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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1469992
Russell Wins Mason-Dixon GNCC " About time; that's all I can say," said Ricky Russell after winning the Mason-Dixon GNCC at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, June 5. The victory was the Coastal Racing GasGas rider's first since his victory at Snowshoe in 2017. Russell has been trending upward the last few weeks after missing the last three months due to a shoulder injury, posting a second at the John Penton three weeks ago and another second at the Lead Belt Enduro two weeks ago. "We rode good all day," added Russell who battled for the lead during the entire three-hour event with Rockstar Energy Husqvar- na's Trevor Bollinger. "Trevor was putting in some heaters," said Russell. "I was trying to stalk him down and he had a little mistake right there with one lap to go. Man, I was worried, I had a big crash on the last lap but then I got pit boards showing a 34-sec- ond gap. Man, it feels good." Bollinger took the lead early on as he and Russell pulled away from the pack. From there, the two battled back-and-forth until the final lap when Bollinger hit a tree and injured his hand. "I think I passed him on the second lap," said Russell. "I was leading for a good bit, but then we came through a bottleneck mud area, and I blasted through it, and it just killed my goggles. After that I struggled. After I pitted, I was just slowly able to catch back up to Bollinger with two to go. Halfway through the second-to-last lap, I got behind him and he was kind of taking it easy because he knew I couldn't pass. But then he clipped a lap- per and I saw him shaking his hand like he hurt his hand. Then we came down the hill and about IN THE WIND P22 Coastal Racing GasGas' Ricky Russell clawed his way back from a shoulder injury to capture his first GNCC win since 2017. PHOTOS: KEN HILL