on the first lap, and then he got
me back, so I was kind of riding
behind him," said Draper. "Then
Ben dropped back, and I saw KR
coming, and he got me at the
end of the Penton section."
With a third overall, Barnes
claimed his first overall podium.
"I just tried to hang with Grant
[Davis]," said Barnes. "He made
some passes, and luckily, one
of the hills got a bottleneck in it,
and we took a different line and
got past a bunch of guys, but
then he ended up going down
pretty hard, and I got into the
overall lead. I got hooked up
with Ben, and he made a good
push at the two-lap board. I'm
pumped to get my first XC2 win
"It felt good to even win the
XC1 class, but to win the overall,
I'm so stoked," said Russell. "I
didn't think it was going to hap
-
pen, to be honest with you. Hope-
fully, we can just stay healthy
and build some momentum
for
next year. I want to come out
and fight for the championship. I
believe I can do it."
After passing Kelley, Draper
controlled most of the race until
Russell went by on lap four.
"After the start, I went into
the woods behind Kelley, and I
passed him in the Penton section
Riordan now held down the top
two overall positions after Davis'
get-off.
Russell was on the move and
finally displaced Draper for the
top position, dropping Draper to
second, with Barnes now hold
-
ing the overall lead on adjusted
time.
At
the finish, Russell took the
checkered flag first and then
waited for Barnes to finish, hop-
ing he had made up enough on
the adjusted
time to claim his
68th GNCC overall victory. After
calculations were made, Russell
had taken the win by three sec
-
onds over Draper, with Barnes in
third
overall and first in the XC2
class.
ROUND 12 / OCTOBER 12, 2025
SUNDAY CREEK RACEWAY / MILLFIELD, OHIO
OFF-ROAD I PROGRESSIVE GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES
P78
Cody Barnes captured his first XC2-
class win of the year in third overall.
