Cycle News

OFF ROAD ROUND 8 / AUGUST 23, 2015 MOORESTOWN, MICHIGAN P64 KENDA AMA NATIONAL ENDURO SERIES, PRESENTED BY MOOSE RACING My Own Race: 26A KAILUB RUSSELL 1 ST "It definitely feels good to get back to winning in the enduro series," said Russell. "My dad (Jeff Russell, the 1991 National Enduro Champ) actually kind of put some pressure on me to win this one, he said if you're going to win one, this is the race to win. He's never really got onto me about trying to win a race, but he told me yesterday, 'hey, go win that thing.' I rode pretty good today, it was tough but I enjoyed the first part of the race. The last test was pretty tight and I kind of struggled in there. I wore my heart rate monitor all day and I checked it after each test and I wasn't pushing at all, and I was afraid I was going to get smoked, but I guess by not trying to push so hard it made me ride a little smoother." 34A JOSH STRANG 2 ND Josh Strang actually led for much of the race after winning test one. "Today was good," said Strang. "I've been strug- gling a bit all year in the enduro series, so it was good to get a good result. But man, it was fun out there. It was like some of the earlier races were on hard dirt, which is hard for me to ride, but this was on nice dirt and it suited my style. I had two test wins and I actually won one of the tighter tests, which was good for me. I've been smoking rear brakes, and in the fifth test I got the brakes so hot that I ruined a wheel bearing so that was my fault, but halfway through the test the wheel started to fall apart and that cost me. But we've made some changes since the last race so it seems we're heading in the right direction, so that's good." 24A RUSSELL BOBBITT 3 ND KTM factory rider Russell Bobbitt had a great day until the final test where a crash cost him second place. "It was a pretty good day overall," said Bobbitt. "I got a test win and I think I was second in the next one. I was kind of running up front all day and I felt like I was jiving with the bike all day, but I was sitting second going into the last test and I crashed and just couldn't put it together after that, which dropped me to third." 21A STEWARD BAYLOR 4 TH "It was rough out there," Steward Baylor said. "The na- tional enduros, there are 10 guys that can win, and when you line up at the other races, you kind a know who is go- ing to win and there have been a lot of different winners in the national enduro series, so you have to stay consistent, which is what Russell has been doing and I'm struggling with that," said Baylor. "I was really struggling early in the race, but I made some changes with three tests to go, and I really wish I had started the race with those settings. I'm not thrilled with how I rode, and I was too conservative in places, and everything I did kind of backfired on me." 22A GRANT BAYLOR 5 TH Grant Baylor got off to a poor start at the Jack Pine and had difficulties making up ground. "I started out pretty bad and lost a lot of ground," said Baylor. "After about three tests, I think I was in around 10 th place, but then I kind of got faster as the day went on. The sixth test was a re-run of the first test and I was able to see a lot better and I had a decent ride in there." 27A NICK FAHRINGER 6 TH AirGroup Racing's Nick Fahringer got off to a fast start but struggled with the rain. "I started off on a solid note, finishing third in test one," he said, "but I think I over- rode the bike in the second test and hit a tree which kind of rung my bell a little bit. I rode well in test three, but I ended up jamming my foot between my footpeg and a stump and it pivoted me around and that kind of took the wind out of my sails. I feel like I rode real well in the four- mile test, test four, but I was about a minute into test five when the rain started coming down and I was one of the unfortunate ones to get stuck in it." 25A ANDREW DELONG 7 TH Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing's Andrew DeLong was not happy about finishing seventh and had a couple of big get-offs. "It was certainly not up to my abili- ties," said DeLong. "I crashed a couple times and it was just dumb moves on my part. I was pushing the envelope and it ended up biting me in the butt, and I hate losing, so I'm not happy about it. I just need to back 'er down. The rain was terrible, it was a monsoon and my Roll-Offs stopped working, so I had to pull 'em off; it was raining so hard and the trails were like a river, which was kind of cool."

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