Now, these riders all went down on totally different sections of the racecourse while taking different lines than what they had been taking throughout the race. All of which were actually lines that hadn’t really been used throughout the weekend, and each rider was pushing for position. Everyone is on top of their game coming into this new season and in terms of raw speed, these guys really could be going faster than they ever have. GNCC Officials spoke with many riders after the event, and everyone seemed to agree that this was a wild coincidence that each of these riders suffered injury and the racecourse itself was not the issue. All three of these guys will end up taking some time to heal but they’re all expected to make full recoveries and we hope to see them back on the track soon!

Watch the Big Buck GNCC motorcycle highlights:

Kelley Fires First

Traditionally, Ben Kelley is one of those guys who seem to start out sort of slow and just get better and better as the race goes on. During his days in the XC2 class, there were numerous races where he would be sitting outside the top five in the opening laps, then come up to win the XC2 class by a fair margin before the end of the day. However, at the Big Buck Kelley just simply got out front early and stayed there! He led all six laps of the nearly three-hour race to take the win nearly 40 seconds ahead of Josh Strang in second place.

However, it really wasn’t just a runaway win for Kelley. Even though he led essentially the entire race, the competition was never far behind. For the first three laps, his KTM teammate Josh Toth would be glue to his back tire while a slew of riders duked back and forth for the third-place spot. Jordan Ashburn held the third-place spot early, but in the mid-portions of the race Layne Michael, Trevor Bollinger, and Josh Strang all made runs for the second place position while guys like Steward Baylor, Craig Delong (now full-time XC1), and Ricky Russell were all right there as well. Strang worked his way up from eighth place on the opening lap to end the day in second, while Jordan Ashburn held on for third. Toth would end the day in fourth place with Bollinger rounding out the top five.

For Kelley, the opening round win serves as a bit of a confidence boost to kick off the new year. While Kelley ended up with the 2021 championship, it was a battle down to the wire against Steward Baylor, who actually won the most races in 2021. Kelley grabbed an early season win at round two in 2021 but only won two more times coming at rounds nine and 12. To get the job done in the opening round as defending champion is no easy task, and Kelley did it against a stacked field of competition. Only time will tell how the rest of the season will play out as even with some riders injured, there’s still some stiff competition looking to topple Kelley as champ.

There Was A European Invasion!

The opening round also saw a number of other top riders from across the world come try their hand at GNCC as well. Last year’s ISDE overall winner Josep Garcia made his first-ever GNCC appearance. Some folks expected Garcia to make a big statement, but he’s only here for the opening rounds to have some fun, and the GNCC format is far different than what he is used to. Regardless, the fast Spaniard came from 12th place on lap one to end the day a very respectable eighth place in the XC1 class and ninth place overall.

Multi-time World Enduro champ Steve Holcombe also raced the Big Buck. Much like Garcia, he’s not used to the long, grueling three-hour GNCC format but also put together a great ride and ended his day with a 10th place in the XC1 class and 14th overall. Additionally, Swedish GasGas rider Rikard Hansson ended up 12th in the XC1 class and 36th overall and finished the entire race.

Regardless of what some folks expected, these are excellent results for guys who aren’t used to running wide open for three hours straight and it’s really cool to see some global talent come take part in GNCC Racing. Additionally, all three of the aforementioned rider’s competition on different machines for different brands as well. Garcia is backed by KTM for World Enduro, and he actually rode an XCF-W model KTM, which features KTM’s PDS rear shock, much different than the traditional linkage-style shock on the XCF models the team primarily uses. Holcombe rode as a visitor on the Factory Beta squad while Hansson was aboard a GasGas that has some support from legendary motocrosser Lars Larrson!

XC2 Action!

The XC2 class could once again produce some of the tightest racing in the entire GNCC series this season. While it was incredibly unfortunate that defending champ Johnny Girroir suffered an injury early in the race, it really leaves the door open for a number of challengers to run at the front of the pack. Mike Witkowski is always very good at Big Buck, and backed that up with the XC2 class win, leading the race from the opening lap until the finish.

Lyndon Snodgrass and Cody Barnes would battle back and forth for the second-place spot in the mid-portion of the race before Barnes would suffer some slight issues, eventually dropping back to 12th place. This would leave Snodgrass all by himself as Witkowski had pulled a lead just over a minute, and Snodgrass stayed just around a minute ahead of eventual third place finisher, Ryder Lafferty. Lafferty came all the way from 11th on lap one to finish on the XC2 class podium, showing that he means business in 2022 after finishing second place overall at the opening round of the National Enduro Series a few weeks ago.

Main Image by Ken Hill