Cycle News Staff | December 25, 2015
By Brett Smith
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN HILL
When he heard the “pop” Kailub Russell also heard two very likely championship titles go crashing out the window. That pop he heard, while competing at the ISDE in Slovakia, was the ACL ligament in his knee tearing, which would normally put a sudden, and lengthy, stop to anyone’s activities, especially a motorcycle racer’s. But Kailub couldn’t stop; he had some unfinished business to take care of, like sewing up two of this country’s most prestigious off-road championships, which he, did in fact, go on to do in the 2015 GNCC and AMA National Enduro Series, which is something no one before him had ever done—win these two titles in the same year. And that’s not all, by winning the Enduro title, he and his dad, Jeff, became the first father and son to win AMA titles in the same category. The icing on his 2015 cake was that he also wrapped up the inaugural Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Championship earlier this summer. Yes, it was a remarkable year for Kailub who impressed our editors so much that we unanimously selected him as our 2015 Cycle News Rider of the Year—Editor
You can read the original magazine story by clicking HERE.
On the afternoon of October 4, 2015, Kailub Russell sat in a hospital chair and tried to ignore any discomfort he was having in his right knee. Cradled in his arms was a swaddled newborn—two days old—that sported a full shock of thick, dark brown hair. Russell has never had much to say and now, sitting in the maternity ward of the Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, he was completely speechless. His audience was seven and a half pounds, 20-inches long and, aside from the odd gurgles and squawks, also says nothing. So they stare at each other. When Russell won the Kenda AMA National Enduro title 10 days earlier, he joked that he had wrapped up three championships in 2015—GNCC, Enduro, Full Gas Sprint Enduro—but he still had one more to go. His son, Krue Kees Russell, was the final major achievement in a historic year for the Russell family.
Although he couldn’t stop smiling at the baby-sized burrito in his arms, it was hard to not think about what was going on 400 miles to the north at the base of a wind farm in western Pennsylvania. The Amsoil Grand National Cross Country Series held its 11th round on a day so foggy the six 213-foot tall windmills were lost in the haze blanketing the Allegheny Mountains. Russell had not missed a GNCC race since March 2006—when he was a 200 A rider—and his streak of 126 consecutive starts was suddenly halted. For perspective on this obscure ironman-like feat, two-time Monster Energy Supercross Champion Chad Reed has the most all-time consecutive starts in his own sport: 116.
Between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. Russell periodically checked the live timing and scoring feed to see how his colleagues were doing. As if learning to care for one’s firstborn wasn’t strange enough, Russell couldn’t shake the feeling of how odd it was to not be racing. He knew he’d achieved everything expected of him and beyond in 2015 but there was something awkward about knowing that a race was happening and he wasn’t in it.
“I felt empty and fulfilled all at the same time,” he said of enjoying time with his newborn son on the afternoon of the Mountain Ridge GNCC.
But Russell can’t blame his absence on little Krue. Inside his right knee was an exploded ligament that looked like a piece of frayed and shredded silk ribbon. In less than two weeks he was going to be the patient in the hospital when his anterior cruciate ligament was scheduled for reconstruction. Nearly a month had passed since Russell tore his ACL at the International Six Days Enduro in Kosice, Slovakia. He went through hell unsuccessfully trying to finish his duty to Team USA, came home, and went through two more bouts of torture to win the GNCC and Enduro Championships. Enjoying the first few days of his son’s life is merely a respite from the rigors of rehab because March 6, the day another GNCC title defense begins, will be less than five months away from the date of surgery.
GNCC has seen domination before; in 36 years the series has only crowned 14 different champions and Ed Lojak alone has won a quarter of the titles—nine of the first 10. But Kailub Russell possibly hit the zenith of American off-road accomplishments in 2015. In August, he wrapped up the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Championship after winning five of the eight points-paying races. A third consecutive GNCC title and his first-ever AMA National Enduro crown were only a late September roll through the woods away. He had won eight of the nine GNCC races and had enough points to clinch at round 10 of 13. In Enduro, he had been consistent enough to end the chase at the penultimate round. However, the 90th ISDE in Slovakia came before that business could be buttoned up and Russell’s efforts after day one—September 7—put him and Team USA at the top of the individual and overall World Trophy standings.
