tained it. I had a couple crashes,
but other than that it was a pretty
solid day."
Husqvarna/Max Motorsports/
FXR Racing's Evan Smith turned
in a nice ride to finish fourth after
some extended time off the bike.
"I was super happy to get
back to racing. I've been waiting
a long time for that," said Smith.
"Test one started out pretty
reserved, trying to not make any
mistakes or pump up or any-
thing, just kind of feel it out. I lost
a good bit of time in there and it
kind of dug me in a hole. I was
definitely in podium contention
for a while and was working hard
to do that but had a good fall in
test five that rung my bell a little
bit. All in all, I felt really good on
the bike and I was super happy
to be back riding."
Lafferty turned in a solid ride
to start off the season, rounding
out the top five.
"I didn't make a whole lot of
mistakes, and I just gave it the
berries all day," said Lafferty. "I
think we were all really close.
I felt like I gave it my all. Just
came up a little bit short. But
fifth for the first one is solid."
After running up front for the
first half of the race, FMF/KTM's
Ben Kelley suffered two big
crashes in test four and settled
for sixth.
the last test there, it was pretty
tight between me and Craig. Six
seconds apart going into the last
test. So, I knew I had to drop the
hammer in the last test. I knew I
had to go through there without
making any mistakes. I just tried
to ride that last test really smooth
and fast and it seemed to be my
best test of the day."
DeLong's third-place finish
marked his first podium in the
NE Pro 1 class.
"Coming in, I wanted to be
in the mix and be competitive,"
said DeLong. "I didn't expect a
podium, but I'll take it, for sure.
Right from the get-go, I started
off really well and kind of main-
OFF-ROAD
KENDA AMA NATIONAL ENDURO SERIES
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 7, 2021
SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA
P76
Craig DeLong got on
the podium for the first
time of his career.
