OFF-ROAD
AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES
ROUND 1 / MARCH 10, 2019
RODMAN PLANTATION / PALATKA, FLORIDA
P78
away for good, although he
lost considerable time when
he stalled the bike taking off
from a pit stop.
"The quick fill had sand
in it, and it stuck open, so it
basically drowned the bike
out, and it got all over my
stomach and all over every-
thing," said Baylor. "I was
pretty frustrated. It was kind
of my breakaway lap. I went
by those guys, and I knew it
was time to go. I got a good
gap, a good cushion on
Kailub and Thad, and then
that happened, and I stalled
the engine. So I was stuck
in the pits for quite a while."
Despite the pit fiasco,
Baylor held a 1:45 lead by
the end of the fourth lap,
with Russell, Duvall, Trail
Jesters Racing KTM's Ben
Kelley, and Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Trevor Bollinger
bringing up the rest of the
top five.
In a rather drama-less
finish, Baylor took a well de-
served and dominating win
over Russell and Duvall.
"I think today a lot of it
had to do with the condition-
ing, but also a lot mental,"
said Baylor. "To win the
GNCC anymore, there's a
lot of strategies that go into
it. I think Kailub, Thad, Josh
Strang, are guys that have
A trio of Kawasakis dominated the
start of the XC1 Pro class, as Babbitt's
Monster Energy Kawasaki riders Heath
Harrison, Jordan Ashburn and Josh
Strang led the way into the opening lap
of the race. However, by lap two, Rus-
sell had moved into the lead, while Thad
Duvall (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna)
went from seventh on lap one to second
place on the second lap. Meanwhile,
Baylor had moved up to fourth behind
Russell, Duvall and Ashburn after get-
ting off the line just outside the top-10.
Near the end of lap three, Duvall and
Baylor moved to within 2.4 seconds of
Russell, and later in the lap, Baylor took
over the lead, which started a back-and-
forth battle between himself, Russell
and Duvall, which would see each of
them holding the lead at one point or
another during the lap.
On lap four of the five-lap race, Bay-
lor would take the point and start pulling
(Top) Kailub
Russell was the
favorite to win,
but he'll have
to be satisfied
with second.
(Bottom)
Thad Duvall
was third—he
wanted better.
