RUSSELL MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW
I
f three wins in a row constitute
a streak, then Kailub Russell's
has officially begun. The FMF
KTM Team rider chalked up
another one at the Maxxis Gen-
eral GNCC, round three of the
AMSOIL Grand National Cross
Country Series, an AMA National
Championship, in Washington,
Georgia, March 18.
Russell generally consid-
ers himself a slow starter in the
championship; however, it has
been anything but that this year
by getting off to a quick start to
the 2018 season with wins in
South Carolina, Florida, and now
Georgia. Except for a tip-over in
a muddy rut on lap one, Russell
was solid, consistent and fast
for the remainder of the race this
weekend. Russell set himself up
nicely in second place behind
Thad Duvall (Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna) with one lap to go.
On the final lap, he jockeyed
back and forth with Duvall before
putting himself in position to make
the winning pass just a few miles
before the finish.
"I got off to a good start, but
I made a mistake on the first lap
and lost the lead," said Russell. "I
got going I settled in behind the
lead group, but they were going
a little faster than I wanted to go
at that point in the race, so I just
settled into a pace I was comfort-
able with behind them."
After grabbing the holeshot,
Ricky Russell (N-Fab/Am Pro
Yamaha) was breathing clean air
out front for the first half of the
three-hour race as he and Trevor
Bollinger (JCR Honda) ran a good
distance ahead of the rest of the
pack. About 10 seconds behind
the leading duo came a tightly
packed unit that consisted of Du-
vall, Kailub Russell, Josh Strang
and Jordan Ashburn. After suffer-
ing a bad start, Steward Baylor
(Tely Racing) was just inside the
top 10 at the end of one lap.
IN
THE
WIND
P42
Kailub Russell (1) was
aggressive off the start
en route to his third
straight GNCC win.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KEN
HILL
