VOL. 55 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 13, 2018 P71
Strang. "The track got a lot
rougher than I expected and
from start to finish we were
making changes to the bike, just
trying to find the setup. I think
the last four tests on Sunday re-
ally showed that we found it and
I was a lot more comfortable in
those tests.
"I struggled at first to find
that sprint speed right out of
the gate. I think I was dragging
the rear brake too much, and
that's just me trying to get back
up to that speed, knowing that
I can do it. I was downshift-
ing too much, but in the last
couple of tests I decided to
(Left) Jordan Ashburn just missed
out on the podium to finish fourth
overall. (Below) New Zealand's Liam
Draper (center) won the Pro2 class.
leave it in a taller gear and just lug it
and my times picked up."
Ashburn, who was a consistent
podium finisher in 2017, spent the
weekend adjusting to the sand.
"We don't have a lot of sand where
I live, so we ended up learning a lot
about our bike setup for sandy condi-
tions," said Ashburn. "We were close
all weekend, just a second here and
there. Me and Strang battled both
days and early on Sunday I narrowed
it down to three or four seconds
off his overall time. But then I think
he picked up the pace and I ended
up missing the podium by about 16
seconds. Overall, I'm happy to come
away with a fourth, but I'm looking to
get back on the podium."
