2023 Tiger Run GNCC Results

Shan Moore | April 5, 2023

Four rounds, four different winners. That’s the story of this year’s Grand National Cross-Country Series so far. The latest to stand atop of the center of the podium was AmPro Yamaha’s Ricky Russell at the Tiger Run GNCC in Union, South Carolina, April 2.

Ricky Russell at 2023 Tiger Run GNCC — **Ricky Russell is now the fourth different winner in this year’s GNCC Championship.**

Photos by Ken Hill

Other than the first nine miles, which was led by Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Josh Strang, Russell commanded the remainder of the race, pulling away to as much as a 34-second lead at one point and then finishing the race with an 18-second margin of victory over round-one winner Steward Baylor (Tely Energy Racing/Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM Racing).

Despite a heartbreaking DNF at the previous round under the inclement conditions in Georgia, Russell feels he still has a strong shot at the title.

“I started the season kind of slow due to my shoulder injury, and I just kind of took it easy at the first two rounds,” said Russell. “But now I’m feeling stronger with each race and we have the bike dialed in perfect. Even with the DNF in Georgia, I think we are still in the championship hunt.”

Steward Baylor at 2023 Tiger Run GNCC — **Steward Baylor was second overall but he’s still on top of the points.**

So far this year, Russell has a third and a fourth to go with his win (in addition to the DNF), and sits fourth in the series standings with nine rounds remaining.

“After the last race, everyone thinks we are out of it, but we aren’t out of it,” added Russell. “We just gotta win some races and we’re right back in the points race.”

Baylor took over the “white-plate” signifying the championship lead with a second-overall finish, six points ahead of KTM’s Ben Kelley. Baylor moved up from a mid-pack start to the runner-up slot, eventually coming out on top of a titanic battle with Magna1 Racing Husqvarna’s Jordan Ashburn, the defending series champ, with a pass on the final lap.

“It was rough out there,” said Baylor. “We made some changes from the first race here and I was on the ground a lot, but that’s four podiums in a row and that’s what it takes to win a GNCC championship is consistency.”

FXR/GasGas’s Layne Michael ran in second for much of the race, but had an engine let go mid-race and logged a DNF.

Jordan Ashburn at 2023 Tiger Run GNCC — **Defending champ Jordan Ashburn finished out the day on the podium.**

Ashburn, who battled all day for second, first with Michael and finally with Baylor, lost the runner-up slot to Baylor on the final lap to finish third. “Me and Stew were going hard and he was just pressuring me all race,” said Ashburn. “I made a little mistake about a mile before the finish, I kind of washed the front end, and that was enough for Stew to get by. I thought Craig (DeLong) was going to get me too, but I jumped up and beat him to the finish.”

Round three winner, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Craig DeLong, was fourth overall, 19 seconds behind Ashburn. DeLong was once again among the front-runners, despite a crash dropping him down the order in the opening stages. He was ninth at the end of lap one and made it into third by lap four, but would eventually take the checkered flag in fourth, and now sits third in the title race, only 13 points outside of the lead.

“I got a decent start and made a couple of passes early on to get into fifth, and then I had a crash, went all the way to the back, and had to claw myself back up,” said DeLong. “In two laps I came from last to fourth, then just went back and forth between third and fourth through the rest of the race. Fourth was a good result in the end, and the consistency is getting there, so we will keep pushing in these coming rounds.”

FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Ben Kelley started the race in eighth but dropped to 10th on lap two. The Connecticut rider made his way into fifth by the second half of the race, maintaining his runner-up status behind Baylor in the series standings.

Ruy Barbosa at 2023 Tiger Run GNCC — **Ruy Barbosa topped the XC2 250 Pro class in ninth overall.**

“The Tiger Run wasn’t the best race for me, I just didn’t execute and felt a little off all day,” said Kelley. “I gave it my best and got into a good position and I could see the leaders, but made a mistake—a bad judgment call—and got caught up with another rider. I dropped way back in the pack, then worked my way back up to a decent position again until another crash set me back a few positions, about halfway through the race. At that point everyone had figured the track out and was going pretty fast—it was tough to make up time and make passes.”

After grabbing the holeshot to start the race, Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Josh Strang settled into sixth at the finish, a minute behind Kelley.

A series of crashes in the early stages of the race put FMF/KTM’s Johnny Girroir at big a deficit, completing the opening lap in 12th position. Girroir was able to fight his way up to eighth by the halfway mark and finally into seventh by the end of the race.

“I had a big cartwheel on the first lap, which set me back,” said Girroir. “I picked myself up and was working my way through the pack, but had another big crash, unfortunately. I fell back a little bit more, was around eighth, and then was able to get going the last two laps.”

Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Grant Baylor (Kaw) got off to one of his signature slow starts before working his way up into eighth.

Phoenix Honda teammates Cody Barnes and Ruy Barbosa battled it out for the win in the XC2 class, with Barnes in the lead at the start of the race, only to lose out to Barbosa in the end. At the finish, Barbosa was ninth overall and first in the XC2 250 Pro division, while Barnes finished 10th overall and second in the XC2 class.

Toby Cleveland (Husqvarna) claimed his third win of the season in the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am class, topping Jhak Walker (GG) and Dakota Devore (KTM).

Rachael Archer at 2023 Tiger Run GNCC — **Rachael Archer won the Women’s Pro class.**

Defending champion AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer took the win in the WXC class by just under five minutes ahead of Over and Under GasGas’ Rachel Gutish and Shelby Turner (FXR KTM). Archer also took the overall win in the morning class.