Paul Whibley wins OMA Round 3 in Tennessee

Wednesday 11 May: Still Tennessee escapes the massive flooding that is going on with the Mississippi River. Fellow Kiwi, Rory Mead was actually leading when Paul says he may have run out of fuel.

With all the rain and flooding through Tennessee I was expecting a really wet race but conditions were pretty close to perfect.

A poor start left me with some work to do. A bit of a pile up on the first turn and a bottleneck in the first mud hole allowed me to make up some positions quickly. The track was fast in places with a few rocks to keep you on your toes as several riders would find out throughout the day.

I moved up to second by the fuel stop with Rory Mead out front in his first OMA. Katherine and Ryan handled the pit stop with ease and informed me Rory was not too far in front and had not stopped for gas. By their calculations he would not make it back without running out.

Sure enough I completed the next lap and was in the lead. I must have past Rory on the side of the track somewhere. Thad Duvall was hot on my heels and we swapped positions as I made a small mistake on a tricky root infested hill climb as I tried to avoid some stuck riders. I retook the lead as Thad pin balled off a few trees on a steep descent.

Going into the last lap I had a five second lead over Thad and the stage was set for a battle over the last 10 miles. But the race never happened and my lead was pushed out to over a minute by the finish as Thad’s bike had suffered some damage in a hard days racing that prevented him from pushing to the flag.

All in all it was a good day for the Am Pro Yamaha team with Thad holding second and Jordan Ashburn on another YZ 450, filling the podium.

1st: Paul Whibley - 2nd: Thad Duvall - 3rd: Jordan Ashburn

Paul Whibley is supported by: AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, G2, CTi, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC, Darbis, GHQ, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Rosscos Start up Services, Works Connection, Leatt
Braces, Race Pace services.

The AmPro Yamaha Team is supported by: FMF Kenda Yamalube Asterisk CV4 Cycle Gear E-Batt EBC Brakes Factory Connection Fastway Gaerne GYTR IMS Leatt Brace Motion Pro MSR Pro-Clean Rekluse Scott Shoei Slavens TM Designworks Cycra Twin Air Wiseco ZipTy Racing AllBalls Racing