OMA Nationals Round Three from Wellsville, Ohio

Chris Borich nearly didn't make it to round three of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals tour, presented by DP Brakes. On the dirt two-track leading into the race site in the green, rolling hills outside of Wellsville, Ohio, he discovered too late that his motorhome and trailer combined were a bit too long for one particularly tight turn, and the trailer dropped its right wheels off the road. After quickly jumping out to examine the situation, he and his crew decided the best course of action was to gas it and try to keep pulling forward, hoping that his rig had the power to extricate it.

Fortunately for him—and the rest of those behind him as well as those who'd already gotten there--the plan worked, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other hand, when the regulars on the OMA Nationals saw Borich pull in, they grimaced. These ATV Pros knew that they had their work cut out for them if they hoped to beat the GNCC contender. Their sole hope lay in the fact that the Bill Gusse-designed course might be tight enough to offset Borich's proven speed in the more wide-open style of GNCCs.

"I talked to Chris before the race, and he knew I'd run practice so he knew I knew the track," OMA number one Rob Zimmerman said. "Off the start, I was fourth or so, and everyone got sidetracked off the course a little bit, but I knew where I was going. I blew right through everyone.

"Borich knew I knew the track so he got right on me, and I was holding my own pretty good just because it was such a tight track and everything.

"I stalled it, and he got around me—actually, he hit me, then he got around me. I stalled it and was, like, `Sorry!' After that, he got hung up by a lapper. The lapper couldn't get the quad started; he was stuck in a big covey of trees. I just took out a lot of little saplings all the way around the outside, got back in front of him and stayed in front all the way up to the end of the third lap. Then a lapper got me hung up a little bit, just enough where [Borich] got by me. After that, he was gone. That boy's fast!"

Borich reported, "It was my first time here; I didn't really know where I was going. We came to one section where we didn't see any arrows, and [Zimmerman] grabbed the lead there.

"Going into the second lap, I grabbed the lead, a lapper got me held up for a bit, [Zimmerman] got around me. We just battled back and forth for the first two or three laps, and I finally got an open track ahead of me and took off."

At the end of seven laps, Alba/Maxxis/Moose TRX450R-mounted Borich would enjoy a lead of more than three and a half minutes over Zimmerman's Maxxis/Pro Armor/Moose TRX450R. Jeff Pickens claimed third, about 30 seconds back of Zimmerman, and 14 seconds ahead of Sean Neidlinger. Johnny Gallagher rounded out the top five.

Pro ATV Results
1. Chris Borich, Honda
2. Rob Zimmerman, Honda
3. Jeff Pickens, Yamaha
4. Sean Neidlinger, Yamaha
5. Johnny Gallagher, NA
6. Blane Schick, Honda
7. Clint Carpenter, NA
8. Patrick Lunde, Yamaha
9. Ryan Smith, NA
10. Jim Edwards, NA
11. Scott Barron, NA
12. John Stehlik, Yamaha