Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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IN THE WIND P36 end. Just one big mistake there on that hill. I got in his roost. I knew to steer clear. You're steer- ing clear all day and our lines just came together. I got blasted in the face and I couldn't see. It is what it is. I feel like I rode a really good race and he just rode a bet- ter one." Ben Kelley (FMF/KTM), who extended his streak of podiums to four-straight, made a late race charge to move ahead of Russell to claim third after running mid- pack at the start of the race. "I've never seen an Ironman this fast and I just wasn't feeling it early on," said Kelley. "After that first pit, I kind of didn't really have a choice. I had to pick it up or I'd get left behind, so I kind of just got more aggressive and was kind of flowing through the bumps better, using the power of the bike and not over-riding it. I just kind of found my flow there and made a late race charge." Kelley caught up with AmPro Yamaha's Layne Michael, who was right on Russell's rear wheel, and the threesome freight-training for a while, until Kelley was able to pass Michael in the pits and Russell a short time later. For a while, Strang, Baylor, Kelley and Russell ran in a group out front, until Strang and Baylor were able to pull away. Russell settled for fourth, the only time he has missed the po- dium this year. "I felt pretty good at the begin- ning, but I made a little mistake and Stew got around me, so I was keying off of him," said Rus- sell. "We caught lappers on the second lap and I got tangled up with the first guy we came up to and I went down, jammed my throttle tube and my throttle was hanging up a little bit so I had to ride with it a lap and half before we pitted. It was tough to ride with that; I lost my mojo a little bit. I got it back to where it wasn't sticking anymore but I lost a good amount of time in the pits." After being in the hunt with two laps to go, Michael rounded out the top five. "It was a pretty insane day, re- ally, we were close all day," said Michael. "That last lap I crashed coming into the white-flag lap. I lost 25 seconds there and just kind of rode it into the finish. It's a big step in the right direction. I put two solid races together now. That's something I struggled with beginning of the year. It just shows I'm kind of finding momen- tum here and starting to gel and kind of getting the results that everyone kind of expected." FactoryONE Sherco's Grant Baylor had an off day and settled for sixth after getting off to a slow start. The battle for the XC2 250 Pro division crown intensified after Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Craig DeLong took a hard-fought win, which left him sitting atop the class standings with an 11-point advantage over AmPro Yamaha's Mike Witkowski, who was third in class and 10th overall for the day. DeLong's performance also earned him seventh overall. "I knew it was go time coming into this weekend," said DeLong. "We were all within six points and it was time to make it happen. I tried to do my best and I think that's what we did. There was about five of us together for about two hours of the race and it was a lot of fun. With about two laps to go I found my groove and I knew it was time to go. I made my way through the pack and I got into the lead. I went an extra lap than everybody else on fuel and got away, although I got stuck on Ironman Hill the last two laps. Definitely wasn't good for me. I was feeling like my heart was going to come out of my chest, but I made it happen and it was a lot of fun out there." Babbitt's Online/Monster Energy/Team Green Kawasaki's Lyndon Snodgrass was second in the XC2 250 Pro division and eighth overall. Babbitt's Online/Monster Energy/Team Green Kawasaki's Jordan Ashburn finished ninth, two minutes ahead of Witkowski in 10th. In the Women's WXC race, AmPro Yamaha's Rachael Archer claimed her fifth win in a row. The New Zealander has been on an absolute rampage the last half of the season. Archer finished about 3:28 ahead of Beta USA's Rachel Gutish, who is another rider that is on a tear. Gutish has had three seconds and a third in the last four races.