ROUND 12 / OCTOBER 22, 2023
IRONMAN RACEWAY / CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA
OFF-ROAD I PROGRESSIVE GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES
P76
ther down the pack, with Stew-
ard holding around seventh and
Grant outside the top 10—that
wouldn't last.
A few miles into the first lap,
defending champ, Magna1 Rac
-
ing Husqvarna's Jordan Ash-
burn, passed DeLong to take the
lead, while Strang, who has been
on fire the last few races, held
down third.
However, it was 35-year-old
Babbitt's Online Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Josh Strang who be
-
came the eighth different winner
in the 12-race series.
Despite the large cushion,
DeLong grabbed the holeshot to
start the race and led the XC1
class into the woods to start lap
one. As usual, Steward Baylor
and his brother, Grant, were fur
-
Heading into the previous
round, DeLong and Baylor were
tied in points for the overall
lead, but an unfortunate me-
chanical problem for Baylor left
him with a 20th-place finish,
which put him at a 22-point def-
icit coming into Ironman. The
bottom line was if Baylor took
the win, DeLong only needed to
finish 13th.
DeLong (342) came out
swinging at the start of
the XC1 Pro class.
