Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Kailub Russell Tops Hidden Valley Golf Full Gas Sprint Enduro K ailub Russell relied on con- sistency and determination to win round four of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series at the Hidden Valley Golf Course in Glen Daniel, West Virginia, May 25-26. Despite winning just two of the 12 tests, the FMF/KTM Factory rider claimed the overall victory by 3.115 seconds over Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Thad Duvall after spending most of the two-day event in the top three. Over 400 riders took advantage of the opportunity to ride on the beautiful fairways of the Hidden Valley Golf Course over a gor- geous Memorial Day Weekend, and Russell was one of the event's biggest fans. "The cross test was really fun," said Russell. "It was super hilly around the golf course and weav- ing in and out of the valleys. It was pretty cool." The race also served as a qualifier for the 2019 ISDE, which will be held in Portugal on No- vember 11-16. Babbitt's Monster Energy Kawa- saki's Jordan Ashburn got off to a fast start on Saturday, winning the opening test of the day (a cross test) ahead of Russell, Babbitt's Monster Energy Kawasaki's Josh Strang, FMF/KTM's Josh Toth, and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Thad Duvall. Strang apparently took a liking to the cross test as he won the remain- ing two, putting him in the mix for the overall. Meanwhile, Toth domi- nated the enduro test. The FMF/KTM Factory rider won the first two enduro tests of the day and was leading the final one when he tangled with a root and went down, dropping the Massachu- setts rider back to fourth for that test. At the time, Toth held a four-second lead in Saturday's overall standings, but his mishap in the final test moved Russell ahead of him for Satur- day's win by 0.2 of a second. "I guess I threw away the win on the last test," said Toth. "I went down when I had a little cushion, but that's racing. I had about four seconds over those guys, and I was consistently winning that test. I rode really well the whole test, then right in the end a tree root took me down and mangled my bike up, but I got up quickly and was able to finish. I don't know how much time I actually lost, but I ended up losing the day by two- tenths of a second." Thanks to Toth's mishap, Rus- sell won Saturday's event despite not winning a test all day. "I was just struggling trying to figure out how to ride my bike efficiently and smooth and go fast in the woods," said Russell. "I've been just always in the wrong gear and just over-revving my bike. I screwed that up the last test, and it really showed." Behind Toth came Strang, who rounded out Saturday's podium by his cross-test finishes. "I crashed in the first enduro test and lost a bunch of time, but other than that it was good," said Strang. "Except for that crash, I think I was in the top three, maybe in every test, so I was pretty happy with that." Ashburn was having one of his best races of the season and finished Saturday's round in fourth. Duvall, on the other hand, was IN THE WIND P50 Kailub Russell took top overall honors at the Full Gas Sprint Enduro in West Virginia.