VOL. 51 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 P73
Zealand-native battled an ongo-
ing injury at the beginning of the
season but commented that he's
100 percent healed and looking
to battle for a win before the sea-
son is over.
Former Japan National Cross
Country Series Champion
Takeshi Koikeda put in another
good ride, finishing eighth overall
for the day, just ahead of N-Fab
AmPro Yamaha's Jordan Ashburn
in ninth. Ashburn began the day
inside the top five but crashed
pretty hard on the second lap,
dropping outside the top 10 due
to several pit stops used to tweak
the front end of his bike.
"I'm not even sure what hap-
pened but it was one of
those crashes that kind of
jumped out and bit me,"
Ashburn said. "I stopped in
the pits about three times
to try to fix my front end but
nothing really helped. It was
a tough day but I'm glad I
was able to salvage some
points."
XC2
South Carolina's Grant Bay-
lor secured his third straight
victory in the XC2 Pro Lites
class, but perhaps even
more impressive was the
valiant charge that Baylor
put on in an attempt to land
atop the overall podium
on time adjustment. While
he missed third place by
just three seconds behind
Strang, Baylor still managed
to capture fourth overall for
the day.
"I'm mostly keeping my focus
on winning another XC2 Champi-
onship but I definitely want to get
an overall win from the second
row," Baylor said. "We gained
some good points over Ricky
Russell in the standings so that
feels pretty good heading into the
final rounds."
Baylor engaged in an early
battle with XC2 rookie Trevor Bol-
linger and the duo diced back
and forth throughout the first half
of the three-hour race. Baylor
turned it up in the final moments,
though, leaving Bollinger in 10th
overall with a solid second-place
finish in the XC2 class.
Baylor's victory marked his
third consecutive win this sea-
son, where he now enjoys a
29-point lead over Raines Riding
University/Atlas Cycles' Ricky
Russell, who finished fourth for
the day, in the championship
standings. Bollinger currently sits
third place in the championship
standings with two consecutive
podium finishes behind him.
KR4 Arrive-N-Ride KTM's
Nick Davis began his afternoon
outside of the top 10 in the XC2
class but the Pennsylvania-native
quickly began picking his way
through the pack. By the midway
point, Davis had made his way
into third and he maintained that
