Grant Baylor Tops Camp Coker Bullet GNCC
"G
rizzly" Grant Baylor broke
through the pack to claim
his first Grand National Cross-
Country Championship win of the
season, stalking his prey from
behind to become the fifth winner
in as many rounds, making for
one of the most hotly contested
GNCC series in recent years.
Grant's victory came at the Camp
Coker Bullet GNCC at the Moree's
Sportsman's Preserve in Society
Hill, South Carolina, April 16.
After getting off to a mid
-
pack start, the Babbitt's Online
Monster Energy Kawasaki rider
passed the previous four 2023
winners to move to the front and
then held on to take the victory
over round-three winner, Rock-
star Energy Husqvarna Factory
Racing's Craig DeLong, by 37
seconds. Grant wicked it up in
the final laps, getting faster as
the race wore on.
"I'm pretty speechless, honest-
ly," said Grant. "I felt like crap this
week heading in. I had a sickness,
a cold in my chest and was strug-
gling to breathe all week. Plus,
I was struggling with my hand
injury from the last round, but we
came out here and got it done. I
didn't get the best of starts, but
that's kind of par for the course. I
was kind of towards the back of
the pack, as usual, but I made my
way through the pack and then
about midrace I found myself out
there behind Craig."
Previous "white plate" holder,
Tely Energy Racing/Rocky
Mountain ATV-MC KTM Racing's
Steward Baylor, Grant's brother,
DNF the race, surrendering his
lead in the point standings.
"I just keep running into issues,"
said Steward. "It was a day that I
was too far back to do anything
and I saw where I was in the over
-
all. I had those guys give me a pit
board on the overall, and chances
were if I kept going at the rate we
were going, either I was going to
end up on the ground or barely
making that top-20 anyway, so
I just decided to park it. It was a
WIND
IN THE
P44
Grant Baylor is the latest
new winner in the 2023
GNCC Championship. The
first five races of the season
have seen five different
winners.
PHOTOS: KEN HILL
