On The Pegs June 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 6 | Page 130
On The Pegs
P 130
JORDAN ASHBURN
“It was pretty muddy when we started on
Saturday and I was able to win that first test,
which put me in good shape,” said Ashburn.
“I felt really comfortable in that first test but
it ended up being shortened because of the
conditions, and I think that took away my ad-
vantage, so I was trying to make up for that in
the Cross test and it just didn’t happen.”
Tely Racing KTM-backed Steward Baylor
rounded out the top six, finishing 24 seconds
behind Ashburn. Meanwhile, Beta USA’s Mike
Witkowsi claimed his best finish of the year in
seventh.
Ohio motocrosser Mario Testa was eighth
overall on a borrowed KTM, while SRT Rac-
ing’s Evan Smith finished a heartbreaking
ninth overall after winning Saturday’s round.
Smith turned in his best performance of the
season on Saturday and was in good shape to
take the overall win for the weekend, when a
thrown chain in test four on Sunday threw a
wrench in the works and left him with a DNF
for the test.
“That’s dirt bike racing,” Smith said after
the race. “I was feeling good on Saturday and
I think I just had fewer mistakes than every-
one else. I felt strong and fast and I carried
that momentum into Sunday’s race, but in
the fourth test a rock hit the chain guide and
threw the chain off and it ended up getting
wrapped up in the countershaft sprocket.”
Ohio rider James Justice finished off the top
10 on a KTM.
In the Pro2 class, Braxton McGee took top
honors on a Husqvarna, finishing almost a
minute ahead of KTM-mounted Cole Mat-
tison. The win was Braxton’s first in the Pro2
class.
“It feels good to win one of these things,”
said McGee. “I started off with two bad tests
so I was trying to push hard to overcome that.
I was battling all weekend with Cole and he