ing out on top of a titanic battle
with Magna1 Racing Husqvar-
na's Jordan Ashburn, the defend-
ing series champ, with a pass on
the final lap.
"It was rough out there," said
Baylor. "We made some changes
from the first race here and I was
on the ground a lot, but that's
four podiums in a row and that's
what it takes to win a GNCC
championship is consistency."
FXR/GasGas's Layne Michael
ran in second for much of the
race, but had an engine let go
mid-race and logged a DNF.
Ashburn, who battled all day
for second, first with Michael
and finally with Baylor, lost the
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P49
Steward Baylor was
second overall but he's
still on top of the points.
runner-up slot to Baylor on the final lap to finish
third. "Me and Stew were going hard and he was
just pressuring me all race," said Ashburn. "I made
a little mistake about a mile before the finish, I kind
of washed the front end, and that was enough for
Stew to get by. I thought Craig (DeLong) was going
to get me too, but I jumped up and beat him to the
finish."
Round three winner, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
Factory Racing's Craig DeLong, was fourth overall,
19 seconds behind Ashburn. DeLong was once
again among the front-runners, despite a crash
dropping him down the order in the opening stag
-
es. He was ninth at the end of lap one and made it
into third by lap four, but would eventually take the
checkered flag in fourth, and now sits third in the
title race, only 13 points outside of the lead.
"I got a decent start and made a couple of
passes early on to get into fifth, and then I had
a crash, went all the way to the back, and had to
claw myself back up," said DeLong. "In two laps I
came from last to fourth, then just went back and
forth between third and fourth through the rest of
the race. Fourth was a good result in the end, and
the consistency is getting there, so we will keep
pushing in these coming rounds."
Ruy Barbosa topped the XC2 250 Pro class in ninth overall.
