the Husqvarna rider was able
to block him and held on for the
win, backing up his runner-up
finish at the previous round, the
Hoosier in Indiana. Grant Baylor
crossed the finish line in third.
"I know everybody here on the
team worked hard to keeping me
going the first couple of races, so
this one's for them," said DeLong,
who got a slow start to the sea
-
son. "I just got a good start and I
was comfortable there following
Ryder and then I was able to sneak
around him and was ready to go,
and I sprinted and got that gap
and tried to maintain it all race. I
did pretty much that till the last lap
when I got a little too comfortable
and Johnny wicked 'er up. I was
not expecting him to be right on
me there the last couple miles.
That was wild for sure. That defi
-
nitely had my heart rate going, but
it was fun. He said 'You're lucky,
my friend, or I would have taken
you out there,' so thanks to Johnny
for not completely killing us out
there! But good ride for him: he
had a killer last lap."
Girroir came within inches
of taking his fourth win of the
series after chasing DeLong
for almost four laps. Girroir's
runner-up finish leaves him with
a 29-point lead over Red Bear
Rocky Mountain Kawasaki's
Steward Baylor Jr., after Steward
suffered a massive crash on the
opening lap and bent his bike. In
the end, Steward finished 15th.
"I started off a little too slow
and made a couple of mistakes,"
said Girroir. "I feel like this was
a speed-limit track and anytime
you wicked it, you'd be down on
the ground. I washed the front
end three times. But I got within
10 to 15 seconds of DeLong
with two or three laps to go,
and I could see him, and then I
tucked the front end again. The
next thing, I got a pit board 'plus
40 seconds' and I was like, man,
Grant Baylor was closing on me.
So I said, 'It's time to work,' and
ended up reeling DeLong in on
the last lap and I got up beside
him three or four times there.
And I thought I was going to get
him, but just couldn't make it
happen. Damn good ride, back
on top of the box there, this year,
so good for him. [He's my] train
-
ing partner and friend, and I'm
just happy for him and happy to
get some more points."
Grant Baylor held true to his typ
-
ical M.O.—get a bad start and then
VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P39
Grant Davis was
flying on his 250.
He was top five
overall and first in
the XC2 Pro class.
Korie Steede chalked up her first
WXC-class win of the season.
