VOLUME 57 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 P45
sell in points and with the best
chance of catching him in the
title chase, stopped to help Rus-
sell after his crash, compromis-
ing his results. Russell publicly
thanked Strang after the race.
Three laps into the three-hour
race, Kelley made a push, clos-
ing in on Steward on multiple oc-
casions, but each time Steward
would turn up the volume and
pull away.
FactoryONE Sherco's Grant
Baylor was running third at this
point, and spent the race holding
off Ashburn, Phoenix Honda's
Andrew DeLong, Johnny Girroir
and AmPro Yamaha riders Layne
Michael and Mike Witkowski, be-
fore finally pulling away to a solid
third-place finish.
Up front, Steward managed
to break away from Kelley in the
dust and crossed the finish line
with a 58-second gap.
"We worked hard this off-sea-
son and had some hiccups there
in the middle part of the year,
but I knew what I wanted," said
Steward. "I knew coming into this
season when Kailub announced
retirement I wasn't going to have
that many chances. Luckily, he
slipped up there that first lap,
and very seldom did you see
Kailub miss a line. In the Penton
section there was something that
just gave me the advantage that
I needed over Kailub. Once I got
in the lead, I knew I could control
it."
For the second race in a row,
Kelley claimed a strong runner-
up finish.
Grant took third, another two
minutes behind Kelley.
Girroir continues to push
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Craig Delong for the XC2 cham-
pionship, the two riders entered
the Burr Oak tied on points in the
division. However, Girroir took
sole possession of the points
lead with a strong performance
that saw the Trail Jesters Rac-
ing KTM rider win the class, in
addition to taking an impressive
fourth overall finish (on adjusted
time).
"I finally figured out my starts
and got the bike off the line,"
said Girroir. "Going into the
woods I was in the top five. I
Ben Kelley kept
the pressure on
Baylor and crossed
the finish line in
second.
