VOLUME 56 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2019 P41
it's crazy. I'm stoked."
The 2020 season will be
interesting, seeing where Kelley
fits in the order when Russell and
Duvall are at full strength.
"Unfortunately, two of the
heavy hitters, Kailub and Thad,
were out," added Kelley. "It's go-
ing to be a totally different story
next year, but I'm really looking
forward to it. Moving up, I defi-
nitely wouldn't have been happy if
I wasn't on the podium because I
feel like the bigger bike and start-
ing on the front row is a big advan-
tage. But to get two wins is wild. I
definitely didn't expect that."
Bollinger turned in a rather
quiet race, starting the race in
third and finishing in the runner-
up slot, although he led at one
point, only to lose the lead when
he pitted.
"I still feel like I can win races,
even with Thad and Kailub here,"
said Bollinger. "I just had a few
little struggles this year. Like to-
day, I was actually leading before
I pitted. Then I crashed twice and
got my gloves all muddy, and I
couldn't really hang on. Once I
could hang on, Ben already had
a minute on me, so there wasn't
much I could do there."
The real excitement was over
the battle for the final podium
position, which came down to four
riders: Ashburn, FMF/KTM's Josh
Toth, and Tely Energy Racing KTM
riders Grant Baylor and Steward
Baylor. Ashburn held third going
into the final lap and was looking
good to hold the position to the
end when he went down within
a mile of the finish, taking Grant
down with him. This opened to
door for Toth and Steward to move
into third and fourth, with Steward
making a last-second pass on Toth
a few turns later to claim third at
the finish.
"This track, it was just so
gnarly," said Steward. "The track
was 200, 300 feet wide and you
don't know what line is fast. It
came down to who can pin it and
hold it the longest and get the
sketchiest. It was intense. There
were spots where you knew if
you were going to go in there you
weren't coming out. Late in the
race I looked back and saw Grant
on my butt; I was like, it's time to
get going. He passed me like I
was sitting still. And honestly, he
should have beat me today, but
obviously that last lap was chaos.
We had a four-way battle, balls to
the walls. Ashburn, myself, Grant
and Josh Toth."
Grant managed to get going
before Ashburn to finish fourth,
while Toth and Ashburn rounded
out the top six.
Josh Strang (Babbitts Monster
Energy Kawasaki Off-Road Rac-
ing) finished six seconds ahead
of Craig Delong (Coastal Racing/
Husqvarna) to claim seventh, with
Delong topping the XC2 250 Pro
class with an eighth.
"The first lap was tricky," said
Craig. "It was kind of like who
wanted the lead and who didn't
want to lead. I guess I was the
one that got picked to lead. I was
checking out all the mud holes for
everybody, but it wasn't too bad."
Tely Energy Racing's Liam
Draper was second in the XC2
250 Pro class with his ninth over-
all finish, while Andrew Delong
was another eight second back in
10th overall on his Phoenix Rac-
ing Honda.
Ricky Russell was 11th, while
Trevor Bolinger took second overall.
