Cycle News

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 P29 in the very first test on Saturday and quickly realized he might have a battle on his hands. "I didn't even fall in the first cross test and I got smoked," said Russell. "I knew straight- away in the first three turns that something was off. I didn't feel at home on the bike. I came in and figured it out, we forgot to make a settings change after some testing we did, so I put it back to normal. Then I had a pretty good enduro test going (test two) and lost my brakes halfway through it." Michael looked especially sharp having just returned from an injury three weeks before. "Now I feel like I'm back in tune with the bike," said Mi- chael. "This place suits me pret- ty good. You got to be patient. It's rocky, it's choppy and it's not too tricky. I think this track, you can easily over-push and make more mistakes, but it seems to suit my style really well." Michael would go on to win three tests on Saturday and four tests on Sunday, giving him the "day win" on Saturday and the overall win for round four of the series by three seconds over Russell. "This is the first time I've been able to make [Kailub] stress maybe a little bit," said Michael, who is a practice partner with Russell. Trail Jesters Racing KTM's Johnny Girroir continues to im- press with his top finishes from the Pro 2 division. Girroir was third overall at round four and first in the Pro 2 class. Grabbing his first Pro podium and fourth overall was Liam Draper. The Tely Energy Racing KTM rider started fast by winning the first enduro test on Saturday. He consistently scored in the top-four the rest of the weekend. Four-time National Enduro Champion Steward Baylor put his privateer Kawasaki into fifth overall, just 16 seconds behind Draper. Meanwhile, Jordan Ashburn got the hard luck award for the day. He was sitting in a solid third overall heading into the final test, but clipped a tree and lost his clutch, which cost him enough time to drop him to sixth overall. In the Women's Pro Class, Enduro Engineering/Mepmx/ Fly/Grizzly Peak/Traveler's Rest Speedway/KTM's Mackenzie Tricker took the round four win, beating Rockstar Husqvarna Lan Mills XC rider Tayla Jones by 1:07. Jones turned in a gritty ef- fort since just three weeks prior, the Australian off-roader had surgery to repair damage to her clutch hand. AmPro Yamaha's Rachel Archer finished third ahead of Texan Allie Spurgeon. The Harleywood course dried out a bit for Monday's round five, leaving mostly flat turns with no berms to speak of and Chile's Ruy Barbosa drew first blood on his Husqvarna by winning the opening test of the day (a cross test) by 1.5 seconds ahead of Michael, with Ashburn in third. Russell slid out in a dry turn and ended the test in sixth. "The first cross test I washed out," said Russell. "I washed out and I just kind of lost my rhythm there for a minute and then I got back into it. I kind of minimized the damage." Barbosa, a former European Junior World Enduro Champion, was using the Harleywood race as a warm-up for the upcoming Enduro GP Series. Pro 2 riders owned the cross test on Monday, as Girroir would win it on the second run, while Barbosa returned to take anoth- er win on the final pass. Michael and Russell remained locked in a battle for the over- all as they traded wins in tests two and four. Heading into the sixth and final test, Russell led Michael by less than 0.2 of a second for the overall win. Obviously upset at how the weekend had gone so far, Rus- sell posted an amazing final test to claim the overall win by 6.8 seconds ahead of Michael. "I ride better when I'm pissed off," said Russell. "A lot of people get mad and get frus- trated and it works the opposite way, but if you piss me off, I'm going to lay the hammer down. I was frustrated with how the day was going and how well Layne was riding. I felt like I was rid- ing good. I ride with him all the time, so I know where I stack up against him. He was definitely head and shoulders better than

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