in the mix up until the fifth test , but then I struggled and just missed my marks and I got beat straight up . That ’ s where I lost all my time . It ’ s frustrating when you ’ re there and you ’ re in the mix , and then you kind of just fall off the pace a little bit .”
Josh Toth rounded out the top five . The FMF / KTM rider won the opening test of the day , and backed it up with a third in test two , but caught his foot on a stump buried in the narrow trail , which caused him to slow his pace in the final few sections .
“ I ’ m pretty disappointed with fifth place , but overall , the conditions were good ,” said Toth . “ The trails were fun . A little sketchy at times with the brush and stuff , but I didn ’ t ride bad . Just a little cautious on cutting the corners and straightlining some of the stuff with all the stumps .”
Having led the series midway into the season , Coastal Racing GasGas ’ Ryder Lafferty came into the race a little banged up and ended up having an off day to finish sixth .
“ A couple weeks ago , I had a crash and did something to my shoulder and it ’ s kind of been lingering ,” said Lafferty . “ Then last weekend , I had a good crash at the GNCC and did it again and I busted my fingers up . It feels like I ' m riding with one arm . I had this gash on my finger , and then Friday night I woke up and it was throbbing real bad . It got infected and it ’ s kind of swollen up pretty big and it ’ s tough to hold on . That was my biggest thing today .”
Beta USA ’ s Jonathon Johnson rode a steady , mistake-free race to top the NE Pro2 division with a seventh overall .
“ I was able to stay off the ground pretty much all day and just had a pretty good day ,” said Jonathon .
Steel City Honda-rider Ben Nelko was eighth overall and second in the NE Pro 2 division , despite riding with an injured leg .
“ I came into it with a torn PCL , meniscus , and a possibly fractured tibia , so I wasn ’ t really expecting too much ,” said Nelko . “ I struggled a little bit in tests one through three , but I picked it up in the final three tests .”
Beta USA ’ s Evan Smith scored consistently inside the top 10 to finished ninth overall and seventh NE Pro 1 rider .
Magna1 Husqvarna ’ s Brody Johnson rounded out the top 10 overall and was third in the NE Pro2 class .
“ I won the first test in the Pro2 class but I think I ended up losing a lot of time on test three and the last test ,” said Brody . “ I think I was close to 45 seconds or so off Ben and Jonathan there . For the most part , we didn ’ t have any crashes or anything , just a good , smooth day , and I ’ m happy to be back on a podium .”
VOL . 7 ISSUE 10 - OCTOBER 2022 // PAGE 109