Jarrett brings more people to the party

By Mark Kariya

Jimmy Jarrett must be getting a little bored. The Team FMF/Suzuki Off-Road ace won four races in a row after finishing third at round one in the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals.

So, after a short summer break, he invited a couple of friends to make the trip to Millville, Minnesota’s Spring Creek MX Park for the Rekluse Spring Creek Grand Prix, round six of the OMAs.
And we’re not talking slouches. One was FMF/Suzuki Off-road teammate Josh Strang, the latest Australian phenom to test the waters on this side of the world. The other was Josh Weisenfels, who’d recently signed with the Monster Energy Kawasaki/Fred Andrews Racing squad to contest the GNCCs after starting the season as a Yamaha privateer.
To make it more appealing, Jarrett suggested they both throw their bikes and gear into his van and make the trip together.
Is there something about vanpooling that makes you faster?
Maybe, because the trio left Millville with the lion’s share of the purse after going 1-2-3. Jarrett, not surprisingly, won his fifth OMA in a row, making him the undisputed king of the series with four rounds left, but he had to fight off a determined Alex Martin the first few laps. The young motocrosser who literally lives at the track-the owner, John Martin, is his father and was himself pretty quick, being a former AMA National Hare Scrambles Champion-led during the first couple laps of the two-hour race, but eventually dropped back due to a few pesky spills in the woods, finishing fourth.

Strang quickly jumped into second place behind Jarrett but couldn’t match his speed and would settle for second while Weisenfels claimed third, equaling his finish at round two which was his only other series appearance.

OMA Race report Josh Strang OMA RD 6

Result: 2nd

FMF Suzuki

This was my first OMA of the year so I was looking forward to it and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things for the remainder of the season.

After the practice lap on Saturday I was happy with how my RM 250 was and I also enjoyed the track with plenty of new tight technical trails.
I got off to a decent start and got in behind team mate and series leader Jimmy Jarrett, I felt comfortable behind him for the first part and we had a good pace going. Alex Martin (son of the owner at Millville) caught up to us both and he got by me on the Motocross track, his pace was quick and I didn’t bother trying to chase him, with his pace he made mistakes that cost him the lead and allowed both Jimmy and I back past. By the half way mark the track that was basically virgin trail had been cut up and turned into nice soft dirt with big holes and bumps. Towards the end of the race Jimmy had a decent size gap and I was unable to close it, He took his 5th straight win and I got my first podium in the States for 07, Josh Weisenfiels finished in 3rd. For my first time at the OMA I was happy and impressed with how the event was run and the track couldn’t have been any better with a mixture of both the Millville Mx track and surrounding bush.

I will be looking forward to coming to the last few rounds to see if I can steal a win from Jimmy.
—Josh Strang