OFF-ROAD
KENDA U.S. SPRINT ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1/ FEBRUARY 27-28, 2021
GTR COMPLEX / GASTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
P52
ISDE 2019."
Sipes sacrificed his weekend
when he stopped to help Duvall
in the final test. Duvall hit a tree
and was laying in the middle of
the course when Sipes arrived.
Sipes parked his bike in the
middle of the trail to shield Duvall
and waited until help arrived.
The club later compensated
Sipes for stopping to help Duvall
with an average time.
Duvall was taken to a local
hospital where he was treated
for several upper-body injuries.
FMF/KTM's Kailub Russell
made one of his rare post-retire-
ment races, using the race to
prepare for the ISDE in Italy. The
eight-time GNCC champ got off
class over the two days of rac-
ing. Medaglia put his moto skills
to good use on the rough and
choppy course.
Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/
GasGas Factory Racing's Ryan
Sipes was in contention during
Saturday's event, finishing third
in the Pro division. However, a
couple of get-offs on Sunday
dropped the former ISDE Indi-
vidual champ to 10th in Sunday's
race.
"I went down twice in test one
on Sunday," said Sipes. "All in
all, I was fairly happy with how
my Cross-test times were. But I
was kind of bummed that I was
pretty far off in that Enduro test. I
haven't done a woods race since
riding here it was going to be
tough to make that up. All in all,
it was good. I came back to get
second overall."
Tely Energy Racing's Liam
Draper was fourth on Saturday
and fifth on Sunday in the Pro
class, giving him the final po-
dium position for the weekend in
the Pro division.
"I crashed once this weekend
out of twelve tests, so I was
happy about that," said Draper.
"I just tried to stay smooth and
hit my lines. The track got pretty
gnarly. There were some big
holes out there. It was fun and
I'm happy with a third."
Canadian Tyler Medaglia went
5-4 for fourth overall in the Pro
Kailub Russell competed but
was plagued by crashes.
