a surprise appearance at Sumter
and came away with 10th over-
all on his Gnarly Routes KTM.
Bobbitt came out of retirement in
2019 and won the Sumter event,
so no one was counting him out
of this year's race.
Despite a few crashes in the
last three tests, Ben Nelko took
the win in the NE Pro 2 class
on a Honda sponsored by Steel
City Men's Clinic. The former pro
motocrosser won three of the six
tests en route to his victory.
"The first three tests I was
good. I didn't crash at all," said
Nelko. "Then in the fourth test I
crashed twice. Ripped off both
my levers at the beginning of the
test. Then test five, I hit a tree
pretty good. The sixth test, it
was really bad. I almost knocked
myself out there. I was only 30
seconds up at that point, so I got
up quick and just sprinted until
the end."
Magna1 Motorsports Husqvar-
na's Brody Johnson took two
test wins on his way to second
in the NE Pro 2 class, while his
brother, Jonathon Johnson, was
third in class on a factory Beta
with one test win.
Nelko, Brody and Jonathon
were 13th-15th overall, respec-
tively.
Husqvarna-mounted Broc He-
pler finished fifth in class, 19th
overall. "I thought I had a pretty
good day," he said. "I caught my
hand in the first test and then
seemed like it was a little down-
hill from there. I guess just a little
behind the eight-ball probably
with all the snow back home and
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 6, 2022
MANCHESTER STATE FOREST / WEDGEFIELD, SC
P70
OFF-ROAD I AMA NATIONAL ENDURO SERIES
Ben Nelko won thePro2 class.
