Steward Baylor Earns Round One Win in South Carolina

The Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Specialized, an AMA National Championship, (GNCC Racing) concluded its season opener on Sunday, February 19, 2023. The VP Racing Fuels Big Buck GNCC saw 2,029 riders throughout the weekend.

As the green flag waved for the XC1 Open Pro riders, it was FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Jonathan Girroir getting the jump off the line and across the holeshot line for to earn himself the $250 All Balls Racing

XC1 Holeshot Award. However, it wouldn’t take long for Rocky Mountain/Tely Energy KTM Racing’s

Steward Baylor to make his way into the number one spot.

Aboard his new team and KTM machine, Baylor would continue to hold the lead for the duration of the three hour race. FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Benjamin Kelley would push his way into second, at one point catching Baylor and creating a 4 second gap between themselves. Unfortunately, Kelley would have a small tip over in the woods and the gap would increase once again. Baylor would cruise to earn the season opener win and put himself in a good position to battle for the National Championship.

Kelley would cross the line in second to start the season after a leg injury sidelined him in 2022. Kelley’s second place would not come easy though as AmPro Yamaha’s Ricky Russell would put up a fight. Russell would hold the second place position for the first couple of laps, but he would continue battling Kelley for the remaining laps of the race. Russell would close the gap to just five seconds but would be unable to make a pass for second. Russell would round out the podium at the Big Buck GNCC.

Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Jordan Ashburn, the defending GNCC National Champion, would battle his way up to fourth after starting back in the sixth place position. Ashburn would steadily work his way through the pack, crossing the line just seven seconds off of Russell.

Coming through to take fifth overall at the opening round was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Craig DeLong. As the race got underway DeLong would find himself running mid-pack in seventh on the opening couple of laps. As the race continued on DeLong would make the necessary passes to move into a top five spot as the checkered flag flew.

Aboard a new team for the 2023 season, Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green’s Grant Baylor came through to earn sixth overall on the day. Baylor, who missed the final two rounds of 2022 due to injury, came back on a new machine ready to battle.

Coastal GASGAS Factory Racing’s Thad Duvall would come through seventh on the day after starting at the back of the pack in 10th place. Duvall would work his way up to eighth and then make a pass for seventh as the two-lap card came out. Duvall remained seventh until the checkered flag flew.

Fighting his way back to eighth in the XC1 Open Pro class was Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/ Kawasaki Team Green’s Josh Strang. After starting out eighth in the class, Strang would fall back to 10th before making a push back to eighth by the end of the race.

GASGAS/FXR’s Layne Michael would come through to earn ninth in the class aboard his new GASGAS machine. After earning the holeshot Girroir would run fourth for the first couple of laps before having to make an extended pit stop and falling back to 10th in the XC1 Open Pro class. Our friends from the Japan National Cross Country (JNCC) Series came to race the Big Buck GNCC. Daiki Baba and Ryota Suzuki made their way to the United States to take part in round of the 2023 GNCC season, where they finished 11th and 12th in the XC1 class.

Unfortunately for Rocky Mountain/ Tely Energy KTM Racing’s Ben Nelko, he would only complete one lap of the race before his race day ended. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Trevor Bollinger was also unable to finish the race after completing one lap, Bollinger would suffer what looked to be a wrist injury.

In the XC2 250 Pro class it was Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/ Kawasaki Team Green’s Lyndon Snodgrass jumping off the line first to earn the $250 Steel City Men’s Clinic Holeshot Award. The XC2 class have some great racing battles throughout the day with lead changes happening throughout the duration of the race. Snodgrass would hold the lead for the majority of the race, but Coastal/GASGAS Factory Racing’s Ryder Lafferty was lurking and would make a last lap pass to take over the lead.

Lafferty would hold onto the lead to take the season opener win. Snodgrass would come through five seconds behind Lafferty. FMF/RPM

KTM Racing’s Angus Riordan made his way onto the XC2 class podium after battling back from a fourth place start to take over third as the checkered flag flew.

