VOL. 54 ISSUE 29 JULY 25, 2017 P33
"With Strang and Toth finish-
ing between me and Thad, that
gave Thad the points lead and
I'm pretty bummed about that.
I'm still dealing with the effects
of the Epstein Barr virus and
that makes me susceptible to
infections and I injured my knee
recently and now it's infected
and it just bothered me all day."
Strang was excited to get on
the podium for the first time this
season. "For sure, this was a
better day for me," said Strang.
"I think the biggest thing was
my foot is finally healed up and
in these rocky conditions you
need to use your feet a lot to get
through a lot of the sections.
I've also been practicing enduro
a lot at home, and I think the
combination of the two made the
difference in today's results."
Trail Jesters KTM Racing's
Ben Kelley used his rock-riding
skills to round out the top five.
The Connecticut rider was sec-
ond fastest in the third and sixth
tests and finished just seven
seconds off of Baylor.
With four rounds remaining,
Duvall now leads Baylor by four
points (127-123), with Grant
Baylor (eighth on the day) in third
with 88 points.
In the Rekluse Expert-AA
class, Thorn Devlin remains
perfect after claiming his fifth
win of the season. The AirGroup
Enduro Engineering Husqvarna
rider won four of the six tests
and beat fellow New Englander
and Yamaha rider Hunter Bush
by two minutes and 25 seconds.
Like Devlin, Tyla Jones also
remained perfect, claiming a
fifth-straight win in the Women's
Elite division after beating KTM
rider Kiersten McDonal by a little
over 25 minutes. CN
OVERALL
1. Thad Duvall (Hus)
2. Josh Strang (Hus)
3. Josh Toth (Yam)
4. Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM)
5. Ben Kelley (KTM)
6. Jesse Groemm (KTM)
7. Cory Buttrick (KTM)
8. Grant Baylor (Hus)
9. Russell Bobbitt (KTM)
10. Ryder Lafferty (KTM)
(Left) Josh Strang held the lead
going into the final test, but
ultimately had to settle for second.
(Below) Josh Toth thought he had
the overall win but the veterans
Duvall and Strang caught and
passed him.
