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third place as he rode past Williamson a few feet later. Mullins completed the first lap in 26:16, with Watts 21 seconds behind on his KTMHutt.com/Fun Mart Cycles 200 XC and Thomas four seconds behind Watts. Williamson was in fourth, about 40 seconds back, and clearly closing on those ahead. "I was feeling really good," Williamson said. "I enjoyed the track; it was awe- some, especially the grass track. I don't know what it was, but I was just in the mood to hold it wide open and hope I stayed up [there]." Mullins padded his lead on the second lap, clocking in at 52 minutes flat while Thomas took over second from Watts, who would slip to fourth, and checked in at 53:18 while Williamson was just four seconds behind the young British racer. Thomas yielded to Williamson the next time around, each of the top three run- ning about a minute apart. Unknown to most others, Thomas was in danger of being dehydrated and overheated as he couldn't reach the tube for his drink sys- tem. At first, he thought the system broke entirely, but when he finished, he discov- ered something else. "I think a tree hooked [the tube] and it pulled it back underneath the body armor," Thomas theorized. "When I pulled my body armor off, I found the pipe. The CamelBak's full! "It was hard without a drink; it was hard work. I just tried to finish after the second lap; I just tried to get to the end." That development helped seal the fin- ish order. Though slightly shorter than usual due to the heat, no one complained, though perhaps Williamson might have wished for more laps. "I stayed up the entire time," Williamson said. "Near the end I was sort of catching Mullins a little bit there, slow- ly but surely. It would've been nice to be with Charles the entire time; I think I real- ly could've given him a run, but that's the way it goes. I'm still really happy with sec- ond and finishing pretty close behind Mullins. I had fun." But Mullins enjoyed it the most, in tak- ing his first win, though he admitted he got nervous over the last stages of the race. "Nothing really got to me," Mullins said. "But it was in the back of my mind. I was waiting for something to happen, maybe something would go wrong and I'd end up second or something, but I could- n't be happier with my win today. It's a confidence booster. Hopefully, I can win [the next round at] Millville and a couple other races going into the GNCCs. I'll have real good confidence [then]." CN MEMPHIS, MISSOURI RESULTS: JULY 30, 2006 (ROUND 6 OF 10) MOONSHINE CROSS COUNTRY PRO RESULTS: 1. Charles Mullins (Yam); 2. Justin Williamson (Yam); 3. Jason Thomas (Yam); 4. Adam Bonneur (Yam); 5. Shane Watts (KTM); 6. Matt Crouch (Yam); 7. Derek Spangler (KTM); 8. Jake Fiddler (Suz); 9. Branham (Hon); 10. Alan Westerfield (Yam). 2006 OMA NATIONALS POINTS STANDINGS: 1. Jimmy Jarrett (145/4 wins); 2. Justin Williamson (128); 3. Jason Thomas (86); 4. Adam Bonneur (84); 5. (TIE) Alan Westerfield (76)/ Charles Mullins (76/1 win); 7. Aaron Branham (73); 8. Shane Watts (72); 9. Matt Crouch (66); 10. Tracy Bachman (51). C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 73 MY OWN RACE 21 Adam Bonneur 4th Place A midpack start meant Adam Bonneur had his work cut out for him, but a steady charge through the pack landed him fourth overall. "I had a pretty bad start for how I ended up. My tire kind of spun out on the line and I let everybody go. Justin Williamson and Matt Dissell went down up here [in the third turn]; I just snuck around them, but I did get caught in all the dust [in the woods section that followed]. I stuck it out and started chipping away. I went through the creek and splashed Matt Crouch a little bit, but I just kept chipping away at it and started riding with Aaron Branham. It was him, then me, then Justin for a little while, then Justin got around both of us - I made some mistakes. I finally got around Aaron; I fell in the creek, too - bad karma. I reeled in Watts about the third lap. Going out on the third lap, he was 20 seconds ahead of me so I caught him right away, and he let me by in the grass track. I just kept pushing; I felt really good all day." 26 Matt Crouch 6th Place "I got a halfway decent start and went into the woods, and Jason Thomas went by me. I got in behind him and rode pretty good for a while. Then I picked up the pace the second and third laps [after Thomas got away] and ended up catching up to Aaron Branham. I had a pretty decent ride today." The 17-year-old Texan agreed that the heat affected him as much as anyone else, though his sixth-place finish was his best to date in OMA: "It was hot; there was no doubt about that. I live in Texas and it's 100 degrees every day down there, which I should be getting used to by now, but it's that hot for everybody - nobody can say they're used to it." Spectators almost couldn't believe it when race leader Charlie Mullins stopped at the creek crossing and took a dip. "The third lap - it's real hot out here and the heat was kind of getting to me so I thought I'd jump in real quick. I did it last year at a National Hare Scrambles race, and I remembered how refreshed it makes you feel," he said. "I did that, and I felt like I just started the race - I felt good; I didn't get tired any- more and I just brought it in." But first he had to get his bike restarted, which it did only after a few anxious moments of blubbering. Series points leader Jimmy Jarrett was a no-show at Memphis. One report had him recovering from a knee injury. Missing a round won't hurt him in the series, as all Pros are allowed one throwaway. Matt Crouch and his father endured a lot just getting to Missouri from their home in Texas. First, their new van with only 500 miles on it broke, forcing them to find a U-Haul box van to rent. Then they blew one of the tires on their trailer. Adam Bonneur nearly hit a deer in the grass-track section on the first lap, this after having cow problems on the first lap at the previous round. "A deer about ran into me! It was scary," he exclaimed. "Talk about some weird luck." Great Britain's Jason Thomas surprised many by showing up with a Yamaha after using a Honda CR250R in the first half of the series. The switch came down to sup- port, with Honda United Kingdom unable to help him any longer. Fortunately, sponsor Fun Mart Cycles carries Yamahas as well, so Thomas was able to pull one out of stock, ride it at a local race the week before to get used to it a bit, then roll up to the starting line in Missouri on the barely broken-in machine. Alan Westerfield was another convert to the blue crew. After riding a Gas Gas EC 250 for the first half of the series, he picked up a year-old YZ250F and earned eighth with it in its OMA debut. Briefly... (Left) Justin Williamson had to play catch-up after falling in the third turn; he worked his way to second after the halfway point, but couldn't reel in Mullins. Charlie Mullins tries to get a little more wet in order to cool off en route to victory. One lap found him stopping for a full-body immersion to beat the heat, but he had plenty of time to do so.