VOL. 51 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 P47
has ever done in GNCC racing.
Despite a hard charge by Baylor,
the XC2 winner was able to se-
cure second place on the overall
podium, edging out Ashburn by 18
seconds.
"I really wanted that middle
spot," Baylor said. "I was push-
ing all day long. I started getting
dizzy about a mile from the finish,
I was just pushing so hard. But I'm
happy with second overall even
though I wanted the center."
GNCC SPOTLIGHT
After struggling on the opening
laps, Delong finished strong to
capture third place in XC1 and
fourth overall for the day.
"It was a tough day," Delong
said. "I ride this type of terrain
every day and I know I can win
but you have these days in racing
and all I can do is go home and
do my homework and come back
stronger."
In his first full-season as an
official GNCC racer, the former
full-time motocross/Supercross
rider Ryan Sipes put in a career
best performance in Pennsylva-
nia, finishing fifth overall for the
day and fourth in the XC1 class.
Sipes admittedly took a little lon-
ger than expected to achieve
the level of fitness and longevity
of the top GNCC racers but the
Kentucky-native was finally able
to maintain a higher intensity level
and pace in the final moments of
the three hour race.
"I'm really happy with how I
rode today and it's a good feeling
to finally put it all together for the
entire three-hours," Sipes said. "I
have a lot of rocky terrain around
where I live so I've been practic-
ing for this a lot actually."
Whibley made a step back to-
ward the front of the pack after
a few uncharacteristic finishes
outside the top five this season.
The two-time GNCC Champion
battled injury early in the season
and while it's taken some time to
recover back to normal, Whibley
showed all signs of making his
comeback in the final rounds.
Whibley's strong ride resulted in a
fifth-place finish in XC1 and sixth
overall for the day.
"I thought I rode pretty good,"
Whibley said. "I felt pretty solid
out there but a couple of the oth-
er guys were riding really good
and really fast. They had some
good lines in the rocks and stuff
that I was a little bit slow to pick
up on but I had fun."
XC2 PRO LITES
In the XC2 Pro Lites class, Baylor
secured his fourth straight vic-
tory and extended his points lead
in search of his second straight
XC2 title. Baylor had some pres-
sure from XC2 rookie Trevor Bol-
linger at the beginning of the race
as the duo battled it out for the
lead position. But as the race
wore on Baylor picked up his
pace dramatically, where he rode
on uncontested for yet another
win in the class, as well as an
(Far left) Trevor Bollinger took
second-place honors in the XC2
Pro Lites class.
(Left) Recently crowned National
Enduro champ Andrew DeLong got
on the XC1 Pro podium.
