OFF-ROAD
2019 KENDA FULL GAS SPRINT ENDURO SERIES
P68
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 10, 2019
GTR COMPLEX / GASTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
Russell Returns
And Wins
BY SHAN MOORE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAN MOORE
E
ven though Kailub Russell
hasn't competed in a Full Gas
Sprint Enduro in over three
years, he surprised no one with
his win at the opening round of the
2019 Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro
Series in Gaston, South Carolina.
After all, he is Kailub Russell.
The win marked Russell's return
to the series after a three-year
hiatus. The FMF KTM rider last
competed in the popular series in
2015, with a championship-winning
campaign in the series' inaugural
season. The South Carolina race
pulled 400 entries.
Russell picked up right where he
left off when he won the opening
test of the weekend by a sizable
margin—eight seconds. Russell
went on to easily win Saturday's
round and carried a 28-second
cushion going into Sunday's final
day. However, after winning tests
one and two, Russell experienced a
couple of tip-overs in the third test,
the Cross Test, which allowed de-
fending series champ Josh Strang
to close in and take the lead for the
rest of the day.
Strang would go on to win Sun-
day's round by four seconds over
Russell, but when the two days
were combined, Russell had built
enough of a cushion on Saturday to
take the overall win by 24 seconds.
In all, Russell won five of the six
tests on Saturday and two of six on
Sunday en route to the win.
"It's been a while since I raced
this series but I've still got sprint
speed," said Russell. "I had a good
start to the weekend on Saturday
and finished the first day with a
good cushion. I had a good start to
day two, as well, but I had a couple
of little tip-overs in the third test and
then everyone else stepped it up. I
gave away a little time in that test so
I was playing catch-up for the rest of
the day and I fell a little short in get-
ting a clean sweep of the two days."
During the off-season, Strang
KAILUB
RUSSELL
GETS BACK
TO FULL
GAS SPRINT
ENDURO
RACING
AND COMES
AWAY WITH
A WIN
