Also on the XC2 line was Jesse Ansley as the green flag waved, as he had a less than ideal start but as the riders headed out into the woods he found himself mid pack amongst his competitors. Throughout the first lap Ansley found himself battling in one of the front packs of riders as he said, “that was a big improvement for myself, and I was glad I could run that speed.” After some mistakes and lost time on the 2nd lap, Ansley found his groove and began riding stronger as he got to know the track and felt more comfortable overall. While on the 4th lap Jesse took a spill where he hit his head very hard causing a concussion, and after taking some time to regroup and regain his bearings he made the tough decision to call it a day and not risk injuring himself more. After the race Ansley started “It sucks but it’s racing, I really liked the technical aspect of the track and I thought I was riding good until I crashed. I’m going to take the proper time to let everything heal and get back to it as soon as I can.”

Taylor Johnston once again lined up in the WXC class as the green flag waved and started the race, Johnston had a pretty good start and headed off into the woods confident on her technical riding skills on this tougher track. As the class battled for positions throughout the first lap, Johnston checked in at the end of the lap in 7^th place position. As they headed into the next lap Johnston made the pass for 6th place in a technical rock garden, then held the 6th place position the whole first half of the race. It was then that Johnston found herself tangled with a lapper on a hill where she lost about 4 minutes being stuck and falling back to 7th place, but after getting going again she put her head down and made the push to make up ground. With a last lap pass, a very determined Johnston made the pass to overtake the next competitor and would finish the race 6th in her class, her best finish of the season. Thrilled on her personal best, Johnston is already striving to do better as she said, “My goal for the remainder of the year is to make it in the top 5, which won’t be an easy feat; the field has been pretty stacked all season long, but I’m determined to get there.”

On the 150A class line Brayden Nolette was off with a decent start and headed out into the woods sitting in 4th in his class. Nolette had a hard time keeping the bike straight due to set up not being 100% for the rough and rocky terrain, but the conditions were just like back at home so he quickly found himself in a flow and started to take advantage of course.  At the end of the first lap Brayden sat 3rd in his class with 2nd place just 1 second in front of him. From there it was an all out battle the entire 3 hour race for the 2nd and 3rd place position between Nolette and his competitor. Brayden was able to move up into 2nd place on the next lap, and hold that position until the fourth lap where he fell back to 3rd again just 22 second behind 2nd place. Nolette put on a last lap charge and made the pass ending his day 2nd in 150A and 34th overall. With the four races left, Nolette said “my goals are simple, is to do my best, learn as much as I can, and grab the 150A championship for 2020.”