VOL. 53 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 16, 2016 P39
margins in the enduro tests,
where the American ISDE Tro-
phy Team member shined and
where he ultimately took his lone
test win of the day in the final
enduro test, just 0.6 of a second
ahead of Strang.
With five test wins on the day,
Strang headed into the second
day of racing with a 24-second
lead over DuVall with Layne Mi-
chael another 38 seconds back.
With Bobbitt only two seconds
behind Michael, and Buttrick
another two seconds back, a
tight battle was brewing for the
final podium spot heading into
day two of the event.
For the second day of racing
the special tests had their direc-
tion reversed, and extremely dry
conditions forced the promoter
to extend the start time gap
from 15 to 20 seconds for better
visibility. The reversed track,
however, didn't seem to change
the results, as grass-track expert
Strang padded his lead by four
additional seconds with the first
test win on Sunday and followed
that up with the first enduro test
win as well, helping to build a
lead that Thad DuVall would be
unable to overcome despite
taking the final two enduro test
wins.
"It ended up being more dry
than I thought it would be, but
it was good for me because
I started first today so I didn't
have any dust," said Strang,
who ended up winning all six
cross tests. "The lines I picked
out there just ended up working
better, especially when it got silty
and dusty—I could get off that
slippery stuff and into the grass
where I still had traction."
After two big crashes at the
sixth round of the series, points
leader DuVall made it through
the weekend mistake-free and
kept his championship lead
intact.
Round six overall winner, Cory
Buttrick, made a valiant run at
the podium, beating both Mi-
chael and Bobbitt in three of the
first four tests on Sunday, but
ultimately fell short of the podium
after Michael put down a blister-
ing final enduro test while under
pressure to secure third-place
overall. Buttrick would end the
weekend fourth with Bobbitt fall-
ing back to fifth after starting the
second day of racing in fourth
place.
The seventh round also
served as Youth Appreciation
Weekend with all youth riders
receiving free race entries. Tyler
Sylvia took the Supermini 12-15
win as well as the Youth Overall
ahead of Kole Jenkins and Ty
Callaway.
The Top Amateur spot went to
Open A winner Zac Brown, who
also finished ninth overall. Open
A points leader, Billy Schlag fin-
ished second behind Brown and
rounded out the top 10 overall
for the weekend.
Jason Hooper
1. Josh Strang (Hus) 1:12:29.272
2. Thad DuVall (Hus) 1:13:07.003
3. Layne Michael (Hus) 1:14:01.830
4. Cory Buttrick (KTM) 1:14:13.213
5. Russell Bobbitt (KTM) 1:14:19.274
6. Grant Baylor (Yam) 1:14:50.851
7. Jesper Berjesson (Hus) 1:14:58.646
8. Drew Higgins (KTM) 1:15:37.959
9. Zac Brown (KTM) 1:16:30.075
10. Billy Schlag (KTM) 1:16:34.855
Thad DuVall
kept his points
lead intact with
a second-place
finish.
