In the highly contested seventh round of the United States AMA Grand National Cross Country Championship, Chile Ruy Barbosa (Phoenix Racing Honda) finished fifth, second in the XC2 class rankings for 250 cc motorcycles and 1 point off the new leader , his partner and winner of the day, Cody Barnes.
The race was tough and fast on the 11-mile (17,699-metre) circuit, through which competitors raced through five turns, with the fastest American Cody Barnes clocking 2 hours 56 minutes 24 seconds for the 100 thousandths, which he went on to win. . Command the series in ranking.
He was joined by New Zealander Liam Draper with 2:56’25″179, local Michael Witkowski with 2:59’02″259, Australian Angus Riordan with 2:59’15″530 and Chilean Ruy Barbosa 2. :59′ 29″318.
The Honda brand started as the national class leader, however, they found it difficult to adjust to the circuit and the muddy ground following the rain on Saturday. His runs of five laps were 5th, 5th, 3rd, 5th and 4th, but his predecessors Witkowski and Riordan overtook him by 27 and 14 seconds, chipping away at the points that would have kept him first in the rankings.
“I could have been third, but on the last lap I got stuck on an uphill, losing valuable seconds. I was not at the level of the previous race because I ran the race with a lot of back problems, with severe pain, in the last A product of injuries. We have to keep fighting. There are still five dates left in the GNCC”, commented Ruy Barbosa.
The leader now by 1 point is Cody Barnes with 146 units, followed by Ruy Barbosa with 145, Liam Draper with 134, Angus Riordan with 131, Ryder Lafferty with 127 and Michael Witkowski with 112.
The next date for the Grand National Cross Country Championships (GNCC) will be held on Sunday, June 4, at the Mason Dixon Circuit in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. The other tournament the Chilean is participating in, the US Sprint Enduro AMA, will take place on May 27 and 28 in Deliner, Pennsylvania, where he is third in the 250cc rankings.
