Glen Daniel, West Virginia was the venue for the round seven of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series where Costal Racing/Husqvarna’s Ryan Sipes claimed the championship title over the weekend. The race lasted for 2 days and during that day, Sipes had won 9 out of the 12 tests. He has a large margin ahead of the runner up who is Cory Buttrick about 2 minutes. While Steward Baylor who is the series point leader came into third place Just seconds to spare behind Buttrick.
It’s cool to come back to this series – this was a good event,” told Sipes. “I enjoy racing these sprint races and since it was on a golf course I couldn’t pass it up.”
The win made Sipes’ third of the season in the series.
“Overall, I think I rode pretty good,” added Sipes. “I was a little cautious in the first test on Saturday, just because it was slick. But after that, I think I rode pretty well. It’s good to get the win and I’m happy with how I rode.”
The race was not just loaded with pro riders but there were a large number of amateurs as well who joined Sipes at the event. The amateur riders were also eager to claim the top spots of the podium. That is one of the top dreams of a biker. Sipes applauded and said that the race was very thrilling especially on an active golf course.
“I think everyone enjoyed racing on the golf course, it was awesome,” told Sipes. “It’s a nice course and we were actually racing down some of the fairways and jumping off of tee boxes. It was pretty cool.”
Jason Hooper, the promoter of Full Gas Sprint Enduro said that the Hidden Valley Golf Course had all the facilities of the place to be available on the event. He expressed his fulfillment in an interview.
“The owners of the golf course are into motorsports and they were looking for ways to get people out here, so they thought if they hosted a race it would be good publicity,” said Hooper. “I think everyone enjoyed it. It was one of those things you always fanaticize about doing.”
The SRT Racing KTM-backed rider Buttrick finished the weekend with three seconds and five third-place finishes out of the 12 tests. He matched his best result of the year with his rank as runner up at the finish line.
“I made a few mistakes today, but overall it was a good weekend,” told Buttrick. “I had a couple of crashes today that didn’t come at a good time, but I still managed second overall. Things went a little smoother on Saturday and I felt I was riding a little better. The fairways were sort of slippery, so you had to watch your lines in the Cross test.
“I’ve been working really hard lately, and it’s good to see it finally paying off. I’m hoping to keep the ball rolling and collect a few more podiums before the year is over.”
The SRT Racing KTM-backed Baylor had a rather rough day 1 of the race. He had a slow paced race on Saturday as he crashed in the first test. He had a hard time on the entirety of the first day but he finished day one in 5th place. But he seemed to have found his groove on the second day as he won 2 of the Enduro Tests and found his paced up speed on the Cross test. This raised in performance ranked him up into second for the day and eventually landed at third place in the overall results.
“I tucked the front and went down in the first test on Saturday and that put me behind the eight ball; I was playing catch-up the rest of the day,” said Baylor. “I struggled quite a bit on Saturday and I just wasn’t riding that great, but I think I turned it around on Sunday, especially in the Enduro test.”
Regardless of Baylor being in third place, he was still able to raise his point lead by a single point above Beta USA’s Jordan Ashburn. Ashburn was in fourth place in overall this weekend. At the moment, with just 2 rounds remaining, Baylor had amassed a total of 270 points while Ashburn had 265 points. In the race for the top title, Buttrick had a total of 231 points.
The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory rider Josh Strang was in fifth place as his damaged rear brake assembly in the second test seemed to slow him down and had an awfully hard timeafter that. In sixth place was Josh Toth, who edged his N-FAB/Am Pro Yamaha teammate Ricky Russell by 12 seconds for the position. Evan Smith, Jesper Borjesson and Damon Rummel completed our top ten in 8th. 9th and 10th place respectively..
In the Open A division, Billy Schlag had the victory aheqad of Jacob Rowland and Tanner Way. While in Lites A division, a solid performance gave the championship to Cole Mattison with Brewer Cawley and RJ Cook behind him.
At the Women’s Pro division, Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/KR4 Arrive-n-Ride Racing’s Tayla Jones claimed her sixth win of the season. The title will be added to her previous ones which are the GNCC and National Enduro titles that she got earlier in the month. Behind her with almost 3 minutes gap was KTM’s Becca Sheets.
“Other than a couple of crashes, I had a pretty good weekend,” told Jones. “Riding on the golf course was amazing and the Enduro test had some incredible grip, you could do just about anything you wanted.
Bonanza Pluming KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker landed in third place with defending series champion, Brooke Cosner, in fourth.
