VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P75
the end but it wasn't enough to
get into striking distance for a po-
dium position, where he finished
fourth overall for the day. After his
first full season with the new Fac-
tory Husqvarna team, DeLong
made leaps in the overall running
to earn number six for 2015.
XC1 CONTINUED
Factory FMF/KTM's Steward
Baylor didn't get a desirable
start but the South Carolina na-
tive made a big push to finish fifth
overall in the end with N-Fab/
AmPro Yamaha's Jordan Ashburn
in sixth and Moto Vations Sus-
pension/Palmer Motorsports'
Takeshi Koikeda in seventh. N-
Fab/AmPro Yamaha's Paul Whib-
ley finished eighth in the XC1
class, while KTM Support rider
Grant Baylor finished ninth in his
XC1 debut, followed by Mullins in
tenth.
XC2 PRO LITES
With two-time champion Grant
Baylor graduating into the XC1
Pro ranks for the final round, the
XC2 Pro Lites podium was up
for grabs at the last round. KR4/
Arrive-N-Ride KTM's Nick Davis
came out swinging right away
by grabbing the $100 DigitalOf-
froad.com XC2 Holeshot Award,
but it was RideMPS.com/AM-
SOIL Honda's Layne Michael
who took over the lead on the
opening lap. Michael led the way
for the first two laps, with Davis
and Factory Husqvarna-support-
ed rookie Craig DeLong joining in
the three-way battle for the lead
position.
Davis took over the lead by lap
three and the Pennsylvania native
immediately put his head down
to create a gap over the second
place battle between Michael
and DeLong.
The two young guns came to-
gether for an exciting battle in the
final two laps but Michael used
his veteran experience to hold
off the rookie DeLong and cap-
ture second place in the class.
DeLong, the recently crowned
250 A Champion, maintained his
position to finish on the podium in
