On The Pegs March 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 3 | Page 93

On The Pegs
Vol. 4 Issue 3 - March 2019
P 93
Kailub Russell picked up where he left off four years ago by
winning the opening round of the 2019 Kenda Full Gas Sprint
Enduro Series in Gaston, South Carolina. Russell last raced the
series in 2015, when he won the series title.
Russell stunned the field when he won the opening test of
the weekend by a whopping eight seconds, but the remain-
ing tests were more competitive and Babbitt’s Monster Energy
Kawasaki’s Josh Strang was able to win the second day of ac-
tion en route to second overall behind the FMF KTM-backed
Russell.
The event boasted a record turnout, with nearly 440 riders
showing up to do battle at the series opener.
In all, Russell won five of the six tests on Saturday and two
of six on Sunday to claim the overall win by 35 seconds over
Strang.
Strang, who was making his first appearance with the new
Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki team at the South Carolina
race, improved from fourth place on Saturday to first place on
Sunday en route to second place overall. The Aussie off-road
star won three tests on Sunday to edge Russell by four sec-
onds to win the Sunday round.
In his first race since November due to an injury he suffered
last year, Thad DuVall turned in a promising performance
and posted the fastest time in two of the tests (one on each
day), but a “bad” test on each day kept the Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna rider from challenging for the win. On Saturday,
DuVall lost his brakes in the Enduro test and on Sunday he
crashed.
“It definitely wasn’t without a struggle,” DuVall said about his
weekend. “I just had one bad test on each day, and that cost
me. I just need to brush up on my sprint speed and I’ll be all
right. I turned in some good times and I won the last test on
each day, but I just had a bad moment on each day.”
Josh Toth underwent “arm pump” surgery on each arm just
15 days before the South Carolina race, but still managed to