VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P195
W
hen you have as many off-
road championships as this
country has (GNCC, en-
duro, EnduroCross, hare and hound,
OMA, hare scrambles, just to name a
few), it's hard to label just one rider as
being the all-around single best. But
two-time and defending Grand National
Cross Country champ Kailub Russell
can certainly make a case for himself.
After finishing as top American at this
year's International Six Days Enduro
in San Juan, Argentina, and when you
figure in his two Grand National Cross
Country Championships in 2013 and
2014, it is, at least, clear that the fac-
tory KTM rider is in a rather elite group
of racers. But the best? Maybe.
This year, Russell clinched the
GNCC title two races early and then did
something special when he competed
on a KTM 150 two-stroke against the
big-bores during the final two rounds.
Russell put on an impressive show at
the next-to-last round in St. Clairsville,
Ohio, where he finished second to
AmPro Yamaha's Josh Strang. At the
series finale—the traditionally difficult
Ironman GNCC—Russell upped that
by pulling off the unthinkable: beat-
ing some of the best off-roaders in the
country on the tiny two-stroke.
After his impressive run through the
GNCC series, Russell capped off a re-
markable season by leading the U.S.
World Trophy Team to second place
behind the highly touted French team.
Individually, Russell was second
overall in the ultra-competitive E2 divi-
sion behind event overall Six Days win-
ner Pierre-Alexandre Renet.
"I think I rode pretty well all six days
and I kept my bike and my body togeth-
BY SHAN MOORE • PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN HILL
It's rare these days to see a
GNCC podium without Kailub
Russell on it.
