full lap of the gnarly course. "I
absolutely loved the race today,"
Eversole said. "It was a good mix
of difficulty. It was technical, but
I didn't struggle the whole day."
Saturday evening hosted a
Prologue race to determine start
positions for Sunday's Pro rac
-
ing. Cody Webb took the hole-
shot, but former GNCC champ
Jordan Ashburn took the win.
The Pro race format chal
-
lenged riders with two laps and a
four-hour time limit. Rockstar En-
ergy Husqvarna Factory Racing's
Ryder LeBlond emerged victori-
ous, outlasting his closest rivals
in a race defined by constant
position swaps.
"No one could really get away,"
said LeBlond. "I cleaned the last
couple of hills and just sent it
because I wasn't sure if it was
going to be a two- or three-lap
race. James and Jordan were
right there the whole time—we
just kept switching positions. It
was pretty nuts."
Ashburn, aboard his Flatrock
GasGas, finished a somewhat
surprising second, considering
his few hard enduro appearanc
-
es. "It was complete chaos," he
said. "I was all over the ground
everywhere, flopping around
in the silt, battling with Ryder
[LeBlond] and James [Flynn] the
whole day. That last lap, every
time we'd get to a hard section,
Ryder and I were wheel to wheel,
passing each other back and
forth. Ryder slipped away at
the end, but it was a heck of a
battle."
Rounding out the podium was
IRC Beta's James Flynn. "It was
awesome just trying to keep up
with Ryder and Jordan and learn
from them," Flynn said. "Going
into the second lap, I lost my rear
brake and kept blowing corners
in the single track. I had to slow
up a little bit and try to stay
smooth."
Webb, riding a self-prepared
1995 Yamaha WR250, added to
the storyline by storming from
VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P49
GNCC star Jordan
Ashburn had a solid
performance, winning
Saturday's Prologue
and finishing second in
Sunday's feature race.
