VOL. 55 ISSUE 20 MAY 22, 2018 P35
and finish second for the day."
On Sunday, Strang was consistently in the top
three throughout the six tests and he won test five—
a cross test—outright, which ruined Ryan Sipes'
undefeated status in 2018 cross tests.
After 12 tests and two days of racing, Strang took
the overall win by 17 seconds over Layne Michael.
With the win, Strang moved ahead of Grant Bay-
lor and into third overall in the series standings.
Relentless rain on the days leading up to the
race, and during Saturday, left the Lake Sugar Tree
course in less than desirable condition. However,
the Full Gas track crew did a fantastic job of prep-
ping the course, and by the end of the weekend,
after the sun came out on Sunday, most of the
riders agreed that the course was epic.
Michael struggled with the muddy conditions
on Saturday, but came on strong during Sunday's
event with the track tacking up. The KR4 Husqvar-
na rider scored two test wins on Sunday to finish
just behind Strang in the runner-up slot.
"Things started off a little rough, I think I strug-
gled with the conditions on Saturday," said Michael
who was fifth at the end of the first day of racing.
"The conditions were a lot more to my liking today.
The only thing I struggled with was staying off the
ground in the cross test."
The enduro test was Michael's strong suit and
that's where both of his wins came, although he
was third in the final cross test behind Steward
Baylor and Sipes.
Sipes (Rockstar/Leatt/Maxxis Husqvarna)
rounded out the podium 22 seconds behind
Michael. He won five of the six cross tests over the
weekend but struggled in the enduro tests.
"I'm surprised to finish third considering how I
rode this weekend," said Sipes.
Despite the finish, Sipes still leads the overall
series standings by 11 points over Steward Baylor.
Fourth overall went to Grant Baylor who battled
for the lead on Saturday, but the Tely Energy KTM
rider had a hard time keeping it on two wheels
Sunday.
"I was second in the first three tests on Saturday,
so I was leading the race at that point," said Grant
Baylor. "After that, things went downhill. I crashed
three times in the fourth test, and over the weekend I
think I crashed seven or eight times."
Despite the crashes, Grant was just eight seconds
away from a podium finish behind Sipes.
Jordan Ashburn kicked off the weekend by win-
ning the opening test on Saturday—an enduro test.
The Beta USA rider was sitting third behind Evan
Smith and Strang at the end of the day. Sunday was
a tough day for the Tennessee rider, however, and
he settled for fifth overall at the end of two days of
racing.
Tely Racing KTM-backed Steward Baylor rounded
out the top six, finishing 24 seconds behind Ash-
burn. Meanwhile, Beta USA's Mike Witkowski
claimed his best finish of the year in seventh.
Ohio motocrosser Mario Testa was eighth overall
on a KTM, while SRT Racing's Evan Smith finished
a heartbreaking ninth overall after winning Saturday's
Layne Michael
put in a charge
and was
rewarded with
second overall.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
SHAN
MOORE
