IN
THE
WIND
P28
RUSSELL
WINS FULL
GAS SPRINT
ENDURO
T
he Kenda Full Gas Sprint
Enduro Series got started
over the weekend in Gaston,
South Carolina, February 21-
22, where icy temps and gusty
conditions greeted riders. The
unique format of the Full Gas
Sprint Enduro featured two dif-
ferent tests—a 3.5-mile enduro
special test and a 3-mile "cross"
test similar to what you'd find at
an ISDE or World Enduro Cham-
pionship. The racing—spread out
over two days—put the riders on
each test three different times on
each day, spread out by 20-sec-
ond intervals, making for a total
of 12 special tests throughout the
course of the weekend.
When all the scores were tal-
lied, FMF/KTM's Kailub Russell
emerged the winner, barely edg-
ing out FMF/AmPro Yamaha's
Daniel Milner aboard his KTM
350 XC-F.
Milner found the race format
very much to his liking, and got
the weekend started with some
quick times on day one. AmPro
Yamaha's Aussie import put his
ISDE sprinting skills to work in
the fast and sandy terrain, and
topped five of the six tests on
Saturday. Milner finished the day
with a 14-second lead ahead of
Russell, who wrestled away one
test win for himself.
"Day one went really well," Mil-
ner said. "I pretty much started
every section first on Saturday
and cut fresh track through most
of the course. The sand was per-
fect and reminded me of back
home! "
The rougher conditions and
worn-in courses effectively
tipped the scales in Russell's
favor on Sunday. The GNCC
Champion came out swinging on
day two and turned the tables on
Milner. This time it was Russell
carding five out of six wins, only
yielding one test to Milner by a
10th of a second after a tip-over
slowed him down.
"I had a really good day to-
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KEN
HILL
