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OFF-ROAD GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES PRESENTED BY SPECIALIZED ROUND 4 / MARCH 17, 2020 AONIA PASS MX / WASHINGTON, GEORGIA P44 We'll say it's a minor setback for now. Hopefully he comes back." In the meantime, Strang had been on the move as well, and had moved up to within a few seconds of the Kailub/Ricky battle when Ricky went down and took over second. "Yeah, it was a pretty good day," said Strang. "I got an okay start. I think I was seventh. I just couldn't see. You just had to wait until everyone spread out a little bit, and I could catch up to them one at a time. At one stage I think there was four of us together. It was pretty dusty then, but for some reason I made two quick passes, where a couple other guys, it took Husqvarna team manager Barry Hawk. "He's going to need some stitches. We don't know if it's go- ing to be four or 14. I've worked with quite a few guys over the years and he has a ton of heart. He was, I wouldn't say really far back early on, about 30 seconds back. Then he chipped away at it and caught up to Kailub. I knew coming to the white flag when he went by, I wasn't even giving a pit board anymore. I was just yelling at him because he could see Kai- lub. He was right on his rear tire. Then a few minutes later I got a report that he was down. It was encouraging to see what he did, see what he's capable of doing. me three-quarters of the lap to get close enough to be able to pass them. Then I caught up to Ricky with a lap and a half to go or some- thing and then we both started catching Kailub. Their pace picked up, and once there was two guys in front of me, it got real dusty. So, they gapped me a little bit and then Ricky crashed there. So, I got back into second and got close to Kailub at the end." Turning in one of the best rides of the day was Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna's XC2 rider, Craig Delong, who actually led the race early on with adjusted time. The Pennsylvania rider finished third overall and first XC2 rider. "I got a good start and got out to a pretty good lead in the beginning," said Delong. "Kind of got into a pace there. I got a little too comfortable, though, I guess, and Ryder Lafferty ended up running me down. It made for an interesting last two and a half laps. He rode good. He kept me on my toes. It was a battle all the way to the end. I had no idea we were closing in on third." Am Pro Yamaha's Layne Mi- chael was fourth overall and third XC1 rider, taking advantage of a second-place start off the line. "I was kind of up out of some of that dust," said Michael. "Just kind of got in behind Kailub there. I was just trying to pace off of him. I knew he was going to probably try to put on a sprint and gap us. I just wanted to latch on as long as I could. I felt like Josh Strang ended up taking second overall and continues to sit firmly in second place in the championship.

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