The factory Husqvarna Endurocross and off-road star lands a third-place finish in Tennessee’s brutal TKO extreme enduro race
The following is a press release from Husqvarna North America:
Corona, CA – August 19, 2013 – Factory Husqvarna rider Cory Graffunder made the trek out to Sequatchie, Tennessee for the third annual Kenda Tennessee Knockout, America’s toughest extreme enduro. Graffunder and his TXC310R tackled the wet and slippery course, and ended the day with a hard-fought third place finish at the Trials Training Center.
“It was tough,” Graffunder said. “It was really wet. It rained all night and the morning of the race it didn’t dry out at all.” The wet conditions actually played to Cory’s advantage, and he admits he was “definitely stoked when it was raining. The rocks were slick and the dirt was clay – really slimy when it was wet. It would have been a completely different race if it was dry.”
Graffunder started the day off well by sailing through the qualifier races. “I just treated it like a trail ride and tried to conserve energy for the final,” Cory explained. “Those courses were really tough but I just wanted to get through it all and find some energy for the final.”
His strategy paid off, and as rider after rider pulled off the course during the eight-lap final, Cory pressed forward into the top-three. Though he badgered Taylor Robert in the last half of the race for second place, Graffunder ultimately settled in for a close third at the end of the day.
“I was pumped on that,” Cory said. “They actually took some of the sections out because it was too difficult after all the rain. I was bummed at first because I thought I could have done better with more hard sections, but if they would have left the one hill climb in I don’t know if we would have made it every lap. It was the perfect difficulty for that race.”
Be sure to follow Cory Graffunder and Team Husqvarna on Facebook or via Twitter @HusqvarnaNA.
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