Moto News Weekly
September 27, 2016 – by Darren Smart
Proudly brought to you by Dunlop Geomax
This Week’s News Overview
- Ken Roczen to HRC
- Max Nagl and Tim Gajser OUT of MXoN
- 30th Anniversary of the Dream Team
- KTM AJMX Finals Kick Off
- Aussies Finish 1-2 in Speedway GP
- Walker Takes on Weston Beach Race
This Weeks Racing Overview
- Motocross of Nations – Maggiora, Italy
- Speedway Grand Prix – Round 9 – Stockholm
- GNCC – Round 11 – West Virginia
- Santa Rosa Mile – Santa Rosa, California
Ken Roczen to HRC
American Honda Motor. Co. have finally announced what we have known for quite some time – the signing of two-time AMA Pro Motocross Champion Ken Roczen to a three-year agreement. The young German rider will pilot the all-new 2017 CRF450R alongside new teammate Cole Seely in the AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross series.
Ken Roczen
“I’m really excited to be a part of Team Honda HRC. I’m always looking to improve myself, as well as my surroundings, team and equipment, which is why I decided to make a switch. I want to have the upper hand on every other rider out there, and I think I have that with Honda. Things are still new, but I’m feeling amazing and blown away by the bike and the atmosphere of the team. I think that when any rider makes a switch to a new team, he doesn’t fully know what to expect, so having such a smooth transition so far has been great.”
Max Nagl and Tim Gajser OUT of MXoN
Slovakian Tim Gajser and German Max Nagl both missed out of representing their countries at the 2016 MXN with both riders injuring themselves before the start of racing on the Sunday.
Gajser hit the deck hard while practicing in the week leading up to the MXoN while Nagl’s MXoN ended prematurely after the German suffered a heavy fall during his qualifying moto on Saturday. Thankfully both riders avoided any serious injury.
30th Anniversary of the Dream Team
The FIM flew Johnny O’Mara, Rick Johnson and David Bailey over to Italy for the 2016 Motocross of Nations to celebrate the most emphatic victory of the history of the event which happened at Maggiora 30 years ago when the American Dream Team of O’Mara, Johnson and Bailey finish 1-2 in all three of their motos.
KTM AJMX Finals Kick Off
The first lot of finals action kicked off at the Riverland Junior Motorcycle Club for the 2016 KTM Australian Junior Motocross Championships yesterday with Mason Semmens, Tahlia O’Hare, Bailey Malkiewicz and Zachary Watson taking the first finals victories at the National event in South Australia. The rest of the finals will be run today (Tuesday 27th) and we will have the full results next week.
Aussies Finish 1-2 in Speedway GP
Aussie hard chargers Jason Doyle and Chris Holder have finished a spectacular first and second in the final at Stockholm last weekend and in doing so Doyle now leads the championship by five points with two rounds remaining while the result puts Holder’s championship back on track to be sitting fifth in the series, just nine points back from third placed Tai Woffinden. See full report below.
Walker Takes on Weston Beach Race
Jonny Walker has confirmed that he will compete in this year’s HydroGarden Weston Beach Race, which takes place at Weston-Super-Mare (GB) on October 8-9.
The opportunity came thanks to a change in his schedule with the KTM star now competing in the iconic British beach race instead of travelling to Turkey to compete in Red Bull Sea to Sky, as originally planned.
Recent political unrest within Turkey has resulted in KTM withdrawing their riders from this year’s Sea to Sky event due to safety fears and with Walker in red-hot form an opportunity to have a crack at winning the Weston Beach Race proved irresistible.
Jonny Walker
“I’m really looking forward to being a part of Weston Beach Race this year. It’s not something I’ve done before, and it certainly isn’t something I specialise in, but it’s an event I’ve heard so many good stories about that getting the opportunity to race myself wasn’t one I wanted to pass up. The great thing about Weston is that it brings riders together from enduro and motocross, so it’s going to be cool to catch up with riders I don’t normally get the chance to race with. It’s also a good opportunity to spend time with the race fans, and I’ve heard in general it’s a great event to be a part of with a very special atmosphere. I guess I got some sand practice recently at Red Bull Megawatt in Poland, but I know that Weston’s not going to be like anything else I’ve done. For me it’s just a great opportunity to enjoy and compete in a major UK event.”
Smarty’s Race Reports
Motocross of Nations – Maggiora, Italy
MXoN 2016 Video Highlights
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The Motocross of Nations at Italy’s Maggiora Park facility was held in front of 85,000 vocal fans and last Sunday’s racing will go down as one of the most action packed in the history of the teams event but when the riders crossed the finish line for the final time in moto three Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and Benoit Paturel of Team France had wrapped up their third consecutive MXoN victory in the most spectacular fashion.
