race. Finally, Ashburn made
a mistake, allowing Baylor to
retake the lead.
"I got out early and I knew I
had to make some passes really
quick," said Ashburn. "On the
first lap, I made my way into
second. I felt kind of flowy and
just putting stuff together good,
and kind of caught up to him,
and then he crashed. I took the
lead, and then I crashed. He got
it back, and it was just like a
yoyo effect."
Ashburn made several pass
attempts on the final lap, but
Baylor would cut him off each
time. Finally, Ashburn slid down,
giving Baylor enough room to
take the checkered flag uncon
-
tested, while Ashburn remounted
for second overall.
"I came into this race with a
chip on my shoulder," said Bay-
lor. "I felt like I should have won
that last race in Tennessee. I told
myself today was going to be do
or die."
Ashburn was less than a mile
from taking the win when he
went down.
"I was trying to take an inside
to take Stew and I was turning
and hit some roots under the wa
-
ter that I didn't see in the soupy
hole,' said Ashburn. "I hit the
front end and nearly face-planted
in that water. I tried not to take
my hands off the bars, trying to
keep my gloves as dry as pos
-
sible. Stew got around me, and
my seat was slick after that. But
I had some towels to put around
the grips and got back going, but
it was not enough. It's good to
be back on the podium, though."
FMF KTM Factory Racing
Team Landers' Angus Riordan
was tops in the XC2 Pro 250
class, which was also good
enough for third overall.
"I was disappointed at the last
round; it was a bit of a bum
-
mer," said Riordan. "I was feeling
good, and I had a lot of motiva-
tion. I had been training hard
with Josh Strang these last few
weeks, and we've been pushing
each other. We did some testing
during the week, but it was crazy
conditions today. I had a good
race."
For the first lap, Draper ran
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 18 MAY 6, 2025 P49
Jordan Ashburn
kept pace with
Baylor for a while
and even led at
times. He went on
to finish second.
