Perfect conditions and a track which included two miles of virgin trail where what Red Bull KTM Factory Off-road race Nate Kanney was met with at the Coal Miner XC OMA National. Kanney, whose main focus this year is the GNCC XC1 Pro-Class Championship, decided to race Round 3 of the OMA Nationals as a tune-up for the upcoming round 7 of the GNCC series.

A notoriously fast starter, Nate went into the first turn in 7th place, but quickly moved into 2nd place position behind Team Suzuki's Paul Whibley after just a few grass track sections. "I could tell that Whibley was pushing hard and I was content with following him the first lap through the technical tight sections," said Kanney. His patience paid off as Whibley bobbled and Kanney was able to move into the lead, a position he held for two laps until a mistake of his own allowed Suzuki teammates Whibley and reigning OMA Champion Jimmy Jarrett to slip by.

photo: unitedoffroadracing.com

"After Jimmy passed me, I was about 30 seconds back and just kept charging. Whibs had checked out and I was really pushing to cut the gap between myself and Jarrett but ended up making a few mistakes and crashed an additional four times." Despite those crashes, Nate was able to cut the gap between himself and Jarrett to 11 seconds before the checkered flag fell.

"Overall, I'm really happy with how I rode. After the horrible mud race at the last GNCC round, it was nice to be able to actually race the motorcycle hard and really push myself, instead of being in a survival mode just trying to finish. I have to say that Whibley and Jarrett were both on their game today and I really had to ride hard to keep on the pace. Hopefully the five silly crashes I had today will be my fill for quite a while and I'll be able to grab myself a podium next weekend in Kentucky."

Results:
1. Paul Whibley
2. Jimmy Jarrett
3. Nate Kanney
4. Brian Garrahan
5. Jordan Ashburn

For complete results visit www.unitedoffroadracing.com

Next Up:
Sunday, June 1st
Sparta, Kentucky
Round 7 of the 2008 Can-Am GNCC Series

For inquiries, please contact Jason Hooper at pr@digitaloffroad.com