What made the racing so exciting? Throughout the qualifying races on Saturday and the three championship motos on Sunday the world’s best motocross riders battled tooth and nail for every position on the track like their life depended on it with the actual winning team not decided until the final lap of the final moto of the day, the MXGP/Open class race.
This is how the final moto unfolded. Jeffrey Herlings was out front and on his way to victory for Team Netherlands while his teammate Glen Coldenhoff was sitting back in 7th place and after Jason Anderson was taken to the hospital thanks to his post-race crash (see below), team America only had Cooper Webb on the track and Webb had worked his way up to fourth place behind Herlings, Antonio Cairoli and Tommy Searle and if he stayed where he was the USA had the victory by one point over The Netherlands who had a one point buffer back to Team France BUT France’s star rider Romain Febvre was sitting right behind Webb and looking to pounce.
As the lead riders were finishing their second last lap Webb had caught Searle and a pass on the Brit would have sealed the win for USA whether Febvre got by or not but on a very steep left hand turn Webb slipped off his Yamaha allowing Febvre through to fourth which put Team France tied with The Netherlands but Febvre dug deep and caught Searle, made the pass for third on the very last lap and swept France to victory by just one point over The Netherlands and four points ahead of Team USA.
Earlier in the day Jason Anderson weathered a heated battle with Jeffrey Herlings in the second moto to take the Open/MX2 moto win but the American celebrated just a little too early. You see, the big finish line double jump was on a right hand corner, it has a steep jump face so you were jumping on an angle around a blind corner and Anderson was so far out front he decided to roll the final jump, throw both fists in the air and coast across the finish line BUT a lapped rider didn’t know that Anderson was in the middle of a post-race celebration and literally landed on top of the American.
Many are blaming the Japanese rider but for mind Anderson was still on the race line on a blind jump and should have waiting a few more seconds before he started celebrating the win. According to track-side sources Anderson was a bit groggy and knocked around but wanted to ride the final moto for America and his teammates but was forced to go to hospital for a check-up – see his comments below.
As for Team Australia one couldn’t be more impressed and proud by the efforts of Dean Ferris and Todd Waters who showed all and sundry that they are still world class riders while young Mitch Evans was completely over-awed by the situation and couldn’t muster a ride worthy of his effort or riding ability all weekend.
The final moto of the day didn’t go to plan for Team Australia with Ferris getting a horrible start and Waters dropping his Suzuki on the opening lap but neither rider gave up so Waters was rewarded with a solid 8th outright in the MXGP class with 7-14 finishes while Ferris finished 5th outright in the Open class with 5-15 rides. Evans finished 19th of the 20 MX2 riders with 35-37 place finishes.
Waters posted this on FB: ‘Honoured to have represented the Green and Gold at the Motocross of Nations! The competition was insane but unfortunately some crashes cost me some better results.’
Ferris posted on FB: ‘Stoked with my riding this year. 3rd in my Qualifying race, 5th in moto 1.
As a team we finished 8th for Australia. Cheers to my team mates Todd Waters and Mitch Evans for their effort.’
Team France – 1st
Romain Febvre – MXGP: “I didn’t realize that we had won when I passed in the final lap, I just saw the sign very quickly that we were in second place. It’s a great feeling to win again. I was riding like at the beginning of the season this weekend, and to start Sunday with a win is unbelievable. I just felt so free on the YZ450FM.”
Gautier Paulin – Open: “I am so happy for the whole team today with this result – with my teammates Romain and Benoit, and Pascal and the whole federation. It’s really a team effort and without everyone we couldn’t make it. Thanks also to my Honda team for again all their work in preparing my bike so well and giving me the equipment for this result. The crowd were again just incredible today – you can never believe how many people follow us all over the world so I also want to thank them for all their support. My first race was good today but in the second I didn’t make the start and then got stuck in the pack, but the result today is just amazing. To win again is such a great taste – now we can enjoy the experience of three in a row.”
Benoit Paturel – MX2: “For me the experience here was great, and I want to thank my teammates and the mechanics for perparing the bike this week on the track at Maggiora. All season we worked together with Jacky Vimond my trainer and the mechanics to improve in MX2 and to get better. Today at Motocross of Nations was a good day for me and a great day for Yamaha and France.”
Team Netherlands – 2nd
Glenn Coldenhoff – MXGP: “There were many strong teams here and many that could make the podium but yesterday I didn’t feel so good and made a lot of mistakes. But we qualified third so that was a confidence boost. I took the holeshot in my first race but as the race went on I got some arm pump. I had a good start again in my second race and I felt better but I still made some mistakes. In the end we got second and I’m happy for that.”
