passed Russell to take the lead,
while draper passed Barbosa to
lead the XC2 Pro 250 class.
At the end of lap one, the or-
der was Baylor, Ashburn, Kelley
and FMF/KTM's Johnny Girroir.
On lap two, Baylor passed up
into the lead and looked to be on
his way to a win, however, rolling
the dice, the South Carolina rider
decided to make a pitstop at
the halfway mark to change rear
tires (wheels), and lost close to a
minute to the leaders.
After Baylor's pitstop at the
halfway mark, Kelley took a lead
he would never relinquish in the
five-lap race. In the meantime,
Russell's race was ended when
he snapped off a footpeg.
It was survival to the finish
for all from there, and at the
finish the order was Kelley in
first, followed by Ashburn, Gir
-
roir, Steward Baylor, followed
by his brother Grant Baylor on a
Babbitt's Online/Monster Energy
Kawasaki, and XC2 Pro 250 win
-
ner Liam Draper.
Kelley's first win this year came
at the demanding Florida course.
"I had a crash in Howard's
Hole and the second wave of
guys caught us, which is kind of
typical, because the guys on the
front row are kind of hesitant,"
said Kelley. "They caught us and
passed us and I had softened up
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P33
Third-place
finisher Johnny
Girroir matched his
second-best finish
of the year – his
best finish being a
win at round six.
Defending Champion Jordan
Ashburn survived a rough, technical
and muddy race to claim second.
