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Strang
Claims Fourth Win At Pirelli Big Buck GNCC
DuVall
and Whibley round out the podium.
Josh Strang has had plenty of
practice popping the cork on a champagne bottle. And
he's getting quite accustomed to giving podium
speeches. In the four rounds of the 2010 Can-Am Grand
National Cross Country Series held so far, the FMF
Makita Suzuki rider has stood on the middle step of
the podium in each case and he's given no indication
that the rest of the season won't be any different.
Strang's latest conquest came at the Pirelli Big Buck
GNCC in Union, South Carolina, giving him
four-straight wins and a healthy lead in the point
standings.
"Four in a row is awesome! I'm
super happy with that," said Strang. "This
was a tough one, and it was a little stressful during
the first lap, because of the dust."
Photo By: Shan Moore
Thad DuVall was second.
Strang started outside of the top five
when the three-hour race got underway, and dusty
conditions made it difficult for passing. However,
once he got back into the trees where the dust wasn't
as bad Strang was able to make several passes, moving
his way into second place by the end of the second
lap. At that point, first place was held by Am Pro
Yamaha's Thad DuVall, who had taken advantage of a
bottleneck to move into the lead. And Strang didn't
take long to pass DuVall, doing so in a dusty section
near the halfway point of the race. From there, the
rest of the race was somewhat routine for the
transplanted Aussie, as he finished the race with over
20 seconds to spare over DuVall.
"The conditions were definitely
difficult today, but I just raced my own race,"
said Strang, who was making his first ride on the 2010
RM-Z450. "I just kept going and made some passes,
and then when I got in the lead I was able to push a
little harder to make sure I stayed there."
DuVall held on for the runner-up
spot - his first podium finish of the year.
Photo By: Shan Moore
PaulWhibley got back on the podium.
"Cory Buttrick crashed on the
first lap and it held everyone up and I was able to
take advantage of that and get to the front,"
said DuVall. "Once I got in the lead I knew that
Josh would be coming and I just backed off a bit and
let him catch me. I thought I could ride with him but
I just made a little mistake coming into the barrels
and he got away. I caught him on the last lap but he
kicked up a rock and knocked the lens out of my
goggles and that was it."
Defending series champ Paul Whibley
was in the hunt early, as well, and he claimed the
$250 Motorcycle-USA.com Holeshot Award to start the
race. However, the Am Pro Yamaha rider fell in a mud
hole on the first lap and lost ground to DuVall and
Strang, and early leader Jimmy Jarrett, on the GEICO/JG
Off Road/ Monster Energy Kawasaki.
"Josh and Thad were riding
great today, I just couldn't match them," said
Whibley. "It's good to be on the podium, but I'm
not pleased with how things went."
Whibley spent the last two laps
holding off Obermeyer Yamaha's Charlie Mullins, who
ended up settling for fourth.
Husqvarna's Glenn Kearney turned in
his best ride of the year with a fifth, and at one
time he ran as high as third. Buttrick recovered from
his first-lap crash to finish sixth on his FRE/KTM.
Meanwhile, Am Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk Jr. finished
seventh ahead of KTM riders Chris Bach and Nate Kanney.
Kawasaki-mounted Eric Bailey was 10th.
Photo By: Shan Moore
Kailub Russel got win number three.
In the XC2 division, FRE KTM's Kailub
Russell took his third-straight win of the series,
after battling early on with round-one winner Jason
Thomas. Russell got stronger as the day went on,
however, while Thomas faded.
"I got a good start and caught
up to the XC1 guys and we got to this section where
everyone was going about two miles per hour and then
Thomas caught up to me," said Russell. "That
took me by surprise and he got around me. But I found
a good line and passed him back and I rode pretty good
the rest of the day."
KTM rider Jesse Robinson overcame a
couple of crashes and a long pit stop to finish
second.
"I tried to ride hard at the
beginning but I just couldn't get comfortable, so I
just backed off a bit and ended up going faster,"
said Robinson.
Steward Baylor Jr. completed a KTM
sweep of the XC2 podium by finishing third. He also
made history by becoming the youngest rider to make an
XC2 podium - doing so at the age of 15.
"It feels awesome to get on the
podium," said Baylor. "But for some reason,
I just can't stay off the ground on the first lap and
I was coming from behind all day."
Baylor snatched the final step of
the podium from Thomas on the final lap, leaving
Thomas to settle for fourth on his Andrews Cycles
Yamaha. Meanwhile, GEICO/JG Off Road/ Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Scotty Watkins rounded out the top five.
Yamaha rider Ryan Belue won the
Four-stroke A Lites class and in the process claimed
the Overall Amateur Award, his first time to ever do
so. Jordan Ashburn was turning some extremely fast
laps and was in contention for the Overall Amateur
Award, but was slowed when he fried his brakes.
However, he still ended up winning the Open A
division.
In the morning race, Tyler
MacDonald, who rides under the Am Pro Yamaha tent,
took the win in the Sportsman A race, topping
Yamaha-mounted Matthew Nix and FMF Makita Suzuki's
Rodney Smith.
"I got the holeshot but I
crashed in the second corner," said MacDonald.
"I caught back up with Matthew and we battled and
caught up with Rodney. We ended up passing him with
two laps to go."
Smith led the early laps, but
reinjured the thumb he dislocated a few weeks ago and
dropped off the pace.
The Can-Am Grand National Cross
Series will return in 2 weeks for the Acerbis Loretta
Lynn's GNCC, held in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee on
April 24-25.
XC1 Results:
1. Josh Strang (Suz) 2. Thad DuVall
(Yam) 3. Paul Whibley (Yam) 4. Charlie Mullins (Yam)
5. Glenn Kearney (Hsq) 6. Cory Buttrick (KTM) 7. Barry
Hawk Jr. (Yam) 8. Chris Bach (KTM) 9. Nate Kanney (KTM)
10. Eric Bailey (Kaw).
XC1 Standings: 1.
Josh Strang (120/4 wins) 2. Charlie Mullins (78) 3.
Paul Whibley (75) 4. Chris Bach (73) 5. Cory Buttrick
(68) 6. Glenn Kearney (55) 7. Thad DuVall (50) 8. Nate
Kanney (46) 9. Barry Hawk Jr. (44) 10. Kenneth Gilbert
(44)
XC2 Results: 1.
Kailub Russell (KTM) 2. Jesse Robinson (KTM) 3.
Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM) 4. Jason Thomas (Yam) 5.
Scott Watkins (Kaw) 6. David Snyder (Yam) 7. Dustin
Gibson (KTM) 8. Jason Greer (Yam) 9. Mark Fortner (Hsq)
10. Brain Lawson (Yam)
XC2 Standings: 1.
Kailub Russell (111/3 wins) 2. Jason Thomas (98/1 win)
3. Jesse Robinson (87) 4. Steward Baylor Jr. (71) 5.
Scott Watkins (65) 6. Dustin Gibson (60) 7. David
Snyder (44) 8. Mark Fortner (37) 9. Josh Weisenfels
(37) 10. Nicholas Hunter (34) |
