VOL. 51 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 7, 2014 P97
open stuff and not having enough
power to go up some of the hills
and through the bumps," Russell
said. "But I saw Josh [Strang]
coming and he was riding well.
We kind of came together over
by the pro pits, but I wasn't going
to let up, this is racing."
Russell and Strang banged
bars throughout the remainder
of the race, where things espe-
cially got heated on the final lap
just before the pro pits. Russell
came charging through first but
was forced to stop for a splash
of fuel and that's when Strang
was able to make a clean break
for the lead. Russell ended up
spending more time in the pits to
repair his brake pedal (not related
to run in with Strang), which al-
lowed Strang to maintain a com-
fortable gap to the finish.
"Like Kailub said, he's on a
150 and I'm on a 450 so when I
caught him I had so much more
power," Strang said. "He was just
trying to protect the line and we
got a little close but it's alright, it's
racing."
Strang was able to carry his
lead into the finish, where he
claimed his first victory since the
2011 season. It was a bittersweet
moment for the past champ.
Briefly...
start and ended up going down four
times on the first lap. Then I got into
a bit of a rhythm and then I had a
big crash in the bush on lap four. I
overshot a corner and clipped a tree
at the same time and it threw me off
into the tree. That hurt a fair bit and
it took me a little bit to get up and
going. Other than that, it wasn't too
bad. It's not really what I wanted but
it's my first one to finish so we'll do
a bit of testing before the last round
and go from there. The tracks are a
lot different here than back home.
That's why I came over to do the last
two rounds, to get a feel of what I'll
be racing on next year and know
what to train on back home in Austra-
lia over the winter,"
It's been a rough season in GNCC
for recently crowned National En-
duro Champion Andrew Delong
who can't seem to catch a break.
Delong was running within the lead
pack for the first two laps until a big
crash threw him for a loop. "I saw
a mound of mud in the road and I
thought I'd try a different line than
everyone else, but that mud pile
turned out to be a big old rock. As
soon as I hit it, it was like I hit the
eject button. It was really one of the
hardest crashes I had in my whole
life," Delong said. According to a
statement from Husky, the crash
sent DeLong "tumbling and his bike
vaulting into the air." It was several
minutes before DeLong could re-
group, and several more minutes in
the pits to untwist his bike enough to
be rideable for the remaining laps. "I
pulled in and they bent my bar back
in a little and put the clutch where I
could use it," DeLong explained. "I
was really beat up in the crash, but
it's not really in me to quit. I wanted
continued on next page
With the 2015 title already in his
hand, Russell wanted to shake
things up a bit by riding a XC150
two-stroke and nearly won. He's got
one more chance.