In the WXC Bike class, when the green flag waved, it was Trail Jester's Korie Steede who would grab the first holeshot of the season. For the first two laps it was a spread out race, with AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer leading the way, Steede in 2nd, GASGAS/Over and Out/RG Factory Racing’s Rachel

Gutish in 3rd, Shelby Turner in 4th, and Prestin Raines in 5th. Steede was slowly chipping away at the gap, and with less than two laps to go, the race was on. Battling wheel-to-wheel, Archer and Steede swapped places countless times fighting through lappers. Down to the checkered it was Steede who would take the win with Archer finishing only .76 seconds behind. Gutish held third the entire race to finish on the podium.

We had a chance to speak with Steede and Archer about their epic battle, and here's what they had to say:

"I had a stack on the second lap, and she pulled me in closer", says Archer. "Eventually we started hitting lappers and she caught up to me. We just started going back and forth. I made a mistake, blew a turn off a big braking bump and she got around me. She went down with a lapper, and I got around her again. I had some good lines and was just trying to be patient, but we got about a mile from the finish and there was a lapper in the inside rut I'd been taking all race. They kind of crossed over into the rut as I was trying to get passed and I had to almost stop. Korie took the outside and just rode right around me. We were about 40 seconds from the finish so there wasn't much I could do. I tried taking a different line through the straightaway right before the finish, but I couldn't get close enough to make the pass. It's definitely stressful when you battle like that, but it's definitely cool for the fans and keeps it interesting. It makes you a better rider."

"Something kind of just clicked inside of me," says Steede, "and I just really wanted to try and chase her down and not give up. That was really the first race for me where I was like, “You can do this.” That felt really good, that win meant so much to me. But yeah, coming down to the last two laps it was pretty intense. I caught her, she'd hit a lapper, go down, it was so intense just trying to stay off the ground. We'd get into a pack of lappers again and you'd just kind of overthink it. Then I'd follow the wrong guy, crash with him, and she'd get around me. Luckily about a quarter mile from the finish there was this one line to the right where these guys were pointing me all day. I remembered the line, she followed the lappers down the main line, I cut right on the good line and made the pass. I tried to just stay off the ground and make it to the finish line and it paid off. Obviously, it was a really close race, so this season is going to be intense. I enjoy the intense racing like that, unless it's the last lap and I'm like crapping my pants, it really gets your heart rate spiked, but it's fun!"

We also chatted with Rachel Gutish on her podium ride, here's what she had to say:

“By the time I got around some of the other girls off the start, Archer and Steede had both gapped me a bit,” said Gutish. “I don't think they were very far away because I kept getting flashes of them in the distance – but they were far enough away I couldn’t pace off them. They continued to gap me bit by bit as the race went on, about four minutes altogether. On the last lap I crashed and popped the quick release of my fuel line out. I panicked for a few minutes before having the presence of mind to look over the bike and find the issue. So, although I was six minutes down from the leader on the day, I’m only going to own four of it (laughs). Four isn’t a bad start and I look forward to trying to cut down on that time this season. As good as I feel on the bike, I expect to be a regular on the box this year.”

All three of last round’s podium contenders are confident heading into Florida, so we expect that the next round will be just as actionpacked as Big Buck. Archer believes her determination and setup will help her carry the day:

"Yeah I feel like I have a good set up this year, Feeling good in the sand. I always do pretty decent in the sand so it should be good. I'm a pretty gritty racer so whenever you start getting tired is when I can have an advantage over some other riders", says Archer. Steede also feels confident, though she took a more relaxed view of the event, saying she was “going to find a good flow, look for alligators, and have fun!”

Meanwhile, Gutish rates her enjoyment of the sand as only a 7/10 but says that even if it hasn’t always been her favorite, wintering in Florida has greatly improved her skills and she expects to be a contender.

XC1 PRO EVENT RESULTS:

1. Steward Baylor (KTM)

2. Benjamin Kelley (KTM)

3. Ricky Russell (YAM)

4. Jordan Ashburn (HQV)

5. Craig DeLong (HQV)

6. Grant Baylor (KAW)

7. Thad Duvall (GAS)

8. Josh Strang (KAW)

9. Layne Michael (GAS)

10. Jonathan Girroir (KTM)

OVERALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Steward Baylor (30)

2. Benjamin Kelley (25)

3. Ricky Russell (21)

4. Jordan Ashburn (18)

5. Craig DeLong (16)

6. Grant Baylor (15)

7. Thad Duvall (14)

8. Ryder Lafferty (13)

9. Lyndon Snodgrass (12)

10. Angus Riordan (11)