really bad . I was dead at the end and all the other boys were , too . I ended up making a mistake . I ran out of tear-offs the last lap and my goggles got kind of trashed . I just didn ’ t see a root and went down and Strang got around me . I had to really just kind of regather myself that last lap . Just tried to put it together and keep it third and we did it .”
Factory Beta ’ s Cory Buttrick ended up hitting a root he didn ’ t see , and aggravated some old injuries . Ultimately , he was able to power through , keep his sights set on the finish , and brought the 430RR to a tenth-place finish in the OPEN PRO class and 23rd overall .
The XC2 250 Pro class started with a close three-way battle between the # 198 of Tely Energy KTM ’ s Liam Draper , # 525 Tegan Temple and # 342 Craig DeLong for the holeshot , but ultimately , it was DeLong who took the lead . Coastal GasGas Factory Racing ’ s Johnny Girroir took the lead early on the first lap and led the XC2 class for the entire race , and finishing seventh overall .
BABS Racing Yamaha / Fly / Maxxis / Pro Circuit ’ s Becca Sheets was able to keep ahead of AmPro Yamaha ’ s Rachael Archer and Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna ’ s Tayla Jones . Becca and Rachael are tied going into The General GNCC .
OVERALL
1 . Ben Kelley ( KTM ) 2 . Josh Strang ( Kaw ) 3 . Jordan Ashburn ( Hus ) 4 . Grant Baylor ( GG ) 5 . Josh Toth ( KTM ) 6 . Ricky Russell ( GG ) 7 . Johnny Girroir ( GG ) XC2 8 . Craig DeLong ( Hus ) XC2 9 . Layne Michael ( Yam ) 10 . Mike Witkowski ( Yam ) XC2
“ I got off into the lead on the first lap and kind of never looked back ,” said Girroir . “ I just took each lap as it came . It was really rough out there . I just tried to stay smooth . I had a big crash on the second-to-last lap , and I ripped my glove off . It kind of scared me a little bit , but I just kept cruising again and got another glove and rode it out to the end .”
VOL . 6 ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2021 // PAGE 53