August 2020 -- Vol 4 -- Issue 8 August 2020 | Page 110

On The Pegs 110
and was riding right behind Kailub,” said Toth. “I
came right into the Penton section and me and Kailub
kind of missed a turn and Ben was able to seak
by us. I latched on and I was really comfortable with
the pace. Happy with where I was at. Late in the lap,
once you cross the road, I went across the street and
after you go through a checkpoint there was a long,
sweeping, downhill right. There’s a big drop-off on
the left side. I got bucked and the rear wheel just
floated above the ground, so I had no braking power.
I went straight off this cliff, like third or fourth gear. I
was so lucky to walk away from it. I landed way down
there in the woods and my bike was in a barbed wire
fence. I was just gassed getting my bike out of there.
Being up there, I was comfortable but that took literally
all my energy right there. So I went from top
three right in the lead to middle of XC2. When I came
out of there, I just put my head down and picked my
way back through and made a couple passes and got
back up battling for the fifth-place spot. Got really
close to make some moves, but unfortunately I came
together with a lapper two laps to go really bad. Just
wasn’t my day.”
Toth went on to finish seventh overall, while Babbitt’s
Online/Team Green/Kawasaki’s Josh Strang
grabbed his seventh podium in a row with a second
overall.
“I got a better start this week,” said Strang. “I think
I just missed the button. I think I was fifth or something
maybe, sixth. I don’t know. Better than last
week. There was no dust today so it was easier to
make passes and stay at the front. It wasn’t too bad. I
didn’t feel great all day, just energy-wise, but felt like
I rode okay. Just that 20 seconds again. Couldn’t do
anything with it.
“Everything in the woods got fairly rutty and had
just the typical John Penton hard pack. You just had