On the morning of day three, Team USA sat second overall but Russell’s right knee was hurting him so much he couldn’t straighten it or put weight on it. In the final special test of day two, he dabbed his foot and caught his toe on the ground, which twisted the lower right leg and knee. His times were not affected and he was individually third overall and first in the E1 division. Despite the stiffness and the pain that shot through his knee when he made the slight rotation inward to reach the brake pedal, Russell won the first special test of day three. In the second test he dropped into a ditch and jammed his right leg into the ground. The knee straightened completely and he heard a loud “pop.” He didn’t crash but he knew he was in trouble because the pain was so dire he folded over the handlebars.
“I couldn’t stand and I couldn’t get my foot on the peg,” Russell said. “I finished but I wasn’t riding well. I knew then my Six Days was over.”
Team USA physician, Dr. James McGee said the support staff was aware of Russell’s pain and he was ready at a checkpoint between tests two and three. On the side of the trail they pulled Kailub’s riding pants down, and jammed a needled directly into the middle of the knee joint to start draining it. McGee looked up at Jeff Russell, Kailub’s father, a six-time ISDE Team USA member and the 1991 AMA National Enduro Champion.
“If we don’t see blood come out, we’re good,” McGee said. Blood poured into the syringe immediately.
“Uh oh.”
Russell was given an anti-inflammatory to help the pain but it also numbed the knee. He lost almost seven minutes yet soldiered through the third test. In the fourth he crashed on a steep hill and his bike cartwheeled to the bottom. Hurting and now over 30 minutes down, he returned to the Team USA paddock. At 9:00 p.m. the following evening, Russell was flat on his back in an MRI machine at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hospital. The following afternoon, while his teammate Ryan Sipes was only one special test away from becoming the first American to win the ISDE individual overall, Kailub received the MRI results from Dr. Bonhomme J. Prud’Homme: his ACL was fully disrupted and his MCL had nicks in it. There was bone bruising in his tibia, fibula and femur and one of his two menisci was sprained.
Russell heard the diagnosis, processed it, and inquired about some unfinished business he had in the woods nine days out. “If you race next weekend,” Dr. Prud’Homme said, “I give you a 75% chance of ruining your meniscus and tearing your MCL.”
Injuries have not been a big part of Russell’s career but winning titles has been. He’s only had to focus on championships and race wins, not healing up. “That was a $100,000 phone call I got,” Russell said of the doctor’s advice to walk away from the racing season. He was determined to win the championships and he consulted his family and Antti Kallonen, KTM Off-Road’s team manager to determine when. Four rounds of GNCC remained and two rounds of Enduro. The longer he waited the more time his knee could heal and adapt to compensate for lacking an ACL. But a longer delay also meant he would be shortening his post-surgery recovery time to be ready for 2016. He split the difference and scheduled the surgery for October 15. That would give him two chances to wrap up both titles. “There’s no way I couldn’t try this and live with myself,” Russell said.
Dr. McGee came to the Unadilla GNCC on September 20. He taped Kailub’s right knee so it was supported in a riding position at a 75-80 degree bend and modified an Asterisk knee brace for Russell’s specific needs. The brace was locked in a manner that gave him only a limited range of motion and an ACL tether was attached from the brace to the boot. The top of his boot was also tightly taped to prevent twisting as much as possible. He couldn’t fully stand or sit and he was advised to never stick his foot out.
“There was pain in his face. I don’t know how he did it.” Dr. McGee said of his observation of Kailub’s emotions during the pit stop. “Picture doing a squat for three hours! But when you’re going through a title chase you’re willing to go through some pain.”
Kallonen knew that his rider only needed a top five if Grant Baylor was the winner. At the green flag his bike didn’t start right away and neither did his body; he felt sluggish and stiff. He spent the first 90 minutes of the race warming up and learning to compensate for his weak knee. He eschewed pre-race shots and medication.
“I wanted to know if I was tearing it up further,” he said. “I wanted to feel it.”
