course on Sunday morning, and
over 300 in the afternoon race.
Russell grabbed the holeshot
in the afternoon race, putting
his FMF KTM out front as he led
the XC1 field into the opening
lap. Duvall followed in second,
but Russell was in sprint mode
and quickly opened a gap that
stretched to over 20 seconds by
the end of the lap.
On lap three, Russell came up
on lappers, which were espe-
cially in force due to the large
entry. "Once Kailub got into the
lappers I was able to catch him
and from there it was on," said
Duvall. "We started to swap
leads on the final lap and luckily
I got the good end of the stick
with about a mile to go, when
a lapper held him up and I was
able to take advantage of that
and get the lead. He tried one
last ditch effort but I was able to
hold him off and get the win."
"The lappers were terrible and
once I hit them my 20-second
lead was gone in an instant,"
said Russell. "About a mile be-
VOL. 55 ISSUE 14 APRIL 10, 2018 P45
(Left) A late-race charge paid off for Thad Duvall who
stole the win from Kailub Russell on the last lap.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KEN
HILL
(Above) Russell led much of the race but was
severely hampered by slower traffic.
