I made some passes and then
caught up to Toth there with a
lap and a half to go. I got into
second and I could hear bikes
and I was like, 'there's some
people still behind me.' I got a
pit board saying Stew was there
and Jordan. I'm like, 'I need to
start pinning it.' So, the last lap
was pretty fast. Jordan kept right
on me and almost passed me. I
made a mistake in the Monster
Mile, just right near the end and
nearly crashed. Luckily, I almost
crashed, and Jordan hit me, so
it straightened me back up, and
that was it."
After running near the bottom
of the top 10 on the first lap, and
mid-pack on lap four, Steward
I'd be good. I had one pretty
hard crash getting caught up in a
tree, but other than that, smooth
race."
Strang turned in an impressive
race to claim the runner-up slot,
working up from mid-pack on the
opening lap, into a battle with
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvar-
na's Jordan Ashburn for third on
lap four.
On the final lap, Strang
dropped Ashburn to take over
third before setting his sights on
Toth.
"I kept getting passed at
the start of the race, but I just
kept doing my own thing," said
Strang. "I got behind Stew and
we caught up to the front group.
Kelley wanted to get off to a
strong start to his title defense
in hopes of avoiding last year's
drama which saw the title chase
between himself and Steward
Baylor come down to the final
race.
"I was excited coming into this
race, I had a solid off-season,"
said Kelley. "I was confident
because I rode really good here
last year."
Kelley was in position to win
the Big Buck last year, but let it
get away.
"I think I let it slip through my
fingers last year by getting stuck
and a bunch of crashes," said
Kelley. "I knew if I just played it
smart and stayed off the ground,
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 19-20, 2022
BIG BUCK FARM / UNION, SOUTH CAROLINA
P68
OFF-ROAD I GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES
Josh Strang was in the fight for the
win but came home second overall.
