was the difference. He ended
up beating me; we were virtu-
ally tied going into that last test,
so that was a bummer. I was
pleased to win two more tests
on Sunday, and I think I'm finally
getting used to the 450."
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
Factory Racing's Craig DeLong
overcame a slow start, which
saw him 11th in test one, to
finish an eventual third in Sat
-
urday's event. Another third on
Sunday left him third overall for
the weekend.
"I was a lot more cautious
than I should have been in the
first cross test on Saturday, and
I finished 11th, so I started slow,
but I was able to move up the
standings near the end," said
DeLong. "I got into third there
on Saturday about the third or
fourth test. After that, I tried to
get close to Johnny and Liam,
but I could never really hook
up with them; they were put
-
ting about 10 seconds of a test
on me, and they were ripping.
Sunday was better, but I'm still
off pace."
Phoenix Honda's Cody Barnes
battled back and forth on Sat-
urday with DeLong, topping him
in three of the eight tests on
Saturday.
"I ran competitively for third
pretty much both days," said
Barnes. "I had a tip-over on day
one in the cross test and that
cost me a lot of time. But I was
able to rebound today and run
some competitive test times,
pushing for that third overall
spot, so I just need to clean up
a few things, and I'll get good
[results]."
Babbitt's Online Team Green
Monster Energy Kawasaki team
-
mates Grant Baylor and Lyndon
Snodgrass battled it out for
fourth overall. Snodgrass beat
out Baylor in all but one test on
Saturday, but Baylor knocked off
the rust on Sunday and came
back to claim the overall win by
one second over Snodgrass for
fifth, having not raced a sprint
event in four years.
"I started out a little reserved,
trying to get used to racing the
sprint format again," said Baylor.
"I was a little bit rusty there in
the beginning, and I'm also one
of those guys who gets better
as the day goes on, especially
after the track gets rougher. The
enduro test got sketchy near the
end of Saturday, but I was able
to nail it on Sunday."
Enduro Engineering's Josh
Toth had a rough weekend,
going 8-7 for seventh overall.
Meanwhile, FMF KTM Factory
Racing Landers Racing's Angus
Riordan had what he called an
inconsistent day on Saturday.
Another ninth on Sunday left him
in ninth overall.
"Saturday was a very inconsis
-
tent day for me," said Riordan. "I
really enjoyed the cross test, it's
been the first original cross test
of the year. It was all grass, and
it was fast, so it was good for
me. I was up and down on Sun
-
day and had a really bad run in
the final enduro test, so I ended
up ninth overall."
Husqvarna rider Jason Tino
won the Pro2 division with an
eight overall, finishing five sec
-
onds ahead of Riordan.
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P39
Brandy Richards topped the
Pro Women's division.
