OFF-ROAD
AMSOIL GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES
ROUND 12 / OCTOBER 10, 2019
SUMMIT BECHTEL RESERVE / MORGANTOWN, WV
P60
over Steward's brother, Grant
Baylor, with FMF/KTM Factory
Racer Josh Toth in third.
"It's unreal, honestly," said
Kelley. "This win definitely means
the most out of any win I've ever
had in my whole career. I'm just
stoked. I got a good start, and I
was able to just stay up there with
Kailub the first half of the race.
Once I got past, I put in a charge
and just tried to hang on to
Steward's wheel the whole time.
I got real close coming into that
last lap and just tried to stick with
him the whole time. It was going
to be hard to pass him. I tried a
250 Pro National Champion ran
in second place behind Tely
Energy KTM's Steward Baylor
for much of the race; however,
Steward also dropped out on the
final lap, opening the door for
Kelley to make history. This left
three championship contenders
watching the finish of the race in
street clothes, while a first-time
winner crossed the finish line.
At one point in the race, Steward
led by a 24-second margin over
Kelley, only to stall his bike on the
final lap, unable to restart it.
Kelley took the win with two
minutes and 35 seconds to spare
weekend and hurt my shoulder
again. It's one of those things.
[And] Thad's busted up. I could
have finished, but just managing
where I was on the track was get-
ting to be a little too much. I was
making mistakes, and I hit [the
shoulder] again. Once it gets to a
certain point and gets weak, it's
hard to hold on."
With both Russell and Duvall
on the sidelines, Trail Jesters
KTM's Ben Kelley took advantage
of the situation and came away
with his first XC1 Pro win in only
his second race in the division.
The two-time and current XC2
In just his second-ever XC1 Pro race, 2019 XC2 Champion Ben Kelley took the overall win.