The champ bounced between seventh and eighth for the first five laps but at the halfway point he felt more comfortable and stronger. On the seventh and final lap he moved into fourth and set the fastest time for that split. The championship was secure but it was his worst finish of the year and he was sick about it.
“I’ve always told Antti, ‘The day I can’t win is the day I’m done racing’ and that’s what Unadilla felt like,” Russell said. “It’s really hard for me to think about being beaten. I can’t explain what I’ve made myself into. Sometimes I don’t like the person I created when I start racing. I hate losing more than I love winning. ”
One week later he had to do it all over again but this time his scenario was a bit more complicated because three other riders—Russell Bobbitt, Steward Baylor and Grant Baylor—were still in the title chase. Kailub knew he had to beat Bobbitt in any scenario and he wasn’t optimistic; the enduro series wasn’t his strongest discipline and it wasn’t even a title he planned on trying to win when the season started on February 1. According to Kallonen, Russell asked in early January to ride some Enduro rounds before the GNCC series began. Two-time champion and KTM rider Charlie Mullins was still recovering from double wrist injuries and Kallonen asked Russell what his plans would be if he did well. They agreed to race the first three rounds and reevaluate. Russell took three consecutive runner-up finishes, led the championship, and committed to seeing the series through to the end.
“It ended up being really special,” Kallonen said.
The second-to-last round was the Black Coal in Lynnville, Indian, and Kallonen was nervous. He’d seen the troubles that come with riders competing while injured and the emotions involved. Russell is the first rider he’s ever been able to work with from a young age; he was a Team KTM rider as a teenager and Kallonen was very aware of the kid’s astuteness and determination. At the Black Coal he reminded his franchise rider that he understood if he didn’t feel up to competing.
“I’m so close and I don’t know if I’ll ever have this opportunity again to win this championship,” Kallonen remembers Russell telling him.
Like at Unadilla, he started slow. At the end of the third section he pulled up to his father, Jeff.
“It came apart again. [The knee] popped again,” Jeff Russell remembers his son telling him. “And to get anything out of Kailub in the middle of the race is pretty tough.”
Ryan Sipes won, Chris Bach was second and Russell was third, good enough to win the National Enduro title and become the first rider ever to take the GNCC and Enduro Championships in the same year. Only Charlie Mullins has one of each title.
The Enduro title was special to Kailub not only because he now shares a record with his father, but because he had the opportunity of sharing the experience with him. That’s something he doesn’t get in GNCC with his dad being the leader of the trail crew and other family members involved in the promotions company that runs the series. Jeff admits that he actually goes out of his way to avoid his son on GNCC race weekends. At the enduro events and ISDE he wears the team shirt and gets to be a dad. The Russells are the first father/son combo to claim the same major professional motorcycle championship since Kenny Roberts Sr. (1978-1980) and Kenny Roberts Jr. (2000) won the FIM 500cc World Road Racing titles.
“It meant a lot to my dad,” Kailub said. “Since I’ve been a professional, enduro has been the only racing that my dad has been able to be there in full support. He was chasing me around the woods and that was nice to see.”
In 2016, Russell will throttle back on his two-wheeled commitments. The first round of enduro is February 7, much too soon to expect to be 100% healthy. He has called on former champions such as Mike Lafferty and Destry Abbott for advice on returning from injury. Abbott said it’s natural to be mentally unsure coming into the first race back from a major injury.
“Once he dabs that foot a few times and sees that it’s a 100%, then he can say ‘Okay, we’re good to go,’” Abbott said.
Russell is optimistic about being ready to win a fourth consecutive GNCC title, a feat only Ed Lojak (1980-1984 and 1986-1989) has accomplished. His 30 career wins put him third on the all-time list, three behind Rodney Smith and 16 in back of Scott Summers.
“I’ll be 100% and it will be like it never happened,” Russell said. “I don’t see any problem with coming back. Lots of people come back from this.”
However, first he needs to learn the art of changing diapers and soothe a crying infant. Those skills could be a bit more challenging.
You can read the original magazine story by clicking HERE.