FMF KTM’s Kailub Russell may not be in for a perfect season, but he scored a perfect victory at round four of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series. Photography by Andrew Fredrickson
After having his perfect season in the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series spoiled by Daniel Milner at the third round of the series, FMF/KTM’s Kailub Russell admitted that he was coming into round four at Rockcrusher Farm on the North Carolina/Georgia border with one thing on his mind, winning.
Russell was the first to hit the 2.5-mile cross test on Saturday morning and laid down a 5:46.5 test time, with his main rival Milner coming just 2.5-seconds slower, seemingly setting the stage for a two-man duel similar to round three just two weeks earlier.
But in just the second test of the day – the enduro test – Russell would open up a commanding lead over Milner after putting down a blistering 7:47.8 test time on the 3.75-mile woods loop, a full 12 seconds faster than the N-Fab AmPro Yamaha rider, who was also beaten by Bobbitt.
With a 14-second lead after just two tests, Russell could’ve ridden conservatively and not taken chances but he continued to push the pace throughout the day winning all six tests and setting his fastest times in the last tests of the day.
Milner got within a second of Kailub in his best effort on the cross test, but would end the day 24 seconds behind the KTM rider and series points leader.
While the Australian seemed to find his groove towards the end of the day, a chance at a second-day win would not be in the cards for Milner as he was hospitalized early Sunday morning for severe stomach pains and kept overnight for observation. Milner was released from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
RideMPS.com Honda’s Layne Michael, preparing for his first ISDE in September as a Team USA Junior Team member, ended day one in fourth place behind Russell, Milner and Bobbitt. Factory Beta’s Cory Buttrick was fifth with Raines Riding University/Offroadviking.com/Yamaha’s Ricky Russell in sixth.
The battle for top amateur would see Evan Smith and Triston Landrum work their way into the top-10 overall in seventh and eighth, respectively, with just 13-seconds separating the two. Max Tannenbaum and Grant Baylor would round out the top-10.
With Milner out for the second day of racing, a podium position opened up, and the battle between Bobbitt, Michael and Ricky Russell for runner-up honors was intense. While Kailub Russell would continue his dominance, winning every special test, Bobbitt and Michael’s test times were very close throughout the day with Michael besting the FMF/KTM rider on two out of three attempts at the cross test.
“I’m happy with how I was riding,” said Bobbitt. “I felt consistently smooth and was picking good lines all day. I didn’t have any crashes on the first day and just one little one today. Layne and I were going back and forth on the tests today, which was really cool and kept it interesting. I just had fun fighting for every second and continuing to chip away and try to catch KR.”
“Yesterday I had a couple of crashes that made me lose some time to Russ, but he was riding good all weekend,” said Michael. “Overall I had a lot of fun and it’s good training for the Six Days, said third-place overall finisher Layne Michael. “These have been really good training getting me adjusted to the format and I feel really good [heading into the ISDE] I just need to cut down on the little mistakes and I think I’ll do pretty well over there.”
Kailub Russell would take the day win with a total time of 40:08.9 with Bobbitt coming in second for the day at 40:45.9 and Michael just 10-seconds behind him. Ricky Russell would continue to improve in only his second attempt at sprint enduro racing, leap-frogging Cory Buttrick in the overall standings to take fourth overall for the day and the weekend. Buttrick stayed consistent on his Beta 430RR and ended the weekend in fifth-place overall.
“I’ve lost the last two races I’ve done [Full Gas Sprint Enduro Round 3 and National Enduro Round 6] so I was pretty eager to get back to the center of the box,” said overall winner Kailub Russell. “Losing the last Sprint Enduro was pretty frustrating, I thought I had him there at the end and couldn’t pull through and ended up losing by 2.6 seconds. I knew I would have to ride even better today [than day one] to beat him and it’s unfortunate that he got sick and couldn’t make it. But overall I’m happy with how I rode taking all 12 test wins with no falls and making minimal mistakes,” added Russell.
N-Fab AmPro Yamaha’s Grant Baylor ended the weekend in sixth overall with Evan Smith taking Top Amater honors and seventh overall, 40-seconds ahead of his Lites A class competitor Triston Landrum in eighth. Yamaha teammates Ryan Belue and Brad Bakken rounded out the top 10.
The Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series will go on an early-fall break as many of its riders will be competing in the ISDE in Slovakia and the remaining GNCC and National Enduro rounds. Sprint Enduro racing will resume on November 14-15 at the Big Buck in Union, SC.
For complete event results and more information on the series visit SprintEnduro.com
Overall Results
1. Kailub Russell – 1:20:24
2. Russell Bobbitt – 1:21:48
3. Layne Michael – 1:22:22
4. Ricky Russell – 1:23:28
5. Cory Buttrick – 1:23:34
6. Grant Baylor – 1:25:16
7. Evan Smith – 1:25:36
8. Triston Landrum – 1:26:17
9. Ryan Belue – 1:26:40
10. Brad Bakken – 1:26:42
