VOL. 52 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 P39
lub's father Jeff Russell won the
title in 1991.
"It's pretty cool to win the
same title that my dad won a
long time ago," said Russell. "I
was pretty much against riding
this series at the start of this year
because I didn't think I would
enjoy it, but I've started enjoying
it, and I think it has shown in my
riding."
Out front, Strang fired the first
shot by winning the opening
test. Sipes answered back with a
dominant win in the second test
while Strang slipped to fourth.
Sipes continued to lead the way,
never finishing worse than third,
and ended the day with the best
times in tests five and six.
While Strang continued to
stumble throughout the day,
JCR Honda's Chris Bach moved
up into second. In only his third
National Enduro of the year,
Bach rode a remarkable race en
route to carding second place
on the day. He bested Russell
by 14 seconds, and came within
striking distance of Sipes after
winning test four, but Sipes
pulled away in the final two tests
to win by 40 seconds.
"I felt like this event was too
tight for my style, but for some
reason I kept doing well and
ended up with the win," said
Sipes. "I didn't really expect to
win this thing, but I'll take it, for
sure. I just think I'm started to get
used to the tight trail and I'm start-
ing to like this format, where you
have resets. It doesn't matter if
you have a good or bad test—you
have a chance to start over again
going into the next test."
N-Fab AmPro Yamaha's Grant
Baylor finished fourth overall after
getting out to a slow start. Strang
ended the day in fifth, stating that
his 450 was not quite as suited
to the tight terrain as the 350 he
was on earlier this season.
Sixth went to AirGroup Rac-
ing's Nick Fahringer, who
finished 19 seconds ahead of
FMF/KTM rider Russell Bobbitt,
as both riders struggled with the
terrain. Cory Buttrick showed
a flash of brilliance by finishing
second in test three aboard his
Beta USA 430 RR, but he only
went on to claim eighth. Drew
Higgins and Andrew DeLong
rounded out the top-10 in a tie,
but the nod went to Higgins due
to his better performance in the
final test. CN
Ryan Sipes is still
riding his high
from the ISDE,
and claimed his
first National
Enduro win in
Indiana.
Sipes stands atop the podium with
Russell (left) and runner-up Chris
Bach (right).
