VOL. 51 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 7, 2014 P99
race but as he continues to build
his confidence and momentum,
the Tennessee-native is showing
more strength late in the game
than he ever has before. Ashburn
put his head down on the final
lap, where he made all the right
moves to land a podium finish
after three brutal hours of rac-
ing. With one round remaining,
Ashburn is only eight points be-
hind Strang for third place in the
championship standings.
"I felt like I really needed to be
on the podium points wise," Ash-
burn said. "Going into the sec-
ond-to-last lap I knew I needed to
make up some time. On that last
lap, I pushed real hard and when
I came up on the guys I knew I
had to get in front and get out."
STEWARD BAYLOR FINISHES
STRONG, BACH KEEPS ROLLING
Steward Baylor has had a roller-
coaster of a year with reoccur-
ring injuries, where he's missed
three rounds this season as a
result. Round 12 was Steward's
first race back in the most recent
hiatus, where the former XC2 Pro
Lites Champion put in an impres-
sive showing and a strong finish
at the penultimate round.
"First race back was a bit of a
struggle with the pain of two bad
hands and two weak hands, but I
was running up front for the first
few laps," Baylor said. "I felt like
I had the speed and endurance,
but I'm sick of riding in pain like
I have for the past three years.
Definitely making baby steps in
the right direction. Thanks to all
the guys standing behind me."
Bach finished in sixth after
dropping one position to Baylor
in the final moments of the race.
Bach has shown huge improve-
ments in his speed and consis-
Briefly...
to finish the race."
Chris Bach has been meshing very
well with the Johnny Campbell Rac-
ing/Honda team this season and he
says despite a sixth-place finish, he
feels the team is doing more than he
could hope for, the bike feels great
and he believes that he's riding very
well. He also added that the compe-
tition level has really stepped up this
season and nothing is guaranteed
when it comes time for the check-
ers. "The pace this year has gone
way up from previous years," Bach
said. "The top seven guys or so are
all really fast and I think where some
guys used to fall off because they
weren't putting in the work off the
track has changed. Everyone is so
strong now. A few small mental mis-
takes cost me third but then I ended
up sixth, only 30 seconds out from
podium. That's intense racing!"
tency this season, especially in
Ohio where he ran with the pace
of the lead pack for a majority of
the race.
"It sucks that the result doesn't
show the effort I put in [today],"
Bach said. "I rode my ass off
and the JCR team worked their
asses off, too. We had a solid
day and it felt good to know I can
run that pace again. Our bike is
good, now it's just getting used
to being in that pack and work-
ing on my race savvy."
Australian 4-Day Enduro
Champion Daniel Milner fin-
ished eighth overall in only his
second GNCC appearance,
riding aboard the N-Fab AmPro
(Above) Charlie Mullins got back on
the track for the first time since an
injury put him out of both the GNCC
and National Enduro Series.
(Left) Jordan Ashburn has found
new speed and made it to the
podium again.
