sell ran in second for most of
the race, and after a three-hour
battle with Coastal Racing
GasGas' Ryder Lafferty, Rus-
sell crossed the finish with the
runner-up position.
"It was an epic track, but it
was hard to push," said Russell.
"We were riding fast and when I
pitted, Ryder got by me. I tried to
push and I'd make mistakes. At
that speed, it was easy to make
mistakes. On the last lap, I tried to
make a pass on Ryder and went
down, so Craig went down. Then
Ryder went down and I got him,
but DeLong was gone, so I'm hap
-
py to come away with second."
Babbitt's Online/Monster
Energy/Team Green Kawasaki's
Josh Strang finished with a long
overdue podium finish in third
overall.
"It's been a long time coming.
I think it was the second round
this year I was on the podium,"
said Strang. "It was hard-packed
and slick, and you had to be
patient out there. I wish I'd got a
better start, but I made a couple
of passes there before the end,
so it makes it fun racing like
that."
After finishing 19th with sev
-
eral mechanicals, Tely Energy
Racing/Rocky Mountain ATV-
MC KTM's Steward Baylor now
has only a slight mathematical
chance at the title.
Defending XC1 Champion,
Magna1 Racing Husqvarna's
Jordan Ashburn and Babbitt's
Online/Monster Energy/Team
Green Kawasaki's Grant Baylor
battled over fourth, with Ashburn
getting the nod at the finish.
Meanwhile, Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Trevor Bollinger
came home in sixth.
After battling up front for
most of the race, Lafferty found
himself in seventh in his maiden
XC1 race.
The XC2 250 Pro-class Cham
-
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P51
Liam Draper (198) won the XC2 class by only a few seconds.
