IN
THE
WIND
P26
WITKOWSKI ON TOP AT IOWA OMA
T
he OMA Nationals Rekluse
Cyclone XC, co-sanctioned
with the Iowa Enduro Riders
Association and the Midwest
Cross Country Series, played
out at the Lundberg family farm
near Dayton, Iowa, July 15. Fol-
lowing three earlier rounds of
wet, muddy, sloppy racing, the
Cyclone XC would be entirely
different. Hot and dry were the
words that best described con-
ditions for this installment of the
OMA Nationals series. Hard-
packed ground on numerous
hills, along with stifling heat,
made it a tough day to race a
motorcycle in Iowa.
When the dust settled after
seven grueling laps of the
eight-mile course, Mike Wit-
kowski (KTM/Klim/Maxxis)
emerged victorious, leading
his RPM Racing teammate
Chris Bach by 14 seconds.
FMF holeshot winner Cody
Barnes (Yamaha/Fly Rac-
ing/Maxxis) held on for
third place in the Pro class,
just two minutes behind the
leaders.
"It was good," said
Witkowski of his race. "Luckily, I got a pretty
good start behind Cody [Barnes] and kind
of rode behind him until he made a mistake.
It was super dusty if you were back in the
pack, so I tried to lead as much as I could.
When Chris did get by me, I tried to make
sure I stayed right with him, and actually
(Above) Mike
Witkowski was
the overall
winner at the
Cyclone XC
OMA race in
Iowa. (Left)
Chris Bach
made Witkowski
work for the win
en route to a
second-place
finish.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
GASSO
