Shan Moore | April 19, 2021
AmPro Yamaha’s Steward Baylor clawed his way back into the championship conversation with an impressive victory at the Tiger Run GNCC at Big Buck Farm near Union, South Carolina, April 17-18. It served as round five of the championship.
Having missed the series opener due to injury, followed up by a disappointing 14th-place finish at round two of the series, Steward has since been on a rampage, amassing three-straight victories, which has drawn the South Carolina rider to within 10 points of championship leader Ben Kelley in the standings.
Racing at Big Buck Farm for the second time this year, Steward made it look all too easy, considering the dusty conditions, with an uncharacteristic solid and measured approach.
“This was one of those tracks where it’s easy to throw it away, and in a big way,” said Steward. “It has been really dry here in South Carolina, so I put myself close to the leader, and the plan was to sprint as soon as I got in the lead. Once in the lead, I knew I could control the pace and that’s what we did all day. Just trying to know my marks and not mess up any.”
Steward got off the line within the top five, but after pacing early leader Ricky Russell for a lap, Steward made the pass for the lead and, just as planned, sprinted away.
“It was tough for me to get up on Ricky and put myself in a position to make a pass because of the dust, but after the first lap, kind of keying off him, I knew where I needed to be and how close I needed to be to make a pass. I knew of a line that he missed the first time around. And I knew it was in a place where there wasn’t much dust and we could put ourselves in a solid position and hopefully make that pass, and that’s what we did.”
Once in the lead, Steward was laser-focused on the track conditions, which were difficult due to the extremely dry conditions, however, he admitted that once in the lead he couldn’t help but keep a running total of the point situation in the back of his mind.
“Ben’s strongest races are towards the end of the year, so I’ve got to move and get as many points as I can before that end part of the year,” said Steward. “I just need to make sure that I can put myself in a solid position before it comes down to those last five rounds.”
After a couple of disappointing finishes in 2021, Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell turned in a stellar performance at Big Buck to claim the runner-up slot. Russell passed Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna Racing’s Thad Duvall (making a return to racing following an injury he suffered at the opening Sprint Enduro of the season) not long after the start, and then led until Steward passed him on lap two.
FMF/KTM’s Ben Kelley pushed Russell near the end of the race, but came up just short and settled for third overall. Despite the finish, Kelley extended his lead over Grant Baylor in the championship chase.
“I knew it was going to be a tough day with these dry conditions,” said Kelley. “You just can’t see so it’s kind of dangerous, and the track was super-fast today. But all in all, I was just kind of third all day. I could see Ricky there a few times and was trying to reel him in, but we were just kind of yo-yo-ing back and forth and I wasn’t able to capitalize.”
After five rounds, Kelley sits atop the overall standings with 107 points, followed by Grant Baylor with 98 and Steward Baylor with 97.
KLM Milwaukee GasGas’ Grant Baylor was fourth overall. After getting off the line close to the back of the pack, Grant was able to work his way up through the dust to finish fourth, missing the podium by just less than a minute.
AmPro Yamaha’s Layne Michael was fifth overall, which was his best finish of the season.
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Jordan Ashburn, who came into the race sitting fourth in points having posted two podium finishes, was sixth overall, 1 minute, 36 seconds behind Michael.
Despite suffering a few crashes early in the race, Coastal GasGas’ Johnny Girroir came away with his fourth-straight XC2 250 Pro-class win with a seventh overall performance.
“I really had my work cut out for me and had to work hard because of a couple of crashes,” said Girroir. “I knew I was fit and I knew I could do it so I pushed hard and I made it happen the last couple laps.”
Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna Racing’s Trevor Bollinger returned from injury for an eighth overall. According to Bollinger, he’s in good shape, but his speed is not there just yet.
Bollinger’s Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna Racing teammate Craig DeLong was ninth overall and second in the XC2 250 Pro class.
FMF/KTM’s Josh Toth rounded out the top 10.
Third in the XC2 250 Pro class and 11th overall was Beta USA’s Thorn Devlin.
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Jonathan Johnson remained undefeated in the FMF XC3 125cc Pro-Am class with a dominating performance that saw him top Lojak Cycle Sales/Yamaha’s Chase Colville by nearly four minutes. Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ben Parsons was third.
BABS Racing Yamaha/Fly/Maxxis/Pro Circuit’s Becca Sheets passed AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer early in the race and held on to claim the overall victory in the WXC Women’s Pro class.
Archer led early in the race, but dropped off the pace during the late stages, allowing Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green’s Korie Steede and Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Tayla Jones to move into second and third, respectively.
Archer and Sheets came into the Tiger Run with two wins and two second-place finishes each. With the win, Sheets takes over the point lead ahead of Archer.
Shan Moore
2021 Grand National Cross-Country Championship
Round 5
Tiger Run GNCC
Big Buck Farm
Union, South Carolina
RESULTS (April 17-18, 2021)
OVERALL (Top 10)
1. |
Steward Baylor |
(Yam) |
2. |
Ricky Russell |
(GG) |
3. |
Ben Kelley |
(KTM) |
4. |
Grant Baylor |
(GG) |
5. |
Layne Michael |
(Yam) |
6. |
Jordan Ashburn |
(Hus) |
7. |
Johnny Girroir |
(GG) |
8. |
Trevor Bollinger |
(Hus) |
9. |
Craig DeLong |
(Hus) |
10. |
Josh Toth |
(KTM) |