VOLUME 57 ISSUE 24 JUNE 16, 2020 P59
Like most of the rest of the riders,
Jordan Ashburn (Babbitt's Online/
Monster Energy/Team Green Kawa-
saki) said he felt like he struggled all
day, but his consistency rewarded him
with fourth place.
"I just never really felt comfortable
on the track," said Ashburn. "I never
felt like I could really push hard. It's
just kind of a little greasy and hard to
trust the bike."
AmPro Yamaha's Mike Witkowski
had a good day, finishing fifth over-
all and edging out Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Craig Delong by less
than a minute to win the XC2 division.
Witkowski started strong and
entered the woods for the first time in
third and then just settled into his pace.
Delong ended up sixth overall and
second in the Pro 2 class, while fellow
Husqvarna rider Draper came home
in seventh overall and third in XC2.
Third place was a battle all day
between Phoenix Honda's Andrew
Delong, FactoryONE Sherco's Grant
Baylor, who, as usual, came from the
back of the pack after a poor start,
and FMF/KTM's Ben Kelley, who
eventually prevailed when both the
Honda and Sherco expired near the
end of the race. Kelley is still recover-
ing from shoulder surgery earlier in
the year and was feeling the pain near
the end of the three-hour race.
"I felt like I was riding pretty good,
but still, I know that I'm not as strong,"
said Kelley. "I just struggle in some
parts where I just don't have that up-
per body strength to muscle the bike.
I felt like I was riding good the first few
laps, but Andrew and Grant passed
me and then they'd crash or I'd get
back by. I felt I just stayed steady the
whole race. Just stayed smooth and
did what I could."
Ben Kelley
toughed it out
with a sore
shoulder to get
on the podium.
