Kailub Russell: "It’s against everything I was taught and have preached to others, and I did it anyway"
Kailub Russell recorded a DNF at the Kenda Tires Powerline Park GNCC over the weekend. Russell is the eight-time Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Champion who returned to racing this year after retiring in 2020. In the race, he suffered front wheel and front brake damage in the race, and that was originally said to be the reason why he didn't cross the finish on his AmPro Yamaha.
But after the race, he went to Instagram to bare the truth.
"2025 has begun as the year of rain. And has had the effect of someone beating the shit out of me with a pillow sack of rocks.
I made some poor decisions on track, that lead me down the path of frustration. That frustration overwhelmed my mind and everything I thought I’ve ridden myself of over the last 14 years. (Since the last race I quit un injured)
I quit. I quit on myself, my wife, my team. And most importantly my 9 year old son, of which I have a non negotiable on quitting."
While Russell has not lit the podium on fire in his return to racing, the entire season has been dotted with inconsistency for most riders (mud races have contributed to that), so he was still top five in points with 14-2-10-8-3 finishes at the first five races of the season. The zero point score at round six drops him to seventh.
By the way, the "14 years" reference Russell mentioned goes back to early in the 2012 season, when Russell pulled out of a race citing a shoulder injury, then later rallied back to win races and narrowly miss the championship to Paul Whibley. From there, he vowed to never quit again and reeled off every GNCC Championship from 2013-2020.
Russell didn't hold back throughout his social post. You can read all of it below.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ben Kelley | Harwinton, CT  | 251 |
| 2 |  Grant Davis | Meshoppen, PA | 247 |
| 3 |  Cody J Barnes | Sterling, IL | 207 |
| 4 |  Liam Draper | Auckland, New Zealand  | 196 |
| 5 |  Angus Riordan | Australia  | 190 |
| 6 |  Michael Witkowski | North Liberty, IN | 165 |
| 7 |  Kailub Russell | Boonville, NC | 164 |
| 8 |  Jordan Ashburn | Cookeville, TN | 162 |
| 9 |  Steward Baylor | Belton, SC | 157 |
| 10 |  Josh Strang | Inverell, Australia | 138 |
