Cycle News Staff | November 14, 2016
Thad Duvall headed into the final round of the 2016 KENDA Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series presented by Moose Racing in Union, SC, November 12-13, with a commanding points lead and could’ve easily put it on cruise control and clinched the championship, but that just isn’t Thad’s style. Duvall had won two individual days of racing in this year’s series but hadn’t been able to put together an overall win, and he was determined to put an exclamation point on his title-winning season.
The Union, SC area hadn’t seen a drop of rain in over six weeks leading up to the event so riders dealt with very dry and dusty conditions on day one. Series points leader, Duvall was the first to hit the track and used the clear vision to his advantage, grabbing the first test win of the day, the enduro test, by less than a second ahead of his ISDE-winning teammate, Layne Michael.
Duvall’s lead was short-lived as Michael took the second test win by over three seconds.
The third and fourth tests of the day saw new test winners, as well. Evan Smith took the second Enduro Test win in his return to the series after injuring his shoulder at the third round, marking his first-ever FGSE test win. Then ISDE Junior Team member, Grant Baylor, took the win by just a second ahead of Duvall in the second cross test.
The points leader would rebound with the final cross test win of day one to move himself to the top of the leaderboard with a 14-second lead ahead of Grant Baylor. Michael sat just another second back in third ahead of Smith, Cory Buttrick and Josh Toth all of whom were separated by just five seconds heading into the second day of racing.
Racing conditions did a complete 180 on Sunday with rain beginning to fall early in the morning turning what was one of the dustiest races of the year into a much more slippery affair for the first tests of the day.
Beta-mounted Jordan Ashburn, known for his mud-riding ability, took the first enduro test win of the day ahead of Josh Toth and Layne Michael. Duvall, who used the first place starting position to his advantage on day one, struggled as the first rider on the test in the mud and finished fourth, 7-seconds behind Ashburn.
Buttrick struggled on day one but started to find his rhythm on day two with a test win in the first cross test of the day, besting Michael by two seconds with Duvall another four seconds back.
Duvall built his lead to a comfortable margin with commanding performances in the enduro test, taking the final two wins on that test for the weekend.
“It feels good to get the win and the championship,” said Duvall. “This was my first win of the season, but I’ve been consistent all year, with a lot of seconds and thirds, and that’s the name of the game,” said Duvall. “I’ve been close before but this is the first one I was able to put together two strong days,” he added.
Michael topped the final cross test win to put himself in a solid second-place position. Toth rebounded from a sixth-place finish on day one for a much stronger performance on day two in the slick conditions, good enough to clinch the final podium position on the weekend, his first-ever Full Gas Sprint Enduro podium.
Australian Mackenzie Tricker took her third Women’s Pro class win of the season ahead of Kendall LaFollette with Brooke Cosner finishing in third after a flat tire in the last test dropped her back. Cosner would, however, clinch the Women’s Pro Class championship.
Results:
- Thad Duvall (Hus)
- Layne Michael (Hus)
- Josh Toth (KTM)
- Grant Baylor (Yam)
- Cory Buttrick (KTM)
- Jordan Ashburn (Beta)
- Evan Smith (KTM)
- Andrew DeLong (Hus)
- Cory Gragg (KTM)
- Zach Hayes (KTM)