This weekend saw Thad Duvall took the lead spot and had a steady yet outstanding performance and eventually wining the seventh round of the 2018 AMA series. It was Duvall’s second overall triumph of 2018 plus he is now 15 points at the back of Kailub Russell in the National Championship points standings. When the race started at Sunday Creek Raceway in Millfield, Ohio; it was Josh Strand who nailed it. The Wiseco John Penton GNCC, narrowly followed by teammate Duvall the same as they were coming straight into the woods. However, Duvall grabbed the lead early on and came throughout timing on lap one 2.6 second to the front of Grant Baylor. For the first three laps, Duvall and Baylor were in the first and second place though Baylor was caught in one of the toughest part of the course which is the Penton Section found on the fouth lap. This incident caused him to not finish the race.
With that opportunity, Strang moved in into the second for the remaining two laps, gaining his first podium finish of the season. Kailub Russell had difficulty starting his bike on the beginning and had to go through the group eventually landing in the third spot on the first lap. After the second lap, he was enforced to pit prematurely for a new set of dirt bike gloves following his plunging into a water section. Swapping between third and fourth positions all throughout the race was Russell. But following a hard charge, he ended merely two seconds behind second place.
Steward Baylor Jr. who started at the tenth place roared his way through the pack in the first three laps to make the overtake for fourth a little over the halfway. Despite of all his given efforts, he was unable to catch up to the top three and was settled in the fourth place. Beta USA’s Jordan Ashburn performed one of his best rides at The John Penton this past Sunday. Ashburn started the race mid-pack although he managed to make his way all the way through for a top five finish in the XC1 Open Pro class.
In the XC2 250 Pro class, Nick Davis got the jump off the second row and attained the holeshot except it was Craig Delong who eventually took the lead on the first lap. Delong managed to retain his lead on the first three laps but ended in fifth overall as he relented to Josh Toth before falling back to the third place behind Ben Kelley on the third lap.
Alex Teagarden grabbed the holeshot and piloted the group in the first lap on the XC3 125 Pro-Am class. With only seven seconds right behind him, Jesse Ansley tried to take the lead but it was Jason Raines who managed to overtake Teagarden after two laps. Right behind him was Teagarden and Jason Langenback. Teagarden would re-establish the pass for the lead and remained there until the flag, receiving his second FMF XC3 class win of the season. Cody Barnes rounded out the top three.
Tyler Soriano was hailed as the top amateur honor and was also victorious in the Open A. Ben Parsons along with Levi Keller took second and third respectively in the Open A class. The 250 A class victory went to Jojo Bowden and Dakoda Devore and Brewer Cawley in second and third place. The 10am overall race podium had three Sportsman A riders nemely Josh Kellough, Justin Parsons and Joshua Sexton.
The WXC race triumph went to Tricker followed by Shelby Rolen who had her first WXC podium emergence this year. Tayla Jones led the WXC class on lap one, but had some unlucky circumstances throughout the race and bagged the third place. An exceptionally slick and muddy racecourse on Sunday morning was in stored for the youth bike racers. Max Fernandez had the overall triumph and YXC1 Super Mini Sr. class win. YXC2 Super Mini Jr.’s Grant Davis who was second in overall. Tyler Palmer was in third place and second in YXC1. Canon Kuneff earned the 85cc (12-13) class win, completing sixth overall.
XC1 Open Pro Event Results:
- Thad Duvall (HQV)
- Josh Strang (HQV)
- Kailub Russell (KTM)
- Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM)
- Jordan Ashburn (BET)
- Ricky Russell (YAM)
- Trevor Bollinger (HON)
- Cory Buttrick (HQV)
- Andrew Delong (GAS)
- Layne Michael (HQV)
Overall National Championship Standings:
- Kailub Russell (196)
- Thad Duvall (181)
- Steward Baylor Jr. (135)
- Trevor Bollinger (118)
- Josh Strang (111)
- Ben Kelley (105)
- Josh Toth (90)
- Ricky Russell (78)
- Jordan Ashburn (61)
- Craig Delong (58)
XC2 250 Pro Event Results:
- Josh Toth (KTM)
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Craig Delong (HQV)
- Austin Lee (HON)
- Nick Davis (GAS)
- Evan Smith (HQV)
- Zach Nolan (KTM)
- Sam Evans (KTM)
- Zack Hayes (KTM)
- Jonathan Johnson (YAM)
XC2 250 Pro Series Standings:
- Ben Kelley (190)
- Josh Toth (170)
- Craig Delong (117)
- Pascal Rauchenecker (112)
- Austin Lee (101)
- Evan Smith (89)
- Liam Draper (82)
- Nick Davis (81)
- Jonathan Johnson (75)
- Michael Witkowski (66)
