little bit of a headache. I’m all right though. I remember everything. I’ve got to thank Yamaha, my parents, Moose Racing, Bel-Ray, IMS, G2, Maxxis, (and) Fun Mart. Everybody helped me out.” Luckily he was not injured in the crash, and Bonneur recovered to finish just six seconds ahead of points rival Aaron Wegner. The race for third place in the series now has three competitors, Wegner, Bonneur, and Chris Bach, within three points of each other.

Fifth place in the pro class went to Michigan racer Aaron Wegner aboard his Sidi Boots, Fastway, Pro Moto Billet, 2007 Yamaha YZ250. “I was happy with it,” he said. “I kind of wish I could have got Adam, but he was riding real good and this is his home town, so he had that advantage.” Wegner said “I really enjoyed the course. It was a real change from what we usually do. The first lap was real interesting because we kind of took turns leading. You could only go as fast as you could read the arrows. That was kind of fun, just kind of letting guys by and training with them.” According to Wegner “The second lap we let her hang out. Me and Adam and Brian Garrahan rode together for most of the second lap. Adam and me were real close and we kept Brian in sight. I knew he (Bonneur) was going to be faster than me in those peat whoops because he was just flying in that stuff.” Wegner finished the event in fifth place after two hours and twenty-seven minutes and forty seconds. That time is less than one minute behind race winner Jimmy Jarrett after nearly seventy miles of battle over some of the toughest, fastest, and tightest bits of racecourse that Bill Gusse could put together. The IMS, Ironman Sprockets,Dirt Tricks, SDG backed racer said “It went pretty good.”

Cycle Shed KTM 250 mounted Chris Bach ( KTM / Moose Racing / Maxxis ) managed a sixth place finish, pulling through scoring three minutes after Aaron Wegner. The Spastic Designs sponsored rider said his bike was “underpowered a little bit,” compared to some of the big guns at the race. “I was still kind of able to make up my time in the woods, where those 450’s were pulling me in the fields,” said the Alpine Star, Scott Stabilizers, CSR Suspension racer from Indiana. “I would just push a little bit harder in the woods, and I would kind of make that time back, so I was staying pretty even.” A miscommunication with his pit crew at a gas stop put Bach behind some A riders and other pros he had passed before. “By the time I gassed and got going I was stuck behind them,” he lamented. “I got around everybody, and once I kind of checked out of that little group there the top four had gone. I was stuck riding by myself. I gave it a hundred percent and just came up a little short, I guess.” Even though he was disappointed with sixth place, Bach said “it was a good time. The course was really, really good. The woods were perfect. The fields weren’t that bad, but the roost hurt really bad. The log was really fun. The second lap it was a lot slicker than it was the first. The bark was all wore off. It was ice. It was a good time though.”

After thirty plus years, the Parts Unlimited, DP Brakes, OMA Nationals event continued the tradition of excellence begun in 1976. Bill Gusse and his son Monte created another masterpiece of a race course. Hundreds of competitors and spectators enjoyed a fantastic weekend in northern Illinois thanks to the generosity and understanding of nearly forty land owners around the Bike Barn facility. The wide open fields contrasted with extremely tight and technical sections of woods to give some extreme variation and contrast to the racers. The word of the day would have to be fun, based on racer interviews. The OMA series has once again provided a unique venue for the enjoyment of the racing community. The final race of the 2007 Parts Unlimited OMA Nationals series will be contested in Millerstown, Kentucky on November 17 and 18. Come on out and see why racers use words like awesome, terrific, and fun to describe their experience at the OMA Nationals. This is offroad racing.

---Words from the rest of the pack---

Cooper Bailey
7th place pro
Durant, Oklahoma
KTM, Family Powersports, Pro Moto Billet, Maxxis, Scott Goggles

“It was fun. It was fast. It ran awesome. It was a little much for me in the woods, so I had to get used to it and learn how to ride it. It’s a four speed, so first gear was real tall. I stalled it a few times and they got around me on the first lap. After a while they got all bottlenecked up and we all rode with each other for the last half. I had a good ride, I felt good, I didn’t get tired.”

Zach Sulzberger
9th place pro
Muscatine, Iowa
Yamaha 250 two stroke. Answer gear, Dunlop tires.
My dad and Barb, they’re my number one sponsors right here.

“It started out kind of rough. I had to double kick off the start. I caught up down the straightaways. I did some mistakes and fell down on some logs and kind of lost my pace. Considering how the first lap went I’m happy, I guess. It was a lot of fun. The trail’s really fun. It was a good time.”

Marty Michels
12th overall, 2 nd place Open A
Petersberg, Kentucky

KTM, House of Horsepower suspension, Maxxis tires, dirt tricks, tire balls, scott goggles, answer racing, canon racecraft, all finish concrete, no-toil industries, decal works, enduro engineering, “there’s a whole lot of people that help me out a lot. I really appreciate it.”

“You look down next to you and you’re, like, holy …, I am freakin flyin.

It went pretty good. Actually I’ve never ridden here. A bunch of guys, like Garrahan and all those guys, have been talking it up all year. Whibs and me (Paul Whibley) kind of made the choice to come up here instead of doing something else a little bit closer to home. That was so much fun. I’m going to be smiling about that for the next few days. It was different, I mean, it’s a whole lot different than anything we race in around Kentucky and stuff, because it’s so flat here and there’s so much property. It’s like you come out of the woods and you just see arrows across the corn field and it was kind of, like, wow. You’re just like, man, I’m so glad I ride a 450. It actually took me a while to actually figure it out, going fast and then slowing down and then kind of going good in the woods. After the first lap I kind of calmed down. I just kind of put my head down and tried to do the best I could. I felt good. I felt like I was going really good and I was passing guys and catching guys. I’m stoked. I will definitely be back to this race from now on cause it’s so much fun, man.”

