2022 Camp Coker Bullet GNCC Results

Shan Moore | April 12, 2022

It seems there’s no stopping Ben Kelley. The FMF/KTM rider rode away to his fifth win of the season, this one coming at this weekend’s Camp Coker Bullet GNCC in Society Hills, South Carolina, April 10. That’s five in a row now for Kelley and it appears that there’s a trend developing.

Ben Kelley at 2022 Camp Coker Bullet GNCC — **Ben Kelley seems to be the new ruler of GNCC racing. He won again, this time at the Camp Coker Bullet GNCC in Society Hill, South Carolina.**

Photos by Ken Hill

“This track last year, it beat me down,” said Kelley. “I dropped the anchor heavy and just had a rough race. Coming into it today, I did all the right things and I felt good. I was ready for the start this time.”

After passing Jordan Ashburn (Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna), Kelley ran down Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell on the first lap to take the lead and then, despite a couple of falls, steadily pulled away to a two-minute-11-second margin of victory.

Ashburn, who came into the race riding a wave of momentum having posted three straight podium finishes, also passed Russell and ran a solid second until lap four when a mechanical glitch left him sitting on the side of the trail for nearly two minutes before he could rejoin the fray just inside the top-10.

“It was an ECU issue, and the bike just shut down and wouldn’t restart,” Ashburn said.

Ashburn managed to salvage a few precious points with sixth overall.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna teammates Trevor Bollinger and Craig DeLong were hooked in a back and forth that would see the two battling over third place midway into the race. Bollinger eventually claimed second overall, while DeLong dropped to fifth at the finish.

Trevor Bollinger at 2022 Camp Coker Bullet GNCC — **Trevor Bollinger gave chase but still finished more than two minutes down from Kelley.**

“I had a bit of an issue when I pulled my gas cap,” Bollinger said. “I lost the vent that was in the gas tank so when they filled me up with gas, all the gas was pouring all over me. It went through the overflow and splashed me in my goggles, so I had to stop and try to put those back on, and I got caught by third. I put a big push after I lost all that time, but I kind of over-exerted myself. It put me in a hole for the last lap of the race.”

Bollinger’s runner-up finish was an improvement over his third overall at the previous race.

“It feels good to be back where I was when I was when I was fighting Kailub and Thad for race wins,” said Bollinger. “I feel like I know how to race again.”

Rev Motorsports GasGas’ Grant Baylor turned in his best performance since winning last year’s opener at Big Buck with third overall.

“I just got a little anxious on the line and hit the throttle too soon and the bike didn’t fire at the start, so that put me in a bad position,” said Baylor. “I passed a few guys on the first lap, and after that, I just tried to fall into my groove. Second lap, I was coming across a real fast field section and just went straight into the trees. I hit a braking bump or something as soon as I hit the tree line and it just lawn-darted me straight into a pine tree headfirst. Kind of knocked myself silly there on the second lap and I lost sight of Trevor. On the last lap, I knew I was catching DeLong, but I didn’t know it was for a podium.”

Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ryder Lafferty grabbed his first-ever XC-2 250 Pro division win with a third overall finish. Lafferty passed early class leader Angus Riordan (RPM Racing KTM) on the first lap, and then after a battle with AmPro Yamaha’s Mike Witkowski, pulled away for a solid win.

Ryder Lafferty at 2022 Camp Coker Bullet GNCC — **Ryder Lafferty topped the XC2 Pro class in fourth overall.**

Ricky Russell, who was making his return from a shoulder injury, led most of the opening lap, but backed it down a bit after having a big swap on the first lap. Russell held on for a seventh-overall finish, crossing the finish just four seconds ahead of Babbitts Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green’s Lyndon Snodgrass. Snodgrass was second in the XC-2 250 Pro division with his eighth overall finish.

Mike Witkowski battled with Lafferty for the class win, but a hard crash dropped the Yamaha rider to ninth overall.

Seven-Sixty Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Ben Nelko rounded out the top 10.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna/Surge Off-Road Coaching Team’s Tayla Jones passed early leader Kori Steede (Trail Jesters Racing KTM) to take the win in the WXC class.

“I was in third early on, but I ended up going down, and then catching back up again super-fast,” said Jones. “Then going into the second lap, I caught up to Kori Steede in first and then ended up making the pass about midway through and we battled it out for over a lap. Then I ended up pulling a gap.”

Tayla Jones at 2022 Camp Coker Bullet GNCC — **Tayla Jones (pictured) had more than a minute on Korie Steede to win the Women’s class.**

Steede held on for second place ahead of AmPro Yamaha’s Rachel Archer. FXR/KTM’s Shelby Turner was fourth and Raines Racing Yamaha’s Prestin Raines fifth.

Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Brody Johnson claimed his third win of the season in the FMF XC-3 125 Pro-Am, beating out XC/Moose Racing/XC Gear’s Zack Hayes and Enthusiast Inc/Moose Racing/MX Tech’s Hunter Neuwirth.