heavily at the FMF Power Point
portion of the course.
Russell took over the runner-
up position behind Draper during
the upheaval. Witkowski held
down third, with Rocky Moun
-
tain Red Bear Kawasaki Team
Green's Grant Baylor in fourth
and Liquid-Moly Beta's Josh
Strang in fifth, physically.
On lap four, the distance
between Draper, Russell and
Witkowski tightened up, though
Phoenix Honda XC2 rider Cody
Barnes and FMF KTM Fac
-
tory Racing Team Landers' Gus
mate battle royale for the overall.
Defending champion, FMF
KTM Factory Racing's Johnny
Girroir, still recovering from
injury, made his return to racing
and was running at the rear of
the XC1 class.
Draper passed Kelley for the
lead on lap two and opened a
gap over the KTM rider.
Lap three was pivotal in the
five-lap race, causing a ma
-
jor shakeup. Kelley tightened
up and dropped back to sixth
physically on the course. Even
more importantly, Davis crashed
classes, possibly leading to a
potential showdown for the win.
Kelley led Draper early on,
trying to extend his lead enough
to cover the time difference be
-
tween the XC1 row and the XC2
row. Following came Phoenix
Honda's Mike Witkowski and
Flatrock Motorclub GasGas Fac-
tory Racing's Jordan Ashburn.
Crossing the scoring line
after lap one, six XC2 riders had
turned faster lap times than Kel
-
ley, partly due to the XC1 riders
having to break in the new trail,
but the times indicated an ulti
-
(Left) GNCC points
leader Grant Davis
(1) crashed out
of the race and
now heads the
championship by
just seven points
with one race to
go. He did clinch
the XC2 title.
(Right) Liam Draper
made it an AmPro
Yamaha 1-2.
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P77
