On The Pegs July 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 7 | Page 80

On The Pegs 80
FMF/KTM’S Kailub Russell got back to his winning
ways in Pennsylvania by grabbing his fifth win in
six rounds at round six of the Grnad National Cross
Country Series held at High Point Raceway at Mount
Morris, topping Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/
Team Green Kawasaki’s Josh Strang by 12 seconds
for the at the finish.
Strang has been consistent, for sure, grabbing a
win, three second-place finishes and two thirds in
the six rounds held so far, but it was Russell who was
the start today, even though he felt he rode poorly.
To be fair, most of the riders, including Strang, were
not happy about thier performances due to the
track being slippery, for sure.
“I got a pretty good start,” said Russell. “I felt pretty
good straightaway. I’ve been struggling a little bit
so I did a little bit of a warmup routine before the
race and I felt better the first half a lap. I was able to
stretch it out but then got into lappers and I kind of
tanked myself. It’s just frustrating. I’m glad to win but
I’m not really happy with the ride, to be honest with
you. I know it’s part of the sport, but those “lappers”
are so slow and it’s dangerous. It’s just frustrating.
That’s all I can say.”
Strang was a little more comfortable with his ride,
but not completely satisfied after winning in South
Carolina just two weeks before.
Strang admitted to bothcing the start and was a
ways down the order heading into the woods to
start lap one.
“I don’t know what happened on the start,” said
Strang. “I did some practice starts earlier and was
fairly confident. I must have just got a handful of
gas or something. It took me a lap and a half before
I passed anyone. So, I wasn’t happy with how I was