2020 Mountaineer GNCC | Race Recap & Highlights

September 16, 2020

2020 MOUNTAINEER GNCC | COMPLETE COVERAGE

After spending the hot summer months on break, the 2020 Grand National Cross Country Series started its run through the remaining rounds of the tour with the 2020 Mountaineer GNCC. It had been two months since the last time riders ripped through the woods, but with only five rounds left on the calendar (four confirmed and one TBA), everyone knows that they need to stack results and move up the championship standings.

If you follow off-road racing, then you know it’s been an especially strange year for Steward Baylor. Signed to race for the FactoryONE Sherco team in the 2020 season, the rider and team abruptly split when the series went on pause in the spring for reasons that are still somewhat unclear. Faced with an uncertain future, Baylor watched from the sidelines, sorted out details in his own program, bought a few bikes, and competed at select events around the East Coast. The AmPro Yamaha team announced that they’d back Baylor at the Mountaineer round just as the summer break came to a close.

Baylor’s inclusion in the entry list made the XC1 class even more competitive, and while few expected him to end the track with the overall win, that’s exactly what he did. Near the front in the early moments of the race, he moved up the running order when early leader Kailub Russell ran wide in the woods and put his FMF/KTM Racing bike into a precarious position between rocks, creeks, and trees; Russell eventually pulled the bike out of the brush and rejoined the race at the tail of the field.

Russell’s mistake actually allowed his FMF/KTM Racing teammate Ben Kelley to take control of the race and put Baylor a close second. The two diced for the lead and by the time Baylor caught and got around Kelley in the middle of the hours-long run, they were nearly a minute ahead of the pack. From there, Baylor padded his lead to nearly a minute over Kelley and won his first GNCC of the season.

The charge from last to third that Russell put in was very impressive, especially since he doesn’t have to push it that hard through the rest of the year. The defending champion came into the weekend well ahead of the others in the point standings and his closest competitor, Josh Strang, is out with an injury. Still, Russell raced hard for every position and the third-place result gave him even more of an advantage over the rest, which is now 63 points over Josh Strang and 113 points over Jordan Ashburn.

It was an eventful day in the XC2 class. Johnny Girroir took the win, his fourth of the season, and the Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s rider was able to run an impressive pace that put him in third overall (combined XC1 and XC2) but also took practically all of his energy. Tely Energy Racing/KTM’s Liam Draper and AmPro Yamaha/St. Lawrence Radiology’s Mike Witkowski rounded out the podium, results that they earned after charges from further back in the field. Girroir’s win was made even more important by the fourth-place finish that Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Craig DeLong posted, as the two are now tied for the top spot in the championship standings.

XC1 Pro Event Results

1. Steward Baylor Jr.
2. Benjamin Kelley
3. Kailub Russell
4. Grant Baylor
5. Jordan Ashburn
6. Layne Michael
7. Andrew Delong
8. Joshua Toth

Overall National Championship Standings

XC2 250 Pro Event Results

1. Jonathan Girroir
2. Liam Draper
3. Michael Witkowski
4. Craig Delong
5. Ryder Lafferty
6. Cody Barnes
7. Thorn Devlin
8. Lyndon Snodgrass
9. Jonathan Johnson
10. Samuel Evans