Jeffrey Herlings – Open: “To go 1-2-1 in the qualifying and the two races is very good and I think I showed here I was one of the fastest all weekend. I showed a lot of speed so I’m very pleased about that, and it’s good feedback for next season. We need that because it will be our rookie season. We only spent four days on the bike so far, so to go 1-2-1 here I think is already pretty amazing. I’m looking forward to next season, to testing in the winter and developing the bike to suit me. KTM has a great 450 bike and I think we’re looking very good.”
Team USA – 3rd
Cooper Webb – MXGP: “I’m proud of the way we turned things around from Saturday. We struggled a bit with qualifying and getting used to the track here, and we raced really well on Sunday. The crowd here in the Motocross of Nations is so amazing and it’s a great feeling out there to race for them and hear their support. But it’s going to take a long time to get over what happened in the race today, and I’m really crushed to go out like I did.”
Jason Anderson – Open: “I was really excited coming to this race to represent the US. After posting the fastest time in free practice I had a bit of bad luck in qualifying. I got hit from behind in the first turn and ended up hurting my leg. I decided to race on Sunday despite this injury. My first race went pretty well from the get go. I got the holeshot and started pulling away from the field. Midway through the race Herlings caught up and we had a pretty good battle for a couple of laps before he went down. After that I was just coasting to the finish to get the win. I was really excited to cross the line first but right after that I felt another bike landing on me. We’ve got everything checked out and I’m going to be OK. It’s just a bit of a bummer I couldn’t get out there in the last moto to help Team USA battle for the win.”
Alex Martin – MX2: “We were in the hunt down to the last lap today, and it’s no secret that we had a lot of adversity yesterday and today. But it’s a really cool event to be part of and have two top 10 finishes today. Congrats to Team France and Team Netherlands today, this was a great weekend and I’m proud to take part in it.”
Race One Results
- Febvre – FRA – YAM
- Cairoli – ITA – KTM +4.64
- Strijbos -BEL – SUZ +19.42
- Webb – USA – YAM +25.65
- Van Horebeek – BEL – YAM +34.39
- Coldenhoff – NED – KTM +37.47
- Waters – AUS – SUZ +37.95
- Benoit – CAN – KTM +41.28
- Martin – USA – YAM +50.53
- Cooper – NZL – HON +52.83
- Seewer – SUI – SUZ – +53.04
- Butron – ESP – KTM+54.74
- Guillod – SUI – YAM +55.41
- Paturel – FRA – YAM +55.63
- Kjer Olsen – DEN – HUS +68.16
- Bernardini – ITA – TM +65.04
- Larsen – DEN – KTM +66.47
- Anstie – GBR_ HUS +68.16
- Leok – EST – KTM +69.69
- Bogers – NED – KTM +70.08
- Brylyakov – RUS – KAW +73.42
- Searle – GBR – KAW +81.78
- Neurauter – AUT – KTM +87.62
- Gole – SWE – HUS +89.84
- Ratsep – EST – HON +93.78
- Ostlund – SWE – YAM +122.66
- Barr – IRL – HON +1lap
- Neugebauer – CZE – KAW +1lap
- Narita – JPN – HON +1lap
- Bucas – LTU – YAM +1lap
- Prado – ESP – KTM +1lap
- Maffenbeirer – CAN – KTM +1lap
- Romancik – CZAER – SUZ +1lap
- Notsuka – JPN – HON +1lap
- Evans – AUS – YAM +1lap
- Sandner – AUT – KTM +1lap
- Natzke – NZL – KTM +1lap
- Karka – LTU – KTM +1lap
Race Two Results
- Anderson – USA – HUS
- Herlings – NED – KTM +6.10
- Paulin – FRA- HON +7.35
- Tonus – SUI – KAW +8.86
- Ferris – AUS – YAM +9.89
- Simpson – GBR – KTM +10.76
- Van Horebeek – BEL – YAM +11.12
- Seewer – SUI – SUZ +13.49
- Martin – USA – YAM +16.11
- Paturel – FRA- YAM +30.10
- Noren – SWE – HON +43.56
