Sipes Tops
All-Star Class
at Chestnut
Corner Sprint
Enduro
T
he final round of the Kenda
Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series,
which doubled as an International
Six Days Enduro (ISDE) camp for
U.S. Trophy Team riders, drew the
top off-road racers from across
the country to Laurens, SC.
Riders from the all of the major
off-road series in the country (Full
Gas Sprint Enduro, AMA National
Enduro, Grand National Cross
Country and WORCS) showed up
to test themselves in the Sprint
Enduro format, which is similar to
the format used in ISDE competi-
tion. The event also pulled in for-
mer supercross/motocross stars
Josh Hill and Ryan
Sipes.
After two days of rac-
ing, and 12 tests, Sipes
won out ahead of multi-
time GNCC champ
and fellow factory KTM
rider Kailub Russell,
with Sipes getting the
win by 22 seconds over
Russell.
Sipes, who was the
ISDE individual overall
winner in 2015, has
spent the year racing
everything from Roma-
niacs to flat track, but
this was his first sprint
enduro of the year.
"I had no clue where
I'd be against these guys since I
haven't raced one of these all year; I
didn't know where my speed would
be, so I'm really happy," said Sipes.
"I knew I would do okay in the cross
test, I just wasn't sure about the
enduro test. I got a little lucky with
this woods test. It was technical,
but not very tight, so that played to
my strengths."
Russell dogged Sipes all
weekend and was close enough
to overtake Sipes heading into the
final test of the weekend; howev-
er, a tip-over forced him to settle
for second.
"I made a lot of mistakes," said
Russell. "It was tough—super dry
and slick, and I just couldn't keep
it off the ground. I've only fallen
like two or three times all year at
these races, and I probably had
four falls this weekend. It's hard to
IN
THE
WIND
P28
Ryan Sipes competed
in his first Full Gas
Sprint Enduro of the
year and came away
with the overall win.
PHOTOS: SHAN MOORE
Kailub Russell
challenged
Sipes for the win
but multiple falls
cost him.
