St.
Clairsville, OH – FMF/KTM rider Kailub Russell won his second
straight GNCC XC2 Championship with a win at the 12th
round of the season at Powerline Park.
Russell
had a bad start off the line rounding the first turn in second to
last position right next to rival Jason Thomas. The two riders
quickly moved up through the pack and by the end of the first lap
Kailub sat in 5th
place. He turned up his pace and caught two more riders by the end of
the second loop to move into 3rd.
Going
into the race Russell knew if he won the race and Thomas finished 3rd
or worse he could wrap up the championship one round early. On lap
three he saw Thomas ahead of him and began to close in. At the end of
the third lap he passed Thomas and moved into 2nd.
His gaze was now set on current leader Scott Watkins as they reached
the halfway point.
With
three laps to go Russell caught Watkins and made the pass to take
over the lead. Once in the lead Russell picked up the pace again and
pulled from the pack. When he crossed the checkers to take the win he
was nearly one minute ahead of Watkins. Thomas finished behind
Watkins in 3rd.
The finishing order allowed Russell to take the number one plate one
round early!
Fellow
FMF/KTM rider Steward Baylor had a decent race at the Powerline Park
GNCC. He started in 2nd
place off the start and stayed within the top five the remainder of
the race. He eventually finished 4th
overall for the day.
In
the XC1 class Cory Buttrick got off to a great start. He put his KTM
350 SX-F in 2nd
position around the first corner and quickly took over the lead.
Halfway around the first loop Buttrick made a mistake and crashed
hard. The crash resulted in a broken front wheel which he had to
return to the pits to repair. After the repair, Buttrick reentered
the race in near last position 3 minutes 30 seconds down from the
leader. For the remainder of the 7 lap race Buttrick put his head
down and charged forward trying to pick off as many positions as
possible. At the end of the race he had managed to move from 17th
to 7th
overall.
2010
GNCC Women’s class Champion Maria Forsberg crushed the competition
once more to earn her 11th
win of the season. This time she won the race by a margin of 10
minutes! Forsberg plans to race against the men in the XC2 Pro Class
at the final GNCC.
Next
Race:
Round 13 – Crawfordsville, IN – October 23-24, 2010
Overall
Results XC1 –
Paul
WhibleyGlenn
KearneyJoshua
StrangCharles
MullinsBarry
HawkMike
LaffertyCory
Buttrick – KTMToby
Price – KTM
Justin
WilliamsonKenneth
Gilbert
Overall
Results XC2 –
Kailub
Russell – KTMScott
WatkinsJason
ThomasSteward
Baylor – KTMMorgan
MossZach
Nolan – KTMJeffrey
Gibson – KTMBrian
LawsonJoshua
Gaitten – KTMJesse
Robinson – KTM
Overall
Results Women’s –
Maria
Forsberg – KTMLeeann
BangeAshley
CrouchMandi
MastinSamantha
Steiner – KTM
Overall
Points XC1 –
Joshua
Strang – 280 – *ChampionCharles
Mullins – 248Cory
Buttrick – 225Paul
Whibley – 220Chris
Bach – 191
Overall
Points XC2 –
Kailub
Russell – 313 - *ChampionJason
Thomas – 282Jesse
Robinson – 247Scott
Watkins – 230Steward
Baylor – 198
Overall
Points Women’s –
Maria
Forsberg – 160 - *ChampionMandi
Mastin – 152Leeann
Bange – 143Ashley
Crouch – 142Samantha
Steiner – 130