News Release
Kiwi Slices Through America
01 July 2008
New Zealand's Paul "The Axeman" Whibley continues to slice through the opposition in the United States.
The popular Pahiatua sportsman won the day at round five of the OMA (Off-road Motorcycle and ATV) cross-country series, in Michigan, on Sunday and, with another win to his credit, the former forestry worker further consolidated his stranglehold on the series lead.
The Kiwi is on something of a winning run at the moment, having dominated two of the previous three rounds of the prestigious Grand National Cross-country Series and now with back-to-back wins in the OMA series as well.
And that means the Kiwi rider is proving popular with the American fans, although he joked "obviously a lot of them would prefer an American rider to be winning.
"I think the people here in the US like to have foreign riders racing in their series”.
"In the last two rounds of the GNCC, four out of the top five have been foreign riders”.
"Currently there are riders here from Wales, the Isle of Man, South Africa, Australia and, of course, I'm from New Zealand”.
"There seems to be a lot of people coming up to me asking for tee-shirts, posters and wishing me good luck, so I think there seems be a growing fan base”.
His performance in Michigan at the weekend could only help that fan base to expand.
"My bike (Suzuki RM-Z450) fired up quickly at the start and I rounded turn one in third place," said Whibley.
Fellow Suzuki rider Jimmy Jarrett, from Ohio, had meanwhile grabbed the lead and he was out in front on his RM250 two-stroke, but Whibley was not wasting any time.
"I quickly moved into second and latched onto Jimmy's back wheel as we entered the woods. I chased him around the first lap looking for a way around until I tucked the front end into a big, soft berm after a drop-off and went over the bars”.
"I got back up and got my bike restarted just as (Californian) Brian Garrahan passed me. I pinned the throttle wide open, not wanting to lose Jimmy, and quickly re-passed Brian. I caught back up to Jimmy late in the second lap and the race was on."
It developed into a fierce scrap between the two team-mates with Whibley and Jarrett ducking and diving through the trees and they battled one another.
"The track was pretty tight in places and this made getting around lappers difficult," said Whibley.
"I somehow got past Jimmy and tried to open up a gap. We were soon in traffic and struggling to find a way around”.
"Lucky some of the (slower) riders politely moved over to allow us through although some needed some encouragement," he laughed.
"I pushed hard and opened up a small gap only to get caught behind some riders in the tight sections allowing Jimmy to catch back up”.
"We both gassed up together and continued to battle it out”.
"I made some mistakes and Jimmy took the lead and made a break for it. He was riding really well and I had to push hard to keep him in sight. On the last lap, Jimmy still had the advantage and was leading the way”.
"I pushed hard and, midway through the lap, I made a pass around the outside on a sweeping, choppy corner. Jimmy fought back and retook the lead when I hesitated and took a bad line around a lapper”.
"We both bounced off each other as our lines came together. He shot to the lead, determined to keep it to the finish, but I wanted to win just as bad and hounded him as the lap ran down. I saw a gap and made a risky pass through the weeds but it paid off as I dived to the front as we entered another tight section”.
"Jimmy made a last-ditch attempt at a pass on the last corner but I had the inside covered and took the win."
1. P. Whibley (Suzuki, New Zealand)
2. J. Jarrett (Suzuki, Ohio)
3. B. Garrahan (Yamaha, California)
