quickly in," said Wentzel. "About
seven minutes in, we hit the first
creek and got out of there in first,
and I never saw anybody again
for the rest of the race. My game
plan was to just go hard on the
first lap and try to get a gap. I
knew I could beat these guys.
I just had to throw it down and
try to get a little gap in there and
then cruise to the finish on lap
two. Everything went perfectly
today, and we ended up taking
the win; it was a pretty great day.
"It was harder than the last
River Monster. Coming off a race
like Battle of the Goats, which
is just insane, makes this race
look easy. But in the scheme of
things, there was some pretty
difficult stuff out there. I could
always stand for a few harder
sections, but all in all, it was
good."
"I had a pretty rough beginning
of that first lap," said Flynn. "I was
in eighth at one point, not doing
very well. I told myself that I was
going just to do my best to get on
the podium. I was able to make up
some time on lap two and capital
-
ize on some of the harder sec-
tions. I ended up in second place.
I'll take that. A win would have
been awesome, but it's all good.
I felt like I learned a lot today and
got better, and I was just happy to
be able to put on a charge towards
the end and make up some time."
"The race was really good," said
an excited Key on his first podium
finish. "I gelled with the track
pretty good. It was kind of faster
with some techie bits, which suits
me a lot. I have a hare-scrambler
background, so I was having a
lot of fun ripping through the
single track out here. There was
a pretty hard section called 'Clam
Rock' on the second lap that was
tough. I walked it and saw what
to expect, but, really, nothing too
terribly bad. Everything was just a
little slippery, and the creeks were
super slick. It was wetter than I
expected, but it was just a slow,
grueling, long hard enduro. I had a
lot of fun and am super stoked to
be on the box."
Stephanie Vetterly
OVERALL
1. Quinn Wentzel (Rie)
2. James Flynn (Bet)
3. Gauge Key (GG)
4. Nick Fahringer (She)
5. Logan Bolopue (She)
6. Ryder Guest (KTM)
7. Riley Bender (She)
8. Mark Fortner (Bet)
9. Robert Cornbwell (KTM)
10. Christopher Bankston (Hus)
James Flynn (55)
and Gauge Key (8)
battled it out for
runner-up honors.
Chelsea Sizemore
was the lone Women's-
class finisher.
WIND
IN THE
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