Bollinger ran as high as third
at one point, but ultimately
settled into a battle with Craig
DeLong, as the Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna Factory Racing team-
mates finished fifth and sixth,
respectively.
After struggling with injuries
most of last year, Mike Witkowski
finally looks healthy and came
away with seventh overall, less
leading the race and I just
took a wide line—I was getting
pumped up at that point—and
I kind of paced off of him and
rode with him for a while. The
last lap and a half, a couple rid-
ers put on a charge and ran me
down, but I was able to salvage
a fourth and just ride my own
race and stay safe, so I'm happy
with it."
appeared to be on his way to
another one of his last-lap hero-
ics. The South Carolina rider
put on a strong push on the final
lap and pulled within striking
distance of Ashburn and Strang.
Just a few miles from the finish,
however, Baylor switched up his
line in a wooded section and hit
a stump, which sent him cart-
wheeling. A lot of riders would
not have been able to continue,
but Steward managed to salvage
11th overall at the finish. Baylor
later learned that he had suf-
fered a broken wrist and a bro-
ken vertebrae and will most likely
miss a few upcoming races.
Ashburn, who was a consis-
tent podium finisher last year,
claimed the final step of the
podium in third, despite a small
mishap with Strang.
"I was about seventh or eighth
off the start and just kind of had
to work my way up," said Ash-
burn. "I knew Toth and Kelley
and all the guys who were up
front were going to be shred-
ding, so I tried to make a push
to catch up. It was like a freight
train. Everybody was just haul-
ing the mail. Towards the end, I
caught up to Josh [Strang] right
on the last lap and we had a
battle. We swapped plastic one
time, but all in good nature."
Toth led at one point and was
a strong second for most of the
race but settled for fourth in the
end.
"Overall, it was a really good
day," said Toth. "I got a great
start, and it was me and Ben
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 23, 2022 P69
Jordan Ashburn completed the podium.
