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IN THE WIND P42 Duvall Rebounds With High Voltage GNCC Win A fter suffering a disappointing DNF at the previous round of the Amsoil GNCC Series at Snow- shoe Resort, in West Virginia, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Thad Duvall took a statement win, July 6-7, at the Inaugural VP Rac- ing Fuels High Voltage GNCC, held at the Lilly Family Farm in Dunkard, Pennsylvania. Ignoring the sweltering condi- tions, Duvall dropped holeshotter Kailub Russell on the opening lap when the FMF/KTM rider, Rus- sell, made a mistake. Duvall then turned up his own heat, pulling away to a nearly two-minute vic- tory over the series points leader in perhaps one last gasp to save his championship hopes. At this point, a 2019 GNCC Championship title is a long shot for Duvall, since his zero-point finish at Snowshoe dropped him from 18 points behind Russell to 48 points in the series standings. But there is still plenty of racing left. With his win at the High Volt- age GNCC, Duvall cut the deficit to 43 points. "The first lap, I was like, 'man, I'm winning today,'" Duvall said. "I just felt really good. I felt confi- dent. There was just a lot of frus- tration after Snowshoe. I feel like the championship might be over now. Kailub is so consistent. Now it's just try to win races and lead as many laps as I can and learn for next year." Russell battled with Duvall at first, but then Duvall was able to pull away to a 17-second advan- tage, although at one point he thought his bad luck might have returned. "I was feeling great and then three laps to go, I clipped a pole in the middle of the woods," Duvall said. "I don't even know where it came from. I thought I ripped my radiator off. I'm like, 'man, two races in a row?' Luckily it made it to the end." Duvall was robbed of a possible win at the Snowshoe when a stick poked a hole in his radiator. Russell struggled by his own admission, confessing that he went the wrong direction with his setup before the race, and he had three riders nipping at his rear fender during the final lap. "I was just fighting my bike a little bit all day; didn't really feel comfortable," said Russell. "Thad was on top of it. It seems like ev- ery time I come here, I just get my butt whooped. It's a tricky track." Josh Strang made amends for his 27th overall finish at Snow- shoe with a solid podium, out- dueling his Kawasaki teammate Jordan Ashburn for third. "It's been a long time to be on the podium, and I'm pumped to get up here for the new Babbitt's Monster Energy Kawasaki team," Strang said. "It's been a while. It's frustrating. [But] finally today I put it together and felt like I rode Thad Duvall finally had things go his way. The Husqvarna rider won the High Voltage GNCC in Pennsylvania. PHOTOS: KEN HILL