Steward Baylor must have been all smiles when he woke up to the sound of rain falling on the roof of his camper on Saturday morning at the Powerline GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio. The Red Bear Rocky Mountain Kawasaki riders are considered among the best mud riders on the GNCC circuit, and if there is a course on the schedule that is notorious for its mud, it’s the Ohio race, with its hard clay base that always develops a slimy coat on top. It creates the kind of mixture that makes pros look like amateurs.
Photos by Mack Faint
Rain fell all day Saturday during the quad races, wreaking havoc on the course, but then it lightened up on Sunday, making the traction even worse for the dirt bikes, as tacky mud clung to radiators, wheels, fenders, grips and seats.
Baylor grabbed a rare (for him) holeshot and led Am-Pro Yamaha’s Liam Draper and Flatrock Motorclub GasGas’ Jordan Ashburn into the opening lap.
“I haven’t had a holeshot since 2021,” Baylor laughed after the race. “I wasn’t sure what to do with a clear track ahead of me.”
The oldest of the Baylor brothers, from South Carolina, looked in total control of the old-school, technical course, confidently riding the slick mud. However, on lap two, Baylor tipped over at the 13-mile mark, allowing Ashburn to take the lead.
“I had a few mistakes out there,” admitted Baylor. “On the second lap, I went down, bent my bars, tweaked my front-end, and ruined my gloves. Luckily, we had the bike set up for mud, so I just pulled the covers off the grips and kept on going, trying to run down Ashburn.”
Baylor and Ashburn pushed each other during the remaining laps of the abbreviated five-lap race. Finally, Ashburn made a mistake, allowing Baylor to retake the lead.
“I got out early and I knew I had to make some passes really quick,” said Ashburn. “On the first lap, I made my way into second. I felt kind of flowy and just putting stuff together good, and kind of caught up to him, and then he crashed. I took the lead, and then I crashed. He got it back, and it was just like a yoyo effect.”
Ashburn made several pass attempts on the final lap, but Baylor would cut him off each time. Finally, Ashburn slid down, giving Baylor enough room to take the checkered flag uncontested, while Ashburn remounted for second overall.
“I came into this race with a chip on my shoulder,” said Baylor. “I felt like I should have won that last race in Tennessee. I told myself today was going to be do or die.”
Ashburn was less than a mile from taking the win when he went down.
“I was trying to take an inside to take Stew and I was turning and hit some roots under the water that I didn’t see in the soupy hole,’ said Ashburn. “I hit the front end and nearly face-planted in that water. I tried not to take my hands off the bars, trying to keep my gloves as dry as possible. Stew got around me, and my seat was slick after that. But I had some towels to put around the grips and got back going, but it was not enough. It’s good to be back on the podium, though.”
FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Landers’ Angus Riordan was tops in the XC2 Pro 250 class, which was also good enough for third overall.
“I was disappointed at the last round; it was a bit of a bummer,” said Riordan. “I was feeling good, and I had a lot of motivation. I had been training hard with Josh Strang these last few weeks, and we’ve been pushing each other. We did some testing during the week, but it was crazy conditions today. I had a good race.”
For the first lap, Draper ran second behind Baylor, but a mishap on a slick hill allowed Ashburn to take second. Draper spent the rest of the race riding solo, finishing third in the XC1 Pro class and fourth overall.
“I got off to a good start,” said Draper. “I knew Stew was going to have a good day, with the mud and the deep roots. I wanted to follow him, but I kind of screwed up a hill and lost touch with him and Jordan got around me. After that, I just kind of rode by myself for a while. Jordan pulled away but then I got back close to Stew and I just tried to put on a Sprint in that last lap because I knew the XC2 boys were coming. I gave it all I had.”
Phoenix Honda Racing’s Cody Barnes struggled with the deep ruts and then lost about 30 seconds on lap four when his bike died and was slow to start.
“I rode pretty good for the most part,” said Barnes. “I kind of struggled a bit when the mud tacked up and got heavy and the ruts got long. I had a couple of crashes from getting my legs caught up behind me in some of those long ruts and just having tip-overs. That kind of kind of threw my lead away in the XC2 class. I was challenging for the lead, but I just had a little bit of bad luck. My bike got so hot because the mud was so heavy that it ended up shutting off on me. It wouldn’t restart for a little bit. I felt like I rode pretty decent, I just need to keep working on those ruts.”
FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Landers’ Grant Davis, who has been amazing this year, had an off day, finishing sixth overall and third in the XC2 division.
XC2 Championship competitor Jason Tino, of the Flatrock Motorclub GasGas Factory Team, suffered a torn ACL and will have to sit out the rest of the season.
Liqui Moly Factory Beta rider Josh Strang beat out Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong by just five seconds for seventh.
XC2 riders Brody Johnson (Husqvarna) and Red Bear Rocky Mountain’s Josh Toth had an even closer finish, with Johnson edging Toth by four-tenths of a second to finish ninth and tenth, respectively. The duo finished fourth and fifth in the XC2 class, as well.
In the FMF XC3 125 class, Brody Johnson (Hon) grabbed the win, while Huck Jenkins (Honda) and Isaiah Brown (Yamaha) rounded out the top three in the class.
In the Women’s WXC class, Red Bear Rocky Mountain’s Rachael Archer (Kawasaki) took her third win of the year on Sunday morning. She completed the three-lap race in one hour and 34 minutes, nearly three minutes ahead of runner-up Shelby Turner (GasGas). Honda rider Tayla Jones was just 18 seconds behind Turner for third. Danielle McDonald (Yamaha) and Ava Silvestri (GasGas) rounded out the top five.
Archer leads the class championship by nine points over Korie Steede (Husqvarna), who was seventh on the day after overcoming some “unfortunate drama” in the muddy conditions. Jones is currently third, 19 points behind Steede.
2025 GNCC Round 6 Results
OVERALL
- Steward Baylor (Kaw)
- Jordan Ashburn (GG)
- Angus Riordan (KTM)
- Liam Draper (Yam)
- Cody Barnes (Hon)
- Grant Davis (KTM)
- Josh Strang (Bet)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Brody Johnson (Hon)
- Josh Toth (Kaw)
Click here for all the latest GNCC racing news.
