over a minute and a half over the rest of the XC2 field , with Snodgrass all alone in third ahead of Phoenix Racing Honda ’ s Cody Barnes and Am-Pro Yamaha ’ s Mike Witkowski . At the check in of the white flag , Draper would lose pace and come through in third . Moving inside the top five for the first time in the race was Phoenix Honda ’ s Ruy Barbosa . When the checkered flag came out , it was Girroir with more than a four-minute lead over Snodgrass , with Barbosa moving from fifth to third on the last lap to round out the podium . Barnes would take fourth ahead of Witkowski . MCS Racing Kawasaki ’ s Benjamin Herrera would finish sixth ahead of Draper , with RPM Racing KTM ’ s Gus Riordan , with Coastal GasGas ’ Ryder Lafferty and Trail Jester KTM ’ s Simon Johnson rounding out the top ten .
With the buzzing sound of 125s lighting off the line in the XC3 125 Pro-Am class , it was Lojak ’ s Yamaha mounted Zach Gareis grabbing the holeshot . Shortly after , Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna ’ s Brody Johnson would take the lead . Behind the points leader came Liqui-Moly Factory Beta ’ s Jason Lipscomb , GasGas privateer Max Fernandez , and 2020 champion Ride Battery Park Off-road KTM ’ s Zack Hayes . The front four would drop to three as Hayes and Lipscomb kept the gap to Johnson to less than ten seconds . At the end of the race , Johnson would stretch out the lead
JORDAN ASHBURN
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 122