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was Kailub Russell's main objec- tive this season, the champ ad- mits that his second straight title was "a little bittersweet." "I feel like it should be my third," Russell said. "I always al- lude back to 2012 when I lost it and since then I've done every- thing in my power to make sure I'm never in that position again." In 2012 Russell came into the final round only four points be- hind N-Fab AmPro Yamaha's Paul Whibley in the championship chase. However, it was Whibley who captured the final win and his second career title, while a devastated Russell went straight to work for the next season. While Russell held more wins than Whibley, a DNF at round one was perhaps the deciding factor in how the championship fell. Since then, Kailub Russell has become nearly unstoppable in the GNCC series, especially after his biggest competitor, and teammate, Charlie Mullins was forced to drop out due to injury. "It's a bummer that Charlie [Mullins] is out and hurt, I was looking forward to seeing who the best man really was this year. I was looking forward to racing him all the way to the finish but you know, it's racing, he got hurt and I'm happy to be able to col- lect a bunch of wins and get the championship." SLOW START Russell's day didn't start off so hot as the Factory FMF/KTM rider wasn't able to fire his bike off the line right away. Russell rounded the first corner at the back of the pack, while the Ya- maha riders of Paul Whibley and Josh Strang led the way early on. N-Fab AmPro Yamaha's Jor- dan Ashburn got a good jump off the line but a quick tip over in the first corner sent him back out- VOL. 51 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 P43 Briefly... Kailub Russell confirmed that he will indeed race a KTM 150XC at the final two rounds of GNCC. "Now that I've got this red number-one plate in my hand, I'm putting the 350 in the garage and I'm running the 150 at the next two races. I haven't even ridden it yet so I plan on getting some seat time in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to ride it either way, whether I can win on it or not. I'm in a posi- tion where I can help my buddy Rory [Mead] out and I think it'll be exciting to kind of spice things up a little bit." Russell is going to raffle the 150 off after the Ironman finale and the pro- ceeds will be split up to help offset costs involved in attending this year's ISDE in Argentina, as well as to help fund more ongoing spinal injury re- habilitation for his good friend Rory Mead, who was injured at the Steele Creek GNCC earlier this year. Grant Baylor has put in two dominant seasons in the XC2 Pro Lites class, where he will most likely wrap up his second title at the next round in Ohio. Baylor announced on this weekend that he plans to make the jump into XC1 for the season finale at Ironman. "Yep, it's official. Once I wrap up the XC2 championship I'm going to move into the big boy's class on the 450 at Ironman," he said. Baylor also com- mented that he rides a 450 in the Na- tional Enduro Series and that's also his choice of bike during the week for practice so he feels comfortable and confident making the move. RideMPS.com/AMSOIL Honda's Thad DuVall didn't have the race he was looking for at Mountain Ridge. DuVall said that he blew his rear continued on next page Kailub Russell and his team celebrate their second straight GNCC title after winning the Mountain Ridge GNCC in Pennsylvania. win