take towards the end of the first
lap and went back to third," said
Strang. "Then I just had crashes.
I think because all around the
roots were really slippery. I
would just hit them, maybe trying
to rush a little much. I'd crash.
I crashed a bunch because of
that, and then the lappers today
were insane. Everyone had the
same thing, so I'm not complain-
ing. I tangled with them more
than my fair share, so that was a
bummer. But overall third place,
I'll take it."
Making a seamless transition
to a new team during the off-
season was Jordan Ashburn,
who was riding a Husqvarna for
Magna1 Motorsports. Ashburn
just missed the podium in fourth.
"My goal today was to just
to stay comfortable and not do
anything comfortable since I
knew the track was going to be
super rough and line selection
was going to be a big deal," said
Ashburn.
FMF/KTM's Ben Kelley came
into the race with some ongo-
ing knee issues but he set the
pain aside and came away with
a solid fifth overall. Kelley led
the race at the end of the first
lap and led until he got stuck in
a mud hole later on lap three.
Multiple crashes and mishaps
with lapped riders kept the Mas-
sachusetts native from moving
up higher than fifth.
"On the third lap, I kind of got
balled up with some lappers and
took a bad line and got stuck for
about a minute," said Kelley. "I
on the third-to-last lap, and that
was why I was caught by those
guys. It was a crazy race. I can't
believe I got it done here, first
round."
Strang rounded out the
podium, finishing 40 seconds
behind Duvall.
"I surprised myself by getting
the holeshot, but I made a mis-
"Thad started pressuring me
really hard at the end," added
Grant. "The last two laps he
was all over me. Going into the
last lap, I saw I had about a
five-second gap on him. I knew
it was time to drop the ham-
mer. I knew if he couldn't see
me, I could break away and get
away. I made a lot of mistakes
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 23, 2021 P71