- Cervellin – ITA – HON +46.16
- Leok – EST – KTM +49.52
- Bogers – NED – KTM +50.06
- Bernardini – ITA – TM +51.07
- Kullas – EST – KTM +55.51
- Bobryshev – RUS – HON +59.77
- Medaglia – CAN – HUS +60.89
- Brylyakov – RUS – KAW +62.33
- Zaragoza – ESP -HON +73.32
- Kjer Olsen – DEN – HUS +76.86
- Anstie – GBR – HUS +82.12
- Rauchenecker – AUD- HUS +82.97
- Jasikonis – LTU – SUZ +84.40
- Maffenbeirer – CAN – KTM +91.92
- Barr – IRL – HON +95.40
- Edmonds – IRL – TM +99.12
- Neugebauer – CZE – KAW +100.70
- Yamamoto – JPN – HON +104.41
- Smitka – CZE – KTM +112.80
- Prado – ESP – KTM +119.46
- Notsuka – JPN – HON +1lap
- Ostlund – SWE – YAM +1lap
- Natzke – NZL – KTM +1lap
- Meier – DEN – KTM +1lap
- Sandner – AUT – KTM +1lap
- Evans – AUS – YAM +1lap
- Harwood – NZL – YAM +1lap
- Van Doninck – BEL – YAM +1lap
Race Three Results
- Herlings – NED – KTM
- Cairoli – ITA – KTM +7.62
- Strijbos – BEL – SUZ +20.78
- Febvre – FRA – YAM +26.24
- Searle – GBR – KAW +28.21
- Bobryshev – RUS – HON +34.05
- Coldenhoff – NED – KTM +42.21
- Tonus – SUI – KAW +44.34
- Butron – ESP – KTM +45.11
- Webb – USA – YAM +46.30
- Paulin – FRA -HON +46.97
- Benoit – Can – KTM +58.10
- Cervellin – ITA – HON +62.63
- Waters – AUS – SUZ +63.84
- Ferris – AUS – YAM +82.42
- Guillod – SUI – YAM +93.39
- Larsen – DEN – KTM +95.03
- Van Doninck – BEL – YAM +96.82
- Rauchenecker – AUT – HUS +101.64
- Noren – SWE – HON +102.57
- Gole – SWE – HUS +105.12
- Ratsep – EST – HON +106.13
- Kullas – EST – KTM +1lap
- Zaragoza – ESP – HON +1lap
- Yamamoto – JPN – HON +1lap
- Romancik – CZE – SUZ +1lap
- Smitka – CZE – KTM +1lap
- Cooper – NZL – HON +1lap
- Bucas – LTU – YAM +1lap
- Narita – JPN – HON +1lap
- Harwood – NZL – KTM +1lap
- Meier – DEN – KTM +1lap
- Rogozin – RUS – HUS +1lap
- Edmonds – IRL – TM +2laps
- Medaglia – CAN – HUS +5 laps
- Neurauter – AUT – KTM +8 laps
- Jasikonis – lTU – SUZ +12 laps
- Simpson – GBR – KTM +17 laps
Motocross of Nations Classification – Including the Five Scoring Rides
1st – France – 29pts:
1st – FEBVRE, Romain
3rd – PAULIN, Gautier
4th – FEBVRE, Romain
10th – PATUREL, Benoit
11th – PAULIN, Gautier
2nd – The Netherlands – 30pts:
1st – HERLINGS, Jeffrey
2nd – HERLINGS, Jeffrey
6th – COLDENHOFF, Glenn
7th – COLDENHOFF, Glenn
14th – BOGERS, Brian
3rd – USA – 33pts:
1st – ANDERSON, Jason
4th – WEBB, Cooper
9th – MARTIN, Alex
9th – MARTIN, Alex
10th – WEBB, Cooper
4th – Belgium – 36pts:
3rd – STRIJBOS, Kevin
3rd – STRIJBOS, Kevin
5th – VAN HOREBEEK, Jeremy
7th – VAN HOREBEEK, Jeremy
18th – VAN DONINCK, Brent
5th – Italy – 44pts:
2nd – CAIROLI, Antonio
2nd – CAIROLI, Antonio
12th – CERVELLIN, Michele
13th – CERVELLIN, Michele
15th – BERNARDINI, Samuele
6th – Switzerland – 44pts:
4th – TONUS, Arnaud
8th – TONUS, Arnaud
8th – SEEWER, Jeremy
11th – SEEWER, Jeremy
13 Race 1 13 GUILLOD, Valentin
16 Race 3 13 GUILLOD, Valentin
7th – Great Britain – 73pts:
5th – EARLE, Tommy
6th – SIMPSON, Shaun
18th – ANSTIE, Max
22nd – ANSTIE, Max
22nd – SEARLE, Tommy
8th – Australia – 76pts:
5 – FERRIS, Dean
7 – WATERS, Todd
14 – WATERS, Todd
15 – FERRIS, Dean
35 – EVANS, Mitchell
9th – Estonia – 93pts:
13th – LEOK, Tanel
16th – KULLAS, Harri
19th – LEOK, Tanel
22nd – RATSEP, Priit
23rd – KULLAS, Harri
10th – Canada – 95pts:
8th – BENOIT, Kaven
12th – BENOIT, Kaven
18th – MEDAGLIA, Tyler
25th – MAFFENBEIRER, Shawn
32th – MAFFENBEIRER, Shawn
11th – Russia – 96;
6th – BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
17th – BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
19th – BRYLYAKOV, Vsevolod
21st – BRYLYAKOV, Vsevolod
33rd – ROGOZIN, Semen
12th – Spain – 96pts:
