Jean Turner | March 7, 2016
After a dominant season last year, all eyes were on factory KTM/FMF rider Kailub Russell at the opening round of the 2016 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Maxxis. Would the defending champion start out the 42nd season of GNCC racing with another winning streak? Would he once again be untouchable among the field of hungry XC1 racers, or would he face some stiffer competition this season? Would Josh Strang continue his momentum from the close of the 2015 GNCC season?
Without having to wait until the end of the three-hour Moose Racing Wild Boar GNCC, the questions were answered right off the start of the XC1 Pro race when Russell crashed and found himself in a pileup that also collected Ryan Sipes and Jordan Ashburn. From that point, Russell was forced to play catch-up as he made his way through the field. With a curve ball thrown his way right out of the gate, it was clear that Russell would not be untouchable this year… yet the three-time champion still showed his mettle in an outstanding comeback ride, all the way to the podium – even if it wasn’t the top step.
Josh Strang conquered the sandy, muddy conditions at the Wild Boar GNCC to take a commanding win. Photography by Ken Hill
The defending champion struggled to regain his momentum after having been down with a knee injury for most of the off-season, but Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Josh Strang continued his, taking a commanding win at the season opener in Palatka, Florida. N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha’s Daniel Milner took second on the day ahead of Russell who earned a commendable third.
Following the early-race carnage that saw several racers on the ground, it was another Russell out front—Ricky Russell—who grabbed the AllBalls holeshot award and made a run for it.
It wasn’t long before Josh Strang worked his way to the front of the field and around Ricky to take over the lead. Strang, who closed out his 2015 season with a win-streak, was looking forward to starting his 2016 season in the same manner, and he began to build his cushion over the field. Despite some challenges from JCR Honda’s Chris Bach, Strang toughed it out in the brutal Florida sands to take the first GNCC win of 2016.
“The last half of the 2015 season was good to me,” said Josh Strang. “I didn’t spend any time pre-season training in Florida, so I just wanted to come down here and do well and try to win of the opportunity was there. Today I felt like I was riding pretty well and it was good to get a win.”
As Strang settled into his pace at the front of the pack, he began to feel the pressure from behind from Bach. The JCR Honda racer worked his way forward after tangling with N-Fab AmPro Yamaha’s Grant Baylor off the start. Bach’s pants showed the damage from the wreck, as they were nearly ripped to shreds, but it didn’t stop him from mounting a charge on Strang.
Bach spent much of the race latched on to Josh Strang’s rear fender and relentlessly hounding the Husky rider for the lead. Bach attempted a late-race pass on Strang, which resulted in another crash for the JCR Honda rider. Bach was able to recover from the substantial get-off and get back into the race, although his pace was slowed after that. Despite his efforts to finish out the race on the podium, he slid back to a disappointing fourth place in the final miles of the race.
Bach’s misfortune left Josh Strang with a near 30-second lead over the field as he clicked off the final laps to the checkered flag. Behind him, the race for the remaining two podium positions heated up.
N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha’s Daniel Milner, who had been holding down a top-five position for much of the day, put on a charge and moved forward. Despite the rough and muddy Florida course, Milner found some late-race speed and worked his way into second. Hot on Milner’s heels was a hard-charging Kailub Russell, who had spent the previous two hours and 45 minutes working his way through the XC1 pack. Russell broke through into third place on the final lap after making a spectacular pass on Ryan Sipes in the mud hole. After that, Russell made quick work of Bach and was even closing in on Milner for second, but ran out of time and had to settle for third. Although it was not the finish the defending champion was looking for at the season opener, it was a spectacular ride for the factory KTM rider.
“It took me a while to get going but I rode well at the end of the race and I felt good,” said Russell. “The track was super rough today and I’m definitely feeling sore after only being back on the bike for one month before this.”
Bach collected fourth place with Coastal Racing Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider Sipes—who was also forced to recover from a first-turn crash—rounding out the top five.
In the XC2 ranks, JCR Honda’s newest rider Trevor Bollinger made a splash, riding to a dominant class win and breaking into the top-10 overall.
“I was able to go out to the JCR headquarters in California and test this winter in addition to coming to Florida,” said Bollinger. “I never really came south to train and I really think this was an advantage.”
Bollinger was joined on the XC2 podium by Beta USA’s Tegan Temple and Sipes’ Costal Racing Husqvarna teammate Craig DeLong.
FMF KTM rider Kacy Martinez captured her first victory of the season in the WXC class, where she also claimed the overall victory in the morning race. Martinez opened up a substantial lead only to crash on the third lap, which allowed Yamaha’s Becca Sheets to steal the lead. But Sheets suffered a crash of her own, which gave the advantage back to Martinez, who then took it to the finish. Sheets held on for second with Brook Cosner rounding out the podium.
“Kacy finished off strong in what was a tough race for her,” said KTM Team Manager Anti Kallonen. “We’re expecting the WXC battle to be tighter this year because the level of competition has gone up, but we’re ready and Kacy is ready.”
Racers have very little break as they head to Sparta, Georgia for the second round of the season—the Maxxis Cannonball—that takes place on March 13.
Overall Results:
- Josh Strang (Hus)
- Daniel Milner (Yam)
- Kailub Russell (KTM)
- Chris Bach (Hon)
- Ryan Sipes (Hus)
- Grant Baylor (Yam)
- Tyler Medaglia (Hus)
- Jordan Ashburn (Yam)
- Trevor Bollinger (Hon) 1st XC2
- Steward Baylor (KTM)
