iiiI:iii
Round 4
OFF-ROAD
OMA National Off-Road Series
hr o ugho ut th e co urse o f
the yea r, Ya ma ha ri der
Natha n Kanney has bee n
tu r n ing so me heads by
card ing some gre at finishes. Slowly, Kanney is becoming a familiar face at the top of the leader board
in off-road racing. And at the fo urt h
round of the OMA Off-Road se ries in
Waukon , Illinois, Kanney proved once
again th at he is defi nitely worthy of
being at the to p, as he took the win
ahead of a dete rm ined Jimmy Jarrett,
who finished onl y five second s bac k
fro m Kanney.
Racing is always mor e exciting w hen
the leade rs swap pos it ions se ve ral
times throug hout t he co urse of the
race , and Kanney and Jarr ett didn't disappoint as the two ride rs exchanged
the lead spot several times before
Kanney finally settled in for good with
less than two miles to go.
'" just had a blast tod ay," Kanney
said. "The course was just awe some .
From fast grass tracks to tricky off
chambe rs to roc ky ravine sections .
Battling it out with Jimmy [jarrett] was
the best part . We bo th took turns leading on the last couple of laps. It co uld
have gone e ither way." Round ing out
the top S overall were Cole Calkins,
Justin Williamson and Tim Taber.
Even before he could battle w ith
Jarrett, Kanney was forced to wo rk his
way up to the front of the pack afte r a
poor start. But the 21 year-old from
High Falls, New York, worked his way
up through traffic faste r than anyone
could
believe, pass ing Calkins,
Williamson, Shane Watts and Tony
Joiner, before mov ing into second
behind Jarrett at t he end of lap-one.
"On ce I caught up to [jar ratt] , I was
happy to just follow," Kanney said.
"Togethe r we were making good time,
and most importantly, we were riding
smooth."
Jarrett held the lead for the first
three laps until Kanney passed him on
an uphill section located just a few
miles from the pit area.
"I never had any inte ntions of tak ing
the lead [early on) ," Kanney said .
"Instead, I was trying to learn [jarret's]
lines and look for good places to pass.
Just to see if I could pull it off, I made a
pass just befo re I pitted."
"Nate [Kanney] and I we re using the
same pit crew, so the first guy t here got
to pit first, " Jarrett said. "Whe n he
stopped I just rode another lap until it
was my turn. "
After pitting on t he next lap Jarrett
relinquished the lead to Kanney, a
move that was all a part of his bid for
the win.
"It was Nate 's turn to lead," Jarr ett
T
42 AUGUST 18, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
40th Anniversary
