Cory Buttrick has had this one coming for a long time.
The SRT Off-Road KTM rider has contested every single round of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series since it launched three years ago, but he has never had better than a fourth-place finish to show for it. That is, until last Sunday, when Buttrick went from never having been on the podium to vaulting all the way to the top with during round six of the series in Brazil, Indiana, after two tough days of competition.
Buttrick got things rolling by finishing second in the first special test of the weekend, but he came back and won the second test. Buttrick then struggled in the next couple tests, but he remained consistent enough throughout the day to remain in the overall lead by 34.4 seconds heading into Day 2.
Buttrick kept the pressure on his competition during Day 2, finishing second to Thad DuVall in the opening special test, but when DuVall also won the second special test, he began
to eat into Buttrick’s overall lead. Buttrick responded by winning the third and fourth special tests, and although DuVall countered by winning the final two tests and won the day by eight seconds, Buttrick still had enough time in hand to secure the overall win by just under 25 seconds.
“You definitely couldn’t force the issue out here, it was definitely slick and definitely easy to end up hitting the deck,” Buttrick said afterward. “Thad got me by a couple seconds in the first cross test today, and I knew we could handle that. Then he got me by six seconds in the first enduro test, and I thought that I better wick it back up. Today Thad gave me a couple of more presents with crashes that let me build the gap back up, and after that I just stayed consistent and tried to keep it upright.”
DuVall finished second overall, while Ricky Russell was consistent on Sunday and clinched third overall, ahead of Drew Higgins and Mike Witkowski.
2016 Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series
Staunton MX
Brazil, Indiana’
Results: July 30-31, 2016 (Round 6 of 8)
Overall
1. Cory Buttrick–KTM/1:16:25.578
2. Thad DuVall-His/1:16:51.092
3. Ricky Russell-Suz/1:17:36.880
4. Drew Higgins-KTM/1:18:53.497
5. Mike Witkowski-KTM/1:18:55.869
6. Austin Lee-Yam/1:19:13.203
7. Billy Schlag-KTM/1:19:37.505
8. Jacob Rowland-Hus/1:19:55.262
9. Cody Pingley-KTM/1:20:33.959
10. Tristian Stumbo-Yam/1:22:06.549
2016 Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series Points Standings (after 6 of 8 rounds)
1. Thad DuVall-267
2. Josh Strange-213
3. Cory Buttrick-211
4. Daniel Milner-165
5. Layne Michael-136
6. Drew Higgins-128
7. Russell Bobbitt-117
8. Clayton Gerstner-94
9. Ryan Sipes-84
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