Lake Sugar Tree Sprint Enduro
Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 9:45PM
“long time coming” – Strang wins Lake Sugar Tree Sprint Enduro
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Josh Strang ends an almost two years win drought with victory at last weekend’s Full Gas Sprint Enduro at Lake Sugar Tree.
Aussie off-road star, Josh Strang ended a lean period away from the top step of the podium by taking victory at round three of the 2018 Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series at Lake Sugar Tree Raceway near Axton, Virginia: “This was a long time coming, and that’s what makes it special,” said Josh from the podium.
Strang last won a round of the Sprint Enduro series on August 16, 2016, at the Rockcrusher Sprint Enduro in Georgia. not long after he suffered a foot injury during ISDE competition that same year, which proved a major setback. For just over a year now, josh has worked hard to regain the speed that once carried him to the 2010 GNCC title.
“I feel like I’ve been getting a little faster with each race, but I got off on the wrong foot this weekend and I wasn’t sure I could recover,” said Strang. “I crashed in the first test on Saturday and lost a lot of time, so I was riding from behind right from the get-go. I just kept grinding away at it and I was able to make up some time and finish second for the day.”
On Sunday, Strang was consistently in the top three throughout the six tests, winning test five outright – a Cross test, bringing to an end Ryan Sipes’ undefeated status in 2018 Cross tests.
After 12 tests and two days of racing, Strang took the overall win by 17 seconds from Layne Micheal. After the race, Strang revealed that he has changed a few things with his technique.
“I’ve been working on a few things since the last race,” said Strang. “One of them was not using my rear brake as much. At the last race I think I needed five sets of rear brake pads and a complete brake line, this weekend I didn’t even change pads.”
With the win, Strang moved ahead of Grant Baylor and into third overall in the series standings.
Layne Michael struggled with the muddy conditions on Saturday but came on strong during Sunday’s event with the track tacking up after a wet and slippery previous day. The KR4 Husqvarna rider scored two test wins on Sunday to finish runner-up to Strang.
“Things started off a little rough, I think I struggled with the conditions on Saturday,” said Michael, who was fifth at the end of the first day. “The conditions were a lot more to my liking today. The only thing I struggled with was staying off the ground in the Cross test.”
The Enduro test was Michael’s strong point and that’s where both of his wins came, although he was third in the final Cross test behind Steward Baylor and Ryan Sipes.
Ryan Sipes rounded out a Husqvarna podium, 22 seconds behind Michael after winning five of the six Cross tests yet struggling in the Enduro tests.
“I’m surprised to finish third considering how I rode this weekend,” said Sipes. “I had a few falls in the Enduro test, but even when I didn’t fall I was just off the pace.
“I haven’t ridden in the woods in about a month and it really showed when I got in the Enduro test.”
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