VOL. 55 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 16, 2018 P63
cision Concepts well with fourth
after an unplanned pit stop to
rectify a handlebar issue on his
KX450F put him back in 14th
early.
Russell was unable to repeat
his remarkable Big 6 debut
triumph from last season's finale
after spinning the rear tire of
his 450 XC-F off the start. "I
was really good in the practice
sessions earlier about taking
off easy, but I just gave her a
fistful and just spun and spun
and spun," he explained. "I got
race last year, Yorba was happy
simply to finish healthy on a bike
he only finished building the day
before. "There was kind of a
mishap going on with the freight
company for KTM; it wasn't just
me—there were a couple other
bikes that were missing," he ex-
plained. "The bike that I'm riding
wasn't supposed to be mine, but
I'm happy to have a bike and be
here racing."
Justin Seeds represented
the new collaboration between
Chaparral Motorsports and Pre-
pack and got up to fourth. A
couple corners into the moto-
cross section, I passed Yorba,
then I sat there for a while."
Though Yorba passed him
when officials directed Shirey
through the alternate instead of
over the infamous water jump,
Shirey repassed Yorba the next
lap in nearly the same spot. He
couldn't erase Stewart's lead,
however, and settled for second,
also while riding sick and unable
to train or practice normally.
After crashing out of this
A botched start set
Kailub Russell back and
he found it difficult to
make passes while being
showered with high-
speed roost. How high
speed? His GPS showed
he topped out at almost
102 miles per hour!
