On The Pegs February 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 2 | Page 59

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 2 - FEBRUARY 2020
59
BEN KELLEY
ro win...
Having not ridden a national enduro in over a year, Ben Kelley surprised a few
people by leading most of the Sumter Enduro and then preforming under pressure
to pull out the overall victory in the final test. Maybe the only person not surprised
was Kelley himself.
“I wouldn’t say it was a surprise, but it was the first race of the year and being that
it’s a national enduro and I don’t really ride the tight stuff that often, it was just
an unknown,” said Kelley. “But I did good here in 2018. I ended up third. I’ve been
working hard this off-season so I just didn’t really think about it much. I just tried to
ride the best I could. After winning the first two tests, I was a little surprised, but just
because I felt good but I didn’t feel like I was pushing the limit like crazy. I was just
being smooth. Just tried to stay like that all day and it worked out.
“I think I was leading all day and then I think both the Baylor’s got me there on
the fifth test. I was down two seconds to Stew with one test remaining. It was going
to be another long, ten-mile test so I just tried to go out there and ride fast and be
smooth and stay off the ground. I was able to do that and hit my marks for the most
part. I felt like I flowed good. I came out of the test and wasn’t sure how I did and
found out that I won that test, so I won the day. I was stoked. My first-ever national
enduro win, after a year of not racing them. I just felt really good. Just stoked to get
the win.
“I felt good in test five, those guys just beat me. For the most part, I felt good all
day too. I stayed on two wheels. Just stalled the bike a few times and had little mis-
takes but nothing crazy. For the most part I rode really good.
“I felt really good at the end of last year. I just took some time off for sure, but had
some fun mountain biking and staying in shape. So I didn’t really lose my base or
anything. I’ve been down at Ranch Russell in Florida for the past four weeks just rid-
ing and training hard. I felt like it came back quick. My speed is good. My endurance
is good. Overall just feeling good. I feel like I sustained from last season.
“We got a little bit of tight woods down at Kailub’s, so I’ve been familiar with it. I’ve
been riding a 450 full-time, but for this race I jumped down to a 350. Just felt a lot
more nimble and I could throw it around more. It felt good in the tight stuff.”