Kailub Russell Tops Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro

Kit Palmer | October 13, 2014

Kailub Russell won the Kenda Full Gas Spring Enduro in South Carolina. Photography by Mark Kariya

Kailub Russell was the overall winner at the inaugural Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro in South Carolina. Photography by Mark Kariya

For the first time, a “Sprint Enduro” was held on U.S. soil that was heavily supported by some of the factory-backed teams. Sprint Enduros are popular in Europe and might have their place in the U.S. in the very near future, as well.

Sprint Enduros need only a relatively small area of land, just big enough to support a few special-test sections that can be used two, three, four, five or even six times per day. There are no transfer sections, with the start and finish areas all located near the staging/pit area. No special equipment, such as timekeeping devices, is needed. Scoring is simple—each rider is timed through each special test and the rider with the lowest accumulative time at the end of the day/weekend is the overall winner.

The inaugural Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro was held in Union, South Carolina, October 11-12, at the Big Buck Farm, and it was FMF/KTM’s Kailub Russell taking the win. The recently crowned GNCC champ set the tone with the quickest time and never let up.

Finishing second to Russell was AmPro Yamaha’s Daniel Milner who edged out fellow Australian Josh Strang by six seconds.

Fourth overall went to Beta’s Cory Buttrick, while former National Enduro Champion, FMF KTM’s Charlie Mullins rounded out the top five overall.

Many of the riders used this event as a warm-up for the upcoming ISDE, where, more often than not, the outcome is based on the riders/teams’ score in the special tests, similar to the ones used in the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro.