RIDE REVIEW I BEN KELLEY'S FMF K TM FACTORY RACING GNCC 350 XC-F
P84
final-race championship hand-off to 2021 Champ,
Ben Kelley. This year was a nail-biter. And the stress
didn't stop until the checked flag flew, I can tell you.
But KTM was on top again in the end. It's fitting,
as the mighty orange effort has won 15 of the last
22 XC1 Championship seasons. The last time KTM
didn't win the championship was 2012.
2012 was three jobs, two-and-a-half kids, four dogs,
three houses, a couple cars, and about six motor-
cycles ago for me. I wasn't even married in 2012 and I
don't remember what not being married is like.
So, I'm a natural fit here. I haven't won anything.
And I don't expect to. They let me ride Ben Kelley's
bike—suckers!
THE FACTORY
ADVANTAGE
I've ridden and raced a few "factory" race
bikes before. Once, I jumped on David
Knight's practice bike at a GNCC and crashed
it more times in one lap than he did for an
entire season of EnduroCross and GNCC
racing. By far the biggest question I get after
riding them is, "what's the difference?" People
expect there to be one big thing that makes
them magical and easy to win on. And I guess
there is. But that one big thing is the sum of all
the little things done by the tech teams behind
the riders to make these bikes as close to
perfect as possible.
And I mean perfect for Ben Kelley, here.
They already made a perfect bike for me. I can
buy it at a dealership. Ben Kelley gets more.
At the factory level, everything from crank
balancing and EFI tuning to footpeg position-
ing is done at such a high level you can feel
the cohesion of the project built to win. It's
like walking into a building that was conceptu-
alized, designed, engineered and constructed
with laser focus intent, and then personalized
(Top) IMS adds smiles per gallon and Renthal connects
the rider. The factory builds are perfect in between it all.
(Below) One of the most custom things on Ben Kelley's bike
is a front-brake caliper with oversized pistons. This allows
increased braking performance without going bigger on the
rotor, which could be more easily damaged off-road.
Ben Kelley, KTM's Off-Road Race Team Manager
Antti Kallonen, Kailub Russell and Ben's mom, Dawn,
(L to R) celebrate Ben's first GNCC Championship
immediately following the hectic final round.
