race (lap three), DeLong held an
11-second lead over Michael,
with Ashburn another 39 sec-
onds back.
By lap four, Michael had
caught and passed DeLong to
take the point when DeLong
went down, with Ashburn still
in third. It was the first time
Michael had led a lap in XC1
competition. DeLong retook the
front spot on the following lap,
returning the favor when Michael
bobbled.
AmPro Yamaha's Ricky Rus
-
sell also moved up a spot, pass-
ing Ashburn to move into third.
At the finish, DeLong grabbed
his second win of the season,
with Michael claiming his first
podium of the year and Ashburn
finishing third.
"I pretty much ran up front all
day but then I had a run-in with
a lapper and Layne got by me
and I thought that was going to
be it," said DeLong. "It was pretty
dusty, and I couldn't get to his
rear wheel, it took me a lap to
get used to the dust, but I finally
caught him, and I put a lot of
pressure on him, and he ended
up making a mistake and I was
able to just kind of squeak by
him and I was able to ride it out
from then. It was a brutal track,
and it was very hard to pass, and
the start was important, and I
was able to get that."
Michael was ecstatic with
a second. "Honestly, I didn't
expect to battle up front," said
Michael. "I got super lucky get
-
ting a good start and honestly, I
just settled into my pace. Craig
was going faster than me but he
ended up making a mistake and
I just kept my same pace, but un-
fortunately, I got off balance and
hit a tree and he got around me
and then I made another little
mistake and that was it."
AmPro Yamaha's Ricky Rus
-
sell came home third. "I'm usu-
ally a good starter and the one
race you needed a good start I
totally botched it," said Russell.
"I got sideways, and I was just
buried so I was kind of stuck
behind Stew for a while and the
front guys were getting away. I
was getting a little frustrated be
-
cause you couldn't see and then
once everybody got separated,
I started to make some moves
and then I saw the podium.
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P39
Liam Draper captured
the XC2 250-class win in
seventh overall.
