Despite having wrapped up the title at the previous round, newly crowned GNCC champ Jordan Ashburn came into this weekend’s Buckwheat 100 GNCC in Newberg, West Virginia, with no intentions of taking it easy. And despite getting t-boned off the start, the Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna rider led one of the most competitive races of the year for most of the race. That is until AmPro Yamaha’s Steward Baylor caught fire and made a late-race charge, as he often does, and claimed the victory when late leader Ricky Russell crashed on a rocky uphill.
To the delight of the crowd, the West Virginia race featured some of the best racing of the season with as many as seven different leaders throughout, including XC2 Pro 250 riders Lyndon Snodgrass and Coastal Racing GasGas’ Jonathan Girroir who each led a short period during lap three on adjusted time. For most of the race, Ashburn, Baylor, Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell, FMF/KTM’s Josh Toth and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna teammates Craig DeLong and Thad Duvall ran nose to tail with less than a second between each.
Russell was the last to lead before Baylor took control. The Washington rider, Russell, looked very much like he might take his second win of the season, until a mishap on a rocky climb midway into the next-to-last lap cost him a chance at the victory and dropped him to ninth at the finish. Baylor went on to take the win.
“You could throw a blanket over us for the majority of the race today,” said Baylor. “I saw second, third, fourth come wheel to wheel to wheel. It was really good racing, but it was tough to make moves out there. It came down to just little things and it was frustrating, but I think that fired me up. That was when I turned it up and I started pushing. When I start seeing red, I start riding fast. So, luckily, I saw that Ricky had that mistake on the hill. I kind of hesitated, found a line, and attacked when I had to. From there, it was just trying not to make mistakes.”
Ashburn, “Mr. Consistency,” looked as aggressive as he’s been all year and came out swinging. Unfortunately, a few miscues held him back.
“I was ready to go today and tried to come out and get another win before the series is over this year,” said Ashburn. “I just got T-boned in the first corner and kind of busted my hand up. Kind of took me a while to figure out how to hold on and keep going. The track was sketchy, I knew it was going to be, and with everybody racing really right, I just tried to be smooth and keep it off the ground today.”
On lap three, Ashburn had a problem with his hydration system, which cost him a position.
“I was behind Thad [Duvall] and a rock hit my Camelbak and unclipped it,” said Ashburn. “I’m there for a whole lap, and I’m doing like moving my shoulders around trying to keep it on me. It took a little extra time in the pits to get everything back situated. I got back pretty far and had to try to make some passes. It was such a tough track to pass on. But I’m happy to get out of here with a second and we’ll go to the next round.”
Despite the setback, Ashburn managed to land on the podium in second overall, also passing Russell on the rocky hill.
Third went to Delong. Despite getting on the podium, Delong was disappointing with his performance since he came up just short of passing Ashburn for second.
“Good battle and a good fight there with Jordan in the end, fighting for that second-place spot,” said DeLong. “Then I had my teammate, Thad Duvall, on my rear, but managed to pull off a podium. Honestly, I’m not too pumped on my day. I just rode in the back all day long, and I’m like, ‘man, what am I doing?’ Two laps to go and I got to go. I just got to put my head down. I started picking some guys off, and I was fighting some stomach issues out there. I got up to Jordan on the last lap and actually got around him and stalled it. I was really struggling out there. I was just trying to get through it and then Thad caught me. I’m like, I can’t let up now. It was a good fight to the end.”
Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell had perhaps the most disappointing day of all, crashing out of the lead with two laps to go and finishing ninth.
“We started off a little just choo-choo training though the woods, and I had a couple lines that were, I thought, better, so I felt like I had more speed than the train we were in,” said Russell. “Stew was actually revving me because he was worried about the XC2 guys, but I was riding with the leaders so I wasn’t letting Stew by. Then once I got in the lead, the two-lap board came out and I was like, oh yeah. I felt really good because we kind of were going slower early. So, I put the hammer down and was able to pull a little cushion. Then came to the hill climb, and I clipped a little sapling tree on the way up and it kicked me a little sideways. I lost all my drive. I ghost-rode the bike right at the top, so the crowd caught it and then they pulled it up. Once I got it fired and got that going, I had dropped back to sixth or seventh. So, I was riding kind of aggressive for the next lap and a half, but then right when I caught up to the pack on that last lap, I clipped a little stump and broke my shifter off.”
Fourth overall went to Duvall, who grabbed the holeshot to start the race.
“It was a tight race all day—I got to lead some laps, which is something I haven’t done yet this year being hurt and all,” Duvall said. “It was weird being out front, but I enjoyed it. I had a little issue halfway through the race and kind of lost those guys. Last lap, I was able to put the hammer down and get to the rear wheel of DeLong and Jordan Asburn but just couldn’t make that happen.”
After six laps of wheel-to-wheel dicing with Girroir, Snodgrass took advantage of a fall by the GasGas rider to finish fifth overall, giving him the win in the XC2 Pro 250 class and the division championship.
“Johnny and I had a good race,” said Snodgrass. “I was leading for a little bit, and then I was following, then I was back in the lead, then following. I ended up getting back in the lead on the last lap when he had a fall, and I was able to get by him. Then he was right behind me again in the last couple miles and I just had to stay in front. Was able to do so and ended up being a really good day. The perfect way to wrap up the championship.”
Girroir was sixth overall and second in the XC2 250 Pro class, the first time all year he hasn’t won the class in the events he’s raced.
Tely Racing KTM’s Liam Draper turned in his best performance of the season to take seventh overall and third in the XC2 250 Pro class.
After starting the race in third, FMF/KTM’s Josh Toth broke his shift lever while climbing a hill and he was stuck in second gear, finishing eighth overall on the day.
“I got off to a good start—third place—and was fighting for the lead right off the bat,” said Toth. “It was probably six of us going back and forth for three or four laps. I was just kind of maintaining and pacing myself for the end of the race. The two-lap board came out, and I passed into third place. I hit a pretty tricky hillclimb. At the top, I came down in a rut, hit something and just snapped my shifter right off. So, I was kind of stuck in second gear for, I don’t know, a few miles until I was able to get back to the pit. We had a super quick swap, but the track was so fast so there was nothing really to separate us at the end.”
In the WXC class, Tayla Jones claimed her fifth win of the season. Despite DNFing a round, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna/Surge Off-Road Coaching Team-backed racer sits third overall in the class standings with one round remaining.
AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer finished second ahead of Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Korie Steede.
Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Brody Johnson wrapped up the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am class championship with a seventh-place finish. Meanwhile, Toby Cleveland (Yam) took the win, his first of the season, ahead of KTM-mounted Dakota Devore. CN
- Steward Baylor (Yam)
- Jordan Ashburn (Hus)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Thad Duvall (Hus)
- Lyndon Snodgrass (Kaw) XC2
- Jonathan Girroir (GG) XC2
- Liam Draper (KTM) XC2
- Josh Toth (KTM)
- Ricky Russell (GG)
- Ryder Lafferty (GG) XC2
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