250 Pro riders Cody Barnes and
Liam Draper held the overall
lead, but that would be short
lived.
Baylor used a one-stop pit
strategy and would lead at the
two-lap board, but he and Ash
-
burn would battle back and forth
for the final two laps with Girroir
in third, while Russell dropped
off the pace.
On the final lap, Ashburn was
able to pass Baylor in the John
Penton section and he held the
lead to the finish.
"It means so much," said Ash
-
burn. "This was where my first
XC2 win was and last year we
ended up winning the champion
-
ship here. It's just awesome. I'm
at a loss for words right now.
It was an absolutely epic day.
Steward had the heat on me,
and the pressure was insane.
But I'm so pumped to get a win.
All these guys are so fast right
now. The level is just intense. It's
so difficult to be in the front all
day here, but we got it done. I'm
looking forward to hopefully get
-
ting another one before the year
is out and land on the podium
the rest of the races."
Baylor led going into the final
lap but lost the lead in the John
Penton section when a specta
-
tor directed him to take the long
way around a mudhole.
"It was a good day, all in all,"
said Baylor. "I lost my rear brakes
with two laps to go. It was
gnarly. I ran over more stuff than
Ashburn moved into second
on lap two when Girroir stopped
in the pits to get water and he
set his sights on the leader,
Russell. In the meantime, series
points leader FMF/KTM's Ben
Kelley, coming back from his leg
injury, moved up to fourth ahead
of Babbitt's Online Monster
Energy Kawasaki's Josh Strang
and Delong. After lap one, Rus
-
sell led the way with Ashburn in
second and Girroir and Kelley
rounding out the top five.
By lap two, Ashburn had taken
over the lead ahead of Russell
with Steward Baylor moving up
through the pack after running
ninth in lap one, a considerable
change from the previous lap.
On adjusted time, however, XC2
ROUND 7 / MAY 21, 2023
MILLFIELD, OHIO
OFF-ROAD I GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES
P78
Ricky Russell (212) and Josh Strang
(17) got off to a fast start.