9 Race 3 31 BUTRON, Jose
12 Race 1 31 BUTRON, Jose
20 Race 2 33 ZARAGOZA, Jorge
24 Race 3 33 ZARAGOZA, Jorge
31 Race 2 32 PRADO GARCIA, Jorge
13th – Sweden – 102pts:
11th – NOREN, Fredrik
20th – NOREN, Fredrik
21st – GOLE, Anton
24th – GOLE, Anton
26th – ÖSTLUND, Alvin
14th – Denmark – 102pts:
15th – KJER OLSEN, Thomas
17th – LARSEN, Nikolaj
17th – LARSEN, Nikolaj
21st – KJER OLSEN, Thomas
32nd – MEIER, Glen
15th – Austria – 137pts:
19th – RAUCHENECKER, Pascal
23rd – RAUCHENECKER, Pascal
23rd – NEURAUTER, Lukas
36th – SANDNER, Michael
36th – SANDNER, Michael
16th – Czech Republic – 139pts:
26th – ROMANCIK, Jaromir
27th – SMITKA, Petr
28th – NEUGEBAUER, Filip
28th – NEUGEBAUER, Filip
30th – SMITKA, Petr
17th – New Zealand – 140pts:
10th – COOPER, Cody
28th – COOPER, Cody
31st – HARWOOD, Hamish
34th – NATZKE, Josiah
37th – NATZKE, Josiah
18th – Japan – 145pts:
25th – YAMAMOTO, Kei
29th – YAMAMOTO, Kei
29th – NARITA, Akira
30th – NARITA, Akira
32nd – NOTSUKA, Chihiro
19th – Lithuania – 158pts:
24th – JASIKONIS, Arminas
29th – BUCAS, Vytautas
30th – BUCAS, Vytautas
37th – JASIKONIS, Arminas
38th – KARKA, Dovydas
20th – Ireland – 114pts (Third Rider DNS):
26th – BARR, Martin
27th – EDMONDS, Stuart
27th – BARR, Martin
34th – EDMONDS, St
FIM Speedway Grand Prix – Round 9 – Stockholm
Aussie Jason Doyle has racked up his third straight FIM Speedway Grand Prix after scoring 19 valuable points and winning the final in Stockholm to take over from Greg Hancock as the point’s leader in the World Championship standings.
The Newcastle-born racer was victorious at the Friends Arena on Saturday night, leading an Australian one-two with former World Champ Chris Holder while Swedish star Fredrik Lindgren delighted the home fans by finishing third, while Slovenia’s Matej Zagar was fourth.
Doyle went into the meeting trailing series leader Greg Hancock by five points, but the 30-year-old now has a five-point advantage of his own going into the final two rounds in Torun next Saturday and Melbourne on October 22. “To win four SGPs this year is special. I can’t really comprehend what I have achieved at the moment. I still have a long way to go, but to win three GPs in a row is unbelievable.”
“To win four SGPs this year is special. I can’t really comprehend what I have achieved at the moment. I still have a long way to go, but to win three GPs in a row is unbelievable. When I had gate one in the final, I knew I had to stick to the inside. I knew they were going to try and go around me and it would be a pretty desperate first corner. I stuck to my own plan and it worked again.”
“We know what’s going to happen in the next two rounds. It’s going to be very difficult. We came to this Grand Prix trying to bag the points and if we can go and make a final in the next couple, we’ll be up there in the end. Tonight sealed the deal that I’ll be in the GPs next year, which is a massive achievement that I set out to do at the start of the season. We can park that one and go for something in the future now.”
Holder scored just a point in his opening two rides. So he was elated to produce a terrific turnaround and score second place. “It was a tough day – it was really tough in the beginning. But you have to grind these results out. If you’d told me after my second race that I was going to be second tonight, I’d have taken it there and then. It was a good turnaround and credit to my boys for helping. We stuck it out, managed to salvage a second and I had good speed at the end.”
Third-placed Lindgren was over the moon with his first SGP final and rostrum appearance of 2016. “I’m