J.D. Friebel
15th overall, 3 rd Open A
Pulaski, Wisconsin
Suzuki, Moose, Team Two, Kenda

“I had a two kick start, so it wasn’t very good. I got myself together and I started picking them off slowly. The last lap I caught Keith (Zaagman) and the rest of the guys and got by him.”

Charlie Deutscher
16th overall, 4 th Open A
Fun Mart Cycle Yamaha, Tsubaki Chain, Silkolene, Moose Racing, Proclean.

“I got my … kicked. It was a fun day. We had a lot of fun. Rode with Chuck (Garretson) and (Keith) Zaagman most of the day. The first lap was a riot. The second lap started to kick our butt a little bit. Keith would have beat me if he wouldn’t have broke his shifter. He had some bad luck on a log. It was a good day. We had a lot of fun.”

Derek Spangler
20th overall, 1 st Lite A

“I’d definitely like to thank the Cycle Shed, KTM, Service Master clean, Maxxis, Johnny Signs, Scott USA, CSR suspension, and Sidi boots.”

“I think I did pretty good. That first lap I just got killed in the fields. I just kept it pinned in the woods. I think I came up pretty far overall. I was trying. I was pinning it.”

David Swanson, Jr.
21st overall, th Open A
Yamaha, Klotz oil, Maxx Motorsports from Darien, Wisconsin

“Beautiful race. The bike ran awesome. 450’s are just crazy on those open fields. We’re still waiting for dad to come back. I think he got lost.”

David Swanson Sr.
82nd overall, 2 nd 40C
Yamaha, Moose Racing, Pirelli.

“A good day. A great day! Two laps, the chase crew didn’t catch me, the first time at one of Bill’s big things. Cleared the creek. The Yamaha was just a dream come true. I’m just thrilled. The boy got first of all the Harvard riders here today, there were five or six.”

Bryan Johnson
22nd overall, 2 nd 30A
Moose Racing, Kawasaki, Ten Racing

“Bike started on the holeshot. Never broke anything other than a bent shifter. I made two laps under three hours. I’m happy. Kawasaki 450. It liked the fields. I didn’t even have to work it very hard; just let her cruise.”

Eric Dobner
24th overall, 2 nd Lite A
Yamaha YZ 250F
Maxx Motorsports in Delavan, Wisconsin. Gaerne boots. My dad.

"The log was” treacherous. I did a bit of an endo there. My bike pretty much just mounted there and I just went over the bars. It was a soft landing. I didn’t get hurt or anything. I just did a little tumble, got my bike, and went on my way. Aside from that, it was a cool course, a beautiful day to ride. I had fun.”

Matt Crouch
3 th overall, 12 th pro
Yamaha YZ250
Maxxis, Yamaha, IMS, Fastway.

“I had a good ride the first lap. I went back out the second lap and found a barbed wire fence. It was real nice. I got it caught up in my rear wheel. I took some wire cutters with me, though, today cause I knew there’s stuff out there.”

John Biagi
38th overall, 3 rd Open B
Princeton, IL

“Rode open B on an 06 Kawasaki KX250.”
“I’d like to thank dirt gear, Borelli racing, my parents.”

Darren Carlson
39th overall, 11 th Open A
Yamaha YZ250
Moose Racing, Kenda / Pirelli, no sponsors. Just mom and dad.

“The track was awesome. It was really flowing. A couple tight spots and the wide open straight-aways were awesome too. A great track.”

Brian Studniarz
45th overall, 6 th 30A
KTM 250xc
Dirt Gear

“It was rough. It was actually good. I had a good time. Really fun track! I finished. I had a good time.”

Justin Schiermeister
63rd overall, 1 st Lite C
Bondurant, Iowa
Yamaha YZ250
This was the fifth race he has competed in; he just started in the sport this summer.
No sponsors.

“It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. It was amazing.”

Eric Jackson
66th overall, 5 th Lite B
New Berlin, Illinois.
Husqvarna

Sponsored by “my wife and my in-laws. And the Wessings.
“It ran real well. I had a real good time.”

Shane Klimek
99th overall, 14 th Pro
Tonica, IL
Yamaha 02 YZ250 two stroker

Nobody helping me out; me and the old man and Dirt Gear.
“I locked it up. The fields ate it alive. I made one lap, and probably a quarter way through the second lap she just went wrrrap. Other than that though, I was doing alright.”

Chuck Long
125th overall
Morrison, IL
Kawasaki KX250

(the bike) “Did pretty good. I was pretty happy with it. It was pretty tough. I had a great time. I had a ball.”

Greg Schiermeister
127th overall
Mengo, Iowa
KTM

“I had a heck of a good time. (The KTM) it ran great. I think today’s problems were more rider related. I think the rider kind of failed its duties. The bike worked darned good for the punishment I gave it. This was probably one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. With the exception of that big darned log out there that bit me.”

Tracy Bachman (above)
135th overall
Honda

“The log sucked. It was alright. Yeah, I got over it. I did a little flip. There was actually a log laying on the other side of it and that messed me up. Then I got lost. I never found my way back. I ended up backtracking along the track again, and I knew that wasn’t right. It was like I was going to do three laps, so we finally made our way to the road and I just rode the highway back home.”

More photos may be found at www.photobyjohn.com

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 9 winners! Thank you for a great weekend of racing! Special thanks to PARTS UNLIMITED/MOOSE RACING - MAXXIS - and DP BRAKES!