day," Duvall said. "I just put my
head down and came from be-
hind. Grant was riding a little out
of my comfort zone and I knew
with it being the first race I didn't
want to be laying on the ground."
After coming under pressure
from Duvall, Grant eventually
pulled away to a 19-second mar-
gin at the finish.
Racing's Thad Duvall put on a
charge through the pack after
getting off the line just inside
the top-10 and was soon around
Michael, Magna1 Motorsports/
Husqvarna's Jordan Ashburn,
and Kelley. By lap four Duvall
had Baylor within his sights.
"I got cut off on the start, but
I felt like I rode really good all
With Russell and Steward
Baylor out of the picture (for
now), a handful of candidates
lined up for the series opener
in hopes of starting the season
at the top of the series stand-
ings, including Babbitt's Online/
Monster Energy/Kawasaki
Team Green's Josh Strang, who
grabbed the holeshot to start
the three-hour race.
After getting off the line
around eighth at the start of the
race, KLM GasGas team man-
ager Kevin Lenz and mechanic
Chad Sweitzer made a strategic
decision to pit Grant on lap two
instead of lap three when most
of the other teams were sched-
uled to pit, which ultimately put
the GasGas rider in position to
win the race.
"About halfway through the
race I hooked up with Strang
and got around him and the
other guys when they pitted,"
said Grant. "When they went
into the pits, I was able to sweep
around all of them and go to the
lead on lap three. For me to be
leading that early on, that's just
unheard of. I knew I had to
keep it going."
Strang had led most of the
race to that point, but a mistake
at the end of lap one dropped
the Aussie off-roader to third
behind AmPro Yamaha's Layne
Michael and FMF/KTM's Ben
Kelley. GasGas' decision to pit
early moved Baylor ahead of
the trio up front.
In the meantime, Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna Factory
OFF-ROAD
GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY (GNCC) SERIES PRESENTED BY SPECIALIZED, AN AMA
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 21, 2021
BIG BUCK FARM / UNION, SOUTH CAROLINA
P70
Thad Duvall kept it close
with second place.
