2022 Mason-Dixon GNCC Results

Shan Moore | June 7, 2022

“About time; that’s all I can say,” said Ricky Russell after winning the Mason-Dixon GNCC at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, June 5. The victory was the Coastal Racing GasGas rider’s first since his victory at Snowshoe in 2017. Russell has been trending upward the last few weeks after missing the last three months due to a shoulder injury, posting a second at The John Penton three weeks ago and another second at the Lead Belt Enduro two weeks ago.

Ricky Russell at 2022 Mason-Dixon GNCC — **Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell clawed his way back from a shoulder injury to capture his first GNCC win since 2017.**

Photos by Ken Hill

“We rode good all day,” added Russell who battled for the lead during the entire three-hour event with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Trevor Bollinger. “Trevor was putting in some heaters,” said Russell. “I was trying to stalk him down and he had a little mistake right there with one lap to go. Man, I was worried, I had a big crash on the last lap but then I got pit boards showing a 34-second gap. Man, it feels good.”

Bollinger took the lead early on as he and Russell pulled away from the pack. From there, the two battled back-and-forth until the final lap when Bollinger hit a tree and injured his hand.

“I think I passed him on the second lap,” said Russell. “I was leading for a good bit, but then we came through a bottleneck mud area, and I blasted through it, and it just killed my goggles. After that I struggled. After I pitted, I was just slowly able to catch back up to Bollinger with two to go. Halfway through the second-to-last lap, I got behind him and he was kind of taking it easy because he knew I couldn’t pass. But then he clipped a lapper and I saw him shaking his hand like he hurt his hand. Then we came down the hill and about a quarter mile before the finish he laid it down and I was able to pass him. The last two miles I just really backed her down. I was like, just get to the finish. It was exciting.”

Ryder Lafferty at 2022 Mason-Dixon GNCC — **Ryder Lafferty made it a good day for the Coastal Racing GasGas team, winning the XC2 250 Pro division and taking fifth overall.**

Bollinger ended up dropping all the way back to eighth at the finish, while Grant Baylor was moving towards the front after another one of his poor starts. As he usually does, the REV Motorsports rider made a late push and worked his way into the runner-up slot at the finish.

“I didn’t make it easy on myself there in the beginning,” said Baylor. “It was kind of one of the hardest tracks to pass on all year long, so I definitely had my work cut out for me. I was just steadily clicking off positions as the day went on and got up into second.”

Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna’s Jordan Ashburn also got off to a slow start, which is unusual for the normally fast-starting Tennessean.

“There was virtually nowhere to pass anybody unless they made a mistake,” said Ashburn. “I got into second on the last lap and tried to get around a lapper and took a wrong line and Grant got by me, and that was all she wrote. I was beat. Just a tough day at the office.”

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong had the dubious honor of being last off the line in the XC1 class, which wasn’t a good position to be in considering the track was considered tough to pass on.

“It was just follow-the-leader,” said DeLong. “That’s all you could do was just be consistent and make your passes where you could.”

DeLong went on to finish fourth overall.

2022 Mason-Dixon GNCC podium — **(L-R) Grant Baylor, Ricky Russell and Jordan Ashburn made up the overall podium.**

Ryder Lafferty came from third off the start to win the XC2 250 Pro class and finish fifth overall. The Coastal Racing GasGas rider started catching early XC2 leader Tely Racing KTM’s Liam Draper and Babbitts Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green Lyndon Snodgrass on lap three. After Snodgrass passed Draper, Lafferty made the pass as well and then went after Snodgrass, passing him to take the lead at the start of the final lap.

“Lyndon was riding good and he was breathing down my neck that whole last lap, but I was able to hold on to the finish,” said Lafferty.

After holding the lead at one point in the race, Snodgrass had to settle for second in the XC2 250 Pro class and sixth overall

“Me and Ryder had sort of been switching back and forth and on the second-to-last lap Ryder got around me,” said Snodgrass. “The last lap, there was nothing I could do after that. I was trying hard to pass him back, but I felt like the passing options were a little limited.”

Seventh overall was Snodgrass’ Babbitts Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green teammate and round-seven winner Josh Strang, who is still suffering from the effects of an arm injury from earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Ruy Barbosa (Hon) and Benjamin Herrera (Kaw) represented Chile well by rounding out the top 10.

Brody Johnson at 2022 Mason-Dixon GNCC — **Brody Johnson topped the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am division.**

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna/Surge Off-Road Coaching Team’s Tayla Jones took the win in the WXC class, beating KTM’s Brandy Richards and Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Korie Steede.

Enduro Engineering/Fly Racing KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker and GasGas’ Rachel Gutish rounded out the top five.

Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna’s Brody Johnson claimed his fifth win of the season in the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am class with XC/Moose Racing/XC Gear’s Zack Hayes in second and Husqvarna-mounted Jake Froman in third.