Cycle News

ROUND 8/SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA OFF ROAD P84 OMA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Pro 2 winner Tucker Smith came out on top of one of the toughest battles on the track. Kole Henslee gave Bobbitt a bit of a race during the early part of the race. start on his Pro 2-class Yamaha and inched out Bobbitt for the FMF Holeshot Award, but a fuel miscalculation left Bill stranded on the trail near the two-hour mark while running among the lead group. Meanwhile, Kole Henslee was able to get his Springfield KTM Moose Racing Lucas Oil 300 XC past Bobbitt early in the first lap. Bobbitt, however, eventually passed Henslee back near the end of lap one and opened up a gap that would total nearly six minutes when the checkers flew on lap eight and after two hours and 23-minutes of racing. Bobbitt was all smiles afterwards. "It was a cool race," Bobbitt said. "Kole and I had some fun on the first lap. I went down in one of the hard-pack corners and he got around me. I just followed him for about three-quarters of that first lap. He was filling me up with sand. Once we got in the really deep sand part, I got around him." After clearing Henslee once, that battle between the two wasn't quite over. "The second lap my throttle stuck a little bit," Bobbitt said. "We weren't sure why it did that. We played with the throttle cable a little bit and it didn't hang up any more, so I got back going and just kind of rode it out." Henslee was able to hold on to second place and stay clear of a fantastic battle for third place that was going on behind him. Henslee was understandably happy with his ride. "That was a blast," he said. "I was pretty nervous racing the champ. I pumped up pretty good on the first lap. I tell you what, I had the worst arm pump I'd ever had in my whole life. It was unbelievable. I was leading the National champ and thought holy crap, this is cool. So I held on for dear life and just kept truckin'. I tried to stay smooth and not crash in the sand. He ended up passing me right at the end of the first lap and I followed in behind him. We rode for a little while and he just kind of inched away." Tucker Smith, on his Donno's Racing Husqvarna TXC310, ended up holding off the relentless attacks by Spencer Burke, on the Stuk FMF Clockworks KTM 250 XC, for third-place honors, as well as the Pro 2-class victory. Smith and Burke were separated by no more than a second or two at the finish line. "The trails were awesome," said Smith. "The sand was probably the best part - all the

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