Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1546787
Tyler Medaglia Tyler Medaglia The ba les in the pro classes this weekend were best described as "epic", with heavy-hi ers and close margins in both categories, star ng from the very first moment of racing: the prologue race for "gate pick" (row pick) for the weekend's racing. In the prologue test, past winner Evan Smith (USA, KTM) took a three-second win, and the $500 bonus that comes with it, over defending champion Tyler Medaglia (CAN, YAM), with newcomer Ricky Russell (USA, KAW) taking third. In the women's pro divi- sion, Shelby Turner (CAN, TRI) and Rachel Gu sh (USA, RIE), both former Cord winners, were sepa- rated by six seconds, with the Canadian coming out on top and taking home the bonus. Meg Sharpless (CAN, KTM) rounded out the prologue podium. Saturday, the margins were s ll excep onally narrow, with the top four – Medaglia, Smith, Tyler Vore (USA, TRI) and Russell separated by only seventeen seconds. The riders pushed their bikes into impound knowing it could s ll be anyone's game tomorrow, especially as the tests on day two are known to be more technical than the day one tests. Maybe this is what gave Russell the boost he needed. Or maybe he just found his foo ng, racing his first Cord (or see what Russell himself has to say in his interview on page 13). Regardless, he went on an absolute tear, winning six of eight tests and burying his compe on by over three-and-a- half minutes to take the overall win at his first-ever Corduroy Enduro! Though three- me defending champ Medaglia came up short on 4x, he s ll maintained a second-place finish over Vore by a moderate thirty-second gap. For third-place Vore and fourth-place Smith, though, the race for third came down to the wire, with only two seconds separa ng them.