charged back up to third, had
another crash and back to fifth.
I rode really good, but I just had
too many mistakes to stay up
front."
Coastal Racing GasGas' Ricky
Russell ran up front with the
pack for the first two laps, but a
tough track and minor mistakes
put him into sixth at the finish.
AmPro Yamaha's Mike Wit-
kowski turned in a stellar race to
finish seventh overall and first in
the XC2 250 Pro class.
"I got the holeshot, which was
really cool," said Witkowski. "I
kind of gapped those guys by
maybe ten seconds, and then
I honestly buried myself maybe
three miles in. I had to get three
guys to pull me out. By that time,
I was probably fifth or sixth. I just
kind of regrouped. Made some
passes again and was just trying
to be smart and conserve a little
bit of energy. Then I made a
little sprint past all those guys. I
sprinted and they couldn't keep
up, so I was like, I'll just try to
keep charging and just try to pull
away, and we did just that."
After leading the race early,
AmPro Yamaha's Layne Michael
OFF-ROAD
GRAND NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY (GNCC) SERIES PRESENTED BY SPECIALIZED
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 21, 2021
BIG BUCK FARM / UNION, SOUTH CAROLINA
P72
Josh Strang fought
his way onto the
podium with a third-
place finish.
