Am Pro Yamaha’s Charles Mullins capped off the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals by speeding to his third win of the series at round 10, the season-ending The Race, presented by Ten Racing, in Fenton, Illinois, on Sunday.
“It was a fun day”perfect weather, perfect track,” he said. “I’m happy to end the season how I did; [I got] a few wins in the OMA series, and I’m happy with that.”
But it was by no means an easy triumph for the Factory Connection/Bridgestone/MSR YZ250-mounted racer. He, Jason Thomas and Jimmy Jarrett broke away from the field early and fought torridly among themselves for the lead, with Thomas out front the most for the first 35-mile lap on his Fun Mart Cycles/Maxxis/Moose YZ250. As he completed the first lap, though, he got confused and went the wrong way, which was just the opening Mullins and Jarrett needed to get a few seconds on him.
Mullins and Jarrett then went at it until Jarrett committed the first of a few consecutive mistakes that put him on the ground and let Mullins get a gap that would eventually carry him to the finish. Jarrett then concentrated on trying to chase down Thomas, but he’d lost a little too much ground, and the Andrews Cycles/Maxxis/Moose RM-Z450-mounted Jarrett ended up seven seconds shy of the young man from Wales at the finish.
Jarrett said, “I thought for sure I could win it and then the last lap I made three or four mistakes right in a row and Charlie got away. Then Jason caught me, and he and I battled to the end.”
That runner-up position was just what Thomas needed to clinch third in the series. Unofficially, he tallied 162 points before throwaways while Mullins came up with 161. Jarrett topped the series for the third straight year with 238 points, unofficially and before throwaways.
Justin Williamson ended up with a DNF for the day (his first of the season) on his Williamsonracing.com YZ250, but he’d already wrapped up second in the series.
Alan Westerfield and Cooper Bailey rounded out the top five Pros.
