"I didn't really realize how dry
it was, so I kind of stuck with
my normal setup for tires, which
was a little bit off for how dry the
course was," said DeLong. "I
thought it would have been okay,
but it was drier than I expected,
so I struggled a little bit with the
feeling I wanted in the dry, slick,
hard pack dirt. Overall, I was a
little off the pace in the first test.
Then I made a change for the
second test, which turned out
to be a better choice and I was
just kind of in that third-, fourth-,
fifth-place area. Overall, I just
struggled a little bit with lap-
pers with where I could catch
them on the course. I was a little
frustrated because of that, so I
ride well here. And this is one
of those tracks where Russell
has done well in the past, as
well. My results didn't show it,
but I rode, I think, the same as I
have in the past here. This just
hasn't been one of my strongest
tracks."
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Craig DeLong has been flirt-
ing with podium finishes all
year and grabbed a runner-up
finish two races ago in Ohio.
However, a bad choice of tires
slowed the Pennsylvania rider in
the opening test in Indiana and
after swapping tires to start the
second test he was consistently
around fifth the remainder of the
day for fifth overall.
"That kind of killed me," he
said. "Even with all that, I wasn't
that far off, so I was happy I was
able to salvage a decent test af-
ter making that many mistakes,"
said Russell. "Me and Toth were
only seven seconds apart there,
and then he pulled another
seven on me. So, then the last
one, I pulled seven back on him,
but he still beat me by seven for
second place. But Grant was
kind of checked out."
AmPro Yamaha's Steward
Baylor had a rare off day, admit-
ting the Indiana course was
never one of his favorites.
"I just struggled," said Stew-
ard. "Today Grant and Toth were
riding well, which they always
ROUND 8 / OCTOBER 2, 2022
MATTHEWS, INDIANA
P74
OFF-ROAD I AMA ENDURO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Ricky Russell topped
one of the six tests
and rode consistently
to get on the podium.
