VOL. 55 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 14, 2018 P49
Duvall's appearance was a
surprise. He used the event to
get back in the swing of things
after sitting out a few weeks due
to a wrist injury.
Duvall, who won the Kenda
Full Gas Sprint Enduro Cham-
pionship in 2016, won six tests
en route to second overall, and
was in contention for Sunday's
win until a mishap in the final test
cost him too much time.
"I've been off the bike for a
month and a half and I just want-
ed to come out and have some
fun and see where I was at, but it
quickly turned into a competition
to try to win," Duvall said. "I had
a blast; I really love these events.
I was in the mix until the final
test, but I fell into a deep rut and
got stuck for a long time and that
put me out of the running."
Layne Michael (Coastal Rac-
ing Husqvarna) rounded out
the podium. He won one of the
Cross tests and was in conten-
tion to win a few others.
"I started off well; Saturday
was good for me," said Michael.
"Grant [Baylor] and I were close
going into Sunday and I just
tried to do what I did on Satur-
day. I had a few bad rides in the
Enduro test, but I was able to
overcome it. I had a fast time
going for me in the final test but
I ended up falling and I thought
maybe I gave up a place but
I was able to hold onto third.
Overall, it was a good weekend
for us."
Fourth overall went to Grant
Baylor (Tely Energy KTM). The
South Carolina rider was two
seconds behind Michael head-
ing into Sunday's event and he
was just 0.4 of a second behind
Michael after Sunday.
Defending series champion
Steward Baylor rounded out the
top five. The rider got off to a
slow start on Saturday, but turned
up the heat on Sunday and
moved ahead of Jordan Ashburn
and into fifth in the final results.
"I put myself in a really bad
position on Saturday," said Bay-
lor. "I made a bad choice of front
tires and I couldn't figure out why
Thad Duvall kept it close en
route to a second-place finish.