On The Pegs June 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 6 | Page 83

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 7 - July 2020
83
S RUSSELL
rom hydration issues during the final two laps of the Bulldog
position to battle with the factory KTM rider for the lead, dep
him cool during the race. On the final lap, Ricky and Kailub
his femoral artery.
RICKY’S TAKE
Neear the end, I was in second and I could see Kailub multiple laps in a row in
the same spot, so I knew he wasn’t getting away. I was matching his speed. Then
with two to go, I kind of picked it up a little. Then all of a sudden, as we were finishing
that lap he was right in front of me. I’m like, well, here we go, it’s time to make
something happen. I got up to him and it was just not the normal Kailub. I saw a lot
of mistakes. People were dumping water on him because I think he was burning up
and he was hot. It wasn’t his normal character where he’s on point until the end. So
I knew I had a little edge. I got right up to him as we came out into the field by the
start. That’s about the three-mile marker. I was able to make the pass. Got around
him and I was like, sweet. I just need to get through this field and I’ll be good. Well,
he was riding pretty defensively so he made a super quick attack that was really
aggressive in the field where he came straight across one of the corners and we hit.
It actually pushed us both off the track. He was just kind of I guess a little bit desperate
because he knew it was going to be going back into the woods and it was
dusty as can be. I just kind of caught him. So he kind of admitted to me he was a
little bit on the defensive side of things. Anyway, I was a little flustered after I got hit
by him. I was kind of like, man, that was aggressive. But I guess it is the last lap and
he’s going to race me hard. So then we came into the next woods section. He kind
of slowed her down a little bit. In my head I was thinking, man, we can’t slow down
too much. Strang’s not too far back. The last thing I want to do is go from a possible
first to a third. I was trying to make something happen. I had another line pi
cked out. Where it was right off the start there, there was a split where if you went
right it was smooth, and just went straight all the way down and connected to the