to reel him in, but we were just
kind of yo-yo-ing back and forth
and I wasn't able to capitalize."
After five rounds, Kelley sits
atop the overall standings with
107 points, followed by Grant
Baylor with 98 and Steward Bay-
lor with 97.
KLM Milwaukee GasGas' Grant
Baylor was fourth overall. After
getting off the line close to the
back of the pack, Grant was able
to work his way up through the
dust to finish fourth, missing the
podium by just less than a minute.
AmPro Yamaha's Layne Mi-
chael was fifth overall, which was
his best finish of the season.
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvar-
na's Jordan Ashburn, who came
into the race sitting fourth in
points having posted two podium
Factory Husqvarna Racing's
Thad Duvall (making a return
to racing following an injury he
suffered at the opening Sprint
Enduro of the season) not long
after the start, and then led until
Steward passed him on lap two.
FMF/KTM's Ben Kelley
pushed Russell near the end of
the race, but came up just short
and settled for third overall. De-
spite the finish, Kelley extended
his lead over Grant Baylor in the
championship chase.
"I knew it was going to be a
tough day with these dry condi-
tions," said Kelley. "You just can't
see so it's kind of dangerous,
and the track was super-fast
today. But all in all, I was just kind
of third all day. I could see Ricky
there a few times and was trying
laser focused on the track condi-
tions, which were difficult due
to the extremely dry conditions,
however, he admitted that once
in the lead he couldn't help but
keep a running total of the point
situation in the back of his mind.
"Ben's strongest races are
towards the end of the year, so
I've got to move and get as many
points as I can before that end
part of the year," said Steward.
"I just need to make sure that I
can put myself in a solid position
before it comes down to those
last five rounds."
After a couple of disappointing
finishes in 2021, Coastal Racing
GasGas' Ricky Russell turned
in a stellar performance at Big
Buck to claim the runner-up slot.
Russell passed Rockstar Energy
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 16 APRIL 20, 2021 P37
Jonathan Girroir won the XC2 Pro class.
