VOLUME 58 ISSUE 11 MARCH 16, 2021 P41
performance of the season with
a third.
"Lack of seat time is hurting
me, but I just put my head down
and gave it everything I had and
I'm pumped to come out with
third," said Toth. "I had a gnarly
crash into a couple trees. I just
kind of came into two big trees
and hit the rear brake a little too
much and caught one and sent
me into the other. Luckily, I just
went field goal right through it,
but my bike smacked it hard.
Pumped to be unscathed from
that one."
KLM GasGas' Grant Baylor
took the long way to a fourth-place
finish, starting mid-pack after
the green flag and then passing
Coastal Racing GasGas' Ricky
Russell on the final lap for fourth.
"I got off to a bad start and
then maybe five miles in, I just
caught a root off-camber," said
Grant. "When that root caught my
front tire, it just sent my shoulder
straight into the bottom of the
root ball of the cedar tree. The
spikes and everything just went
straight into my shoulder. I wasn't
able to really hold on there the
first two laps. I was really strug-
gling to hold on and I couldn't
stand up. But after about the third
lap it started to loosen up just
a little bit and I started to come
back through the pack a little bit.
I made a few passes late race and
ended up with a fourth place, so
I'm happy with it."
Russell, who led during the
early part of the race, was not
happy about giving up fourth just
before the finish, however his fifth
place helped him maintain his fifth
overall status in the series points.
Jordan Ashburn continued his
streak of holeshots, but then went
down a bit later in the woods. The
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna
still managed a sixth overall finish.
Despite the finish, Ashburn still
sits fourth overall in the standings.
"I just kind of didn't feel com-
fortable on the track today, to be
(Right) Ben Kelley was
runner-up but still leads
the championship. (Below)
Jonathan Girroir took the
XC2 Pro-class win again with
seventh overall.
