like he could easily go
another lap while talking
to the press, despite
temperatures in the low-
90s and high humidity.
"Everything just went
so good that it came to
me pretty easy," Duvall
added. "This has always
been one of my favorite
tracks and it's good to
get a win here."
In the meantime,
Strang held off a fierce,
last-second push from
Russell to hold onto
second overall, his best
finish of the season.
Strang collapsed from
exhaustion after cross-
ing the finish line.
"That's the closest I've ever
been to getting sick at the
finish," said Strang. "I had 45
seconds on him at the start of
that lap, but he caught me in
the John Penton section and I
started making mistakes. I was
lucky to stay in front of him."
Russell settled for third, de-
spite his valiant last-ditch effort,
as he struggled to keep his bike
on two-wheels for a majority of
the race. The FMF/KTM Factory
rider's bike failed to fire off the
start and he was last off the line.
Russell managed to charge his
way to third by end of the first
lap, only to submerge his bike in
a creek on the next lap, forcing
him to pit early.
Russell turned the fastest lap
of the race on the final circuit of
the course, but still came up two
seconds short of second place.
"I definitely didn't make it easy
on myself today," Russell said. "I
made quite a few mistakes and
couldn't stay off the ground, but
I guess if you can get yourself on
the podium on a bad day, that's
still a good day for the champion-
ship."
Tely Energy Racing KTM's
Steward Baylor also had to pit
early for mechanical problems,
but still charged his way back to
finish fourth, while FMF KTM's
Josh Toth won the XC2 Pro divi-
sion with a fifth-place finish.
Jordan Ashburn put in one
of his best rides in a while. The
Beta USA rider started the race
midpack, but he managed to
make his way through for a sixth
overall finish.
In the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am
class Coastal Racing/Husqvar-
na's Alex Teagarden took the win
with a 16th overall finish ahead
of Raines Riding University/Atlas
Sales/Yamaha's Jason Raines
and MCS Racing/Kenda Tire/
Moose Racing's Cody Barnes.
Shan Moore
OVERALL
1. Thad Duvall (Hus)
2. Josh Strang (Hus)
3. Kailub Russell (KTM)
4. Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM)
5. Josh Toth (KTM)
6. Jordan Ashburn (Bet)
7. Ben Kelley (KTM)
8. Ricky Russell (Yam)
9. Trevor Bollinger (Hon)
10. Craig DeLong (Hus)
IN
THE
WIND
P34
Josh Toth came
away with the XC2-
class win.
