Cycle News Staff | February 21, 2023
New team, new responsibilities, big win! Steward Baylor came away with a dominating victory at the Big Buck GNCC, round one of the Grand National Cross Country Series in Union, South Carolina, all the while managing his own team during the 2023 season backed by Tely Energy Racing/Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM Racing.
The South Carolina rider took control of the three-hour race early on lap one and never looked back, thumping his chest as he crossed the finish line at the halfway point, showing the remainder of the competition that they had their work cut out for them. Steward was certainly one of the favorites going into the race, but it was still impressive how he dominated the race.
Steward Baylor crushed the competition at the GNCC opener in South Carolina. Photos: Ken Hill
“I took the lead at the end of lap one and at that point there was a section of the course where I had a couple of sneaky inside lines and I was able to put a gap on the rest of the of the guys,” said Steward. “It’s easy once you get out of sight of the rest of the riders just to run up some time and I was just able to pull away from the pack.” At the finish, Baylor had nearly 35 seconds on second place.
Baylor takes the points lead with the opening win.
Although he was day-to-day as far as deciding if he was healthy enough to race the Big Buck, FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Ben Kelley, who dominated all of the first five rounds of the 2022 season before a devastating leg injury put him on the sidelines for the remainder of the year, rode to an impressive second overall.
“My expectations coming into this race were pretty low, honestly,” said Kelley. “After the Sumter National Enduro, I kind of messed up my leg a bit and was really unsure if I was going to even race. So, I made the call Friday after pretty much sitting around for two weeks to give it a try. It went better than I expected. I felt like I rode good. My leg held up. It was a whole lot of pain, for sure and held me back a bit, but overall, I felt like I rode really good. I would have been really happy with a top ten, so to come away with second place is pretty unreal.”
Ben Kelley came into the race injured and with low expectations, but he came away with second place.
Surprisingly, Kelley worked his way to the front from a mediocre start.
“I didn’t have the best start,” said Kelley. “I was definitely back in the pack. I was kind of just feeling it out for a bit because obviously struggling with my leg and not riding, I just decided to do the best I could and started picking guys off. I think at the end of the first lap maybe I was in third place behind Ricky Russell, and Stew was out front. Then Ricky and I battled up until… well, essentially, we battled the whole race, but I got into second on lap three and then still he was within 10 seconds of me pretty much the whole rest of the race.”
Ben Kelley is back after winning the first five rounds of the 2022 season.
Russell, who was four weeks out from collarbone surgery, ended the race in third, as Kelley indicated, another five seconds back.
“I just got really tight at the beginning,” said Russell. “I was trying to chase Stew and he was going really fast, so I was just trying to be the older, wiser person and not crash myself out like a lot of people do up here at Big Buck because it’s sketchy here. So, I kind of just waited until I loosened up, and then Ben got around me and I just was able to latch on. Really, it didn’t seem too bad. Towards the end, I was trying to give her a push to get hopefully by him. Every time I’d catch up to him, I’d crash, or a lapper would screw me up and he’d get a little ways away and then I was able to catch back up. So, the speed was there. I’ve just got to work on little things in that last hour.”
Ricky Russell was just four weeks out from suffering a broken collarbone but got on the podium anyway.
Defending series champ Jordan Ashburn was fourth overall on his Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna, while fifth went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Craig DeLong after starting the race in seventh. The two battled for positions late in the race.
“I kind of struggled to make moves on the first lap, was a little bit behind, but got moving into my groove from the second through the fifth lap or so,” said DeLong. “I made a pass into fourth going into the last lap and held it for about halfway through it, but I struggled with some lapped riders and some different lines, so I went back to fifth and that’s where I finished. I’m frustrated with that, what happened at the end of the race, but we will look ahead to round two now and see what we can do there.”
Defending GNCC champ Jordan Ashburn just missed getting on the podium with fourth place.
Grant Baylor, making his GNCC debut with Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki, got off to one of his signature slow starts and had to work his way up into sixth by the finish.
“I was next to last going into woods,” said Grant. “I fell a couple of times and it was hard to pass, so I basically had to just wait for guy to make a mistake in order to get by. On the next-to-last lap, I slid off the ridge, which cost me about 20 seconds to get going again.”
Thad Duvall, still returning to form from injury, finished seventh, exactly 10 seconds ahead of his Coastal Racing GasGas teammate Ryder Lafferty, who was eighth overall and first in the XC 2 250 Pro division, despite feeling a bit under the weather.
Ryder Lafferty took the Pro 2 class win.
“Ever since the enduro, I’ve had a little cold that I’ve been fighting,” said Lafferty. “I was dealing with it after the enduro, and then it almost felt like I got it again Thursday leading up to the race. Just congestion and nose stuff. I had a game plan to kind of just hang out and with it being the first race and let everybody kind of do their deal. I had a good start and I saw leaders, and I was in a good spot the whole race. I waited until the end to put on a charge and try and get to the lead. It was hard to pass, but I got it done and came out with the win.”
Defending XC 2 Pro 250 class champion Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Lyndon Snodgrass was second in class and ninth overall while, RPM Racing’s Angus Riordan was 10th overall and third in the XC 2 250 Pro division.
XC2 Podium
Trail Jesters Racing’s KTM’s Korie Steede took top honors in the WXC race, finishing a mere 0.75 seconds ahead of defending WXC Champion AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer with GasGas’ Rachel Gutish in third.
Korie Steede fought hard for the WXC win. She won by less than a second over defending class champ Rachael Archer.
“I got off to the holeshot, but I struggled a little bit and Archer got around me,” said Steede. “I kind of hung out about 10 seconds behind her until lap four, where I caught her and passed her for the lead. After that, we kind of went back and forth, but I was feeling really good so I just waited for the right time, and on the last lap I passed her for good and got the win.”
2022 WXC champ Rachael Archer, finishing second.
Toby Cleveland (Yam) took the win in the FMF XC-3 125 Pro-Am class with fellow KTM riders Dakota Devore and Zach Hayes in second and third. CN
OVERALL RESULTS
- Steward Baylor (KTM)
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Ricky Russell (Yam)
- Jordan Ashburn (Hus)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Grant Baylor (Kaw)
- Thad DuVall (Hus)
- Ryder Lafferty (GG) XC2 Pro
- Lyndon Snodgrass (Kaw) XC2 Pro
- Angus Riordan (KTM) XC2 Pro
