OFF ROAD
AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES
ROUND 12/OCTOBER 5, 2014
POWERLINE PARK/ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO
P96
AmPro Yamaha's Jordan Ashburn settled
into the third-place position early on, with
Baylor, Factory Husqvarna's Andrew De-
long, Whibley and RideMPS.com/AM-
SOIL/Honda's Thad DuVall all together.
Meanwhile, Strang was forced to play
catch-up on the opening lap after a mis-
cue on the start left him at a standstill as
the rest of the field took off.
"I started falling on the starter before
the flag flew and the bike just started,"
Strang said. "I knew I was in trouble so I
tried to make as many passes as I could
because I knew I was going to get a pen-
alty."
Strang's intuition wasn't wrong, and
when he came around for his second
lap the GNCC officials stopped him for
15 seconds to reflect a penalty from the
Kailub Russell (1) and Paul
Whibley (5) fight for the
holeshot in the XC1 class.
start. So with a last-place start and a 15
second deficit behind him, the Aussie
put his head down and charged his way
to the front. Turning the fastest time of
the entire race, Strang was able to catch
and pass Mullins for second place on lap
three. Capitalizing on the power of his
YZF450, Strang caught up to Russell and
that's when the battle ensued.
TWO-STROKE VERSUS
FOUR-STROKE
Strang put himself within striking distance
as the two-lap card came out, and that's
when the intensity heightened between
Russell, who was leading the overall on a
150cc machine, and Strang, who was hun-
gry to capture his first win of the season.
"It was really rough, especially in the
