by Chase Stallo
Sign of the Lap Times: GNCC
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 | 9:40 AM
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PrintWith one of the most closely contested points battles in XC1 Class history coming down the stretch run, massive crowds embarked on Powerline Park in St. Clairsville, Ohio for round twelve of the Can-Am Grand National Cross Series (GNCC). Points leader Charlie Mullins had built a 17-point lead over defending champion Josh Strang, with Paul Whibley trying to stay within striking distance—25 points down—and 30 points are available for a race win. But this round would belong to XC1 rookie Kailub Russell. After getting around Mullins on the second lap—due to Mullins stalling his bike—Russell would cruise home to his first career XC1 overall, with Mullins recovering to finish second, and extending his points lead in the process.
With Russell spoiling the championship party—and Mullins running a clear-cut second—the battle for championship hopes was raging between Strang and Whibley, with Thad DuVall playing the role of spoiler. The three would bang bars all race long with DuVall and Whibley bringing the ruckus all the way to the final corner with Whibley getting pushed out wide and colliding head first into a small tree. Whibley would recover to outlast Strang, but lost valuable championship points with his fourth place finish. Mullins now holds a 26-point lead over Strang and a 32-point lead over Whibley with just three rounds remaining.
In the XC2 Pro Lites class Jordan Ashburn’s three-race winning streak came to a halt as points leader Steward Baylor Jr. lead start to finish to extend his already commanding points lead. Ashburn would finish second with Jason Thomas rounding out the podium.
Now onto the lap charts, brought to you by Motion Pro, to see how it all broke down.
GNCC
XC1 Pro Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Rider |
| 1 | 1 |
24:22.516 |
5 |
Kailub Russell |
| 2 |
3 | 24:30.036 | 7 |
Thad DuVall |
| 3 | 4 | 24:37.609 | 5 |
Paul Whibley |
| 4 | 2 | 24:44.047 | 2 |
Charlie Mullins |
| 5 | 5 | 24:48.875 | 6 |
Josh Strang |
| 6 | 11 | 25:01.140 | 2 |
Cory Buttrick |
| 7 | 6 | 25:32.828 | 2 |
Jimmy Jarrett |
| 8 |
7 | 25:38.360 | 4 |
Mike Lafferty |
| 9 | 9 | 25:42.281 | 2 |
Jesse Robinson |
| 10 | 10 | 25:44.500 | 2 |
Scott Watkins |
| 11 | 7 |
25:46.204 | 2 |
Mike Lafferty |
| 12 | 13 | 26:25.032 | 3 |
Jedediah Haines |
| 13 | 12 |
26:49.171 | 2 |
Eric Bailey |
XC2 Pro Lites Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 25:14.828 | 2 | Steward Baylor Jr |
| 2 |
2 |
25:33.734 | 2 | Jordan Ashburn |
| 3 | 5 |
25:44.703 | 2 | Andrew Delong |
| 4 | 6 |
25:48.219 | 2 | Morgan Moss |
| 5 | 3 |
25:52.953 | 2 | Jason Thomas |
| 6 | 13 |
26:06.625 | 2 | Ted Mullins |
| 7 | 4 |
26:10.250 | 2 | Rory Mead |
| 8 |
8 |
26:36.203 | 2 | AJ Stewart |
| 9 | 17 |
26:36.328 | 2 | Cody Gragg |
| 10 | 7 |
26:43.031 | 2 | Nick Davis |
| 11 | 15 |
26:51.891 | 3 | Ryan Echols |
| 12 | 9 |
26:53.797 | 2 | Steven Squire |
| 13 | 18 |
27:01.750 | 3 | Zack Nolan |
| 14 | 10 |
27:05.672 | 2 | Ryan Lojak |
| 15 | 12 |
27:20.657 | 2 | Michael McGinnis |
| 16 | 11 |
27:42.282 | 3 | Zach Smith |
| 17 | 14 |
29:03.453 | 2 | Trevor Cobb |
| 18 | 16 |
29:31.219 | 4 | Jared Jordan |
| 19 | 19 |
34:31.093 | 2 | David Kilgore |
Russell would set the fastest lap of the day en route to his first career victory
Photo: Shan Moore
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No MX sucks!! This is what we have come too!! LOL
Hey BillC hope you are joking I enjoyed all of the Cross Country races I did they are fun. I have raced everything but Road Race and Speedway I think?? I dont know for sure OH so sorrry I never got to race the Mile in organized competion, so sad......
Off-road racing is like baseball or golf. Its a blast to do but watching it is a bore.
Gotta give those guys props though, it takes skill and heart to keep up the intensity for three hours. The GNCC articles I personally don't mind. The quad stuff makes me want to vomit.
I say keep it coming, great to check-in on the off-road scene. Sure, spectator wise it's not as exciting, but these guys are friggin' amazing. Look at the top moto heads like Brown, they come in and have to work like crazy to get on the box.
The quads on the other hand I really don't care for BUT when it comes to preserving the sport and the right to ride WE ARE ALL ONE ON THAT!!
Welker YES I joke. I have Raced everything as well and LOVE woods riding still. I just miss MX a bit LOL
They are too lazy to go get a story, a test and anything MX
They just sit back and twitter all day!
I disagree Metta.
The eco freaks might mistakenly lump us all together but the reality is quads are the ones who get the responsible recreational riders in trouble. There is no such thing as "treading lightly" with a quad and the damage they do is orders of magnitude greater than bikes. Our public lands are being closed to bikes in large part because of them. Quads are for hunting and utility, racing them is just plain dumb.
Bob, saying quads are for hunting and utility means that they might spend some time in the woods, kinda contradicts what you're trying to say. I could say that cars and trucks are for general transportation needs, racing them is just plain dumb. I just don't see you making a coherent argument other than you dislike them and you're scraping for intelligent reasons to justify just that. You're the same as the people who are closing our riding areas, an elitist who believes that you have the right to pass judgement and restrict access to the people you don't like.
I have a quad (utility) used for recreation. I have bikes (race). RACING quads do more enviornmental damage by far than any other OHV. Just ask any BLM offices that allow racing on public lands. Their surveys will tell you exactly that, but the forces trying to close our lands do not differentiate. Is that coherent enough?