Held under a cloud of the
recent passing of the event's
namesake, John Penton, who
died on September 7, 2025, 19
days after celebrating his 100th
birthday, the event played out
under beautiful weather on a per
-
fect racecourse, which included
some
never-before-used trail, as
well as the notoriously rugged
"John Penton Section." A cele-
bration of life was held on Friday
before the
event for Penton.
To start the race, each of the
two overall contenders grabbed
the holeshot in their respective
title with a runner-up finish at the
previous round in September, the
Mountaineer GNCC; however,
the former champ was still in a
fierce fight for the series overall
championship with XC2 250 Pro
division rider Davis, who was
leading the overall standings by
20 points ahead of Kelley. So far,
Davis had secured four overall
wins (in addition to eight XC2
victories), compared to two for
Kelley. According to both riders,
the only two with a mathematical
chance, the overall title was the
only thing that mattered.
issues. I just chipped away,
chipped away. I'm to the point
where I'm riding my motorcycle
and I'm having fun with it, and
I'm not just thinking about what
the motorcycle is doing the
whole time. Then I honestly just
willed myself to get that one."
Coming into the race, most of
the talk surrounded the battle for
the overall championship be
-
tween FMF KTM Factory Racing
Team Landers' Grant Davis and
FMF KTM Factory Racing's Ben
Kelley. Kelley had wrapped up
the 2025 GNCC XC1 Open Pro
ROUND 12 / OCTOBER 12, 2025
SUNDAY CREEK RACEWAY / MILLFIELD, OHIO
OFF-ROAD I PROGRESSIVE GRAND NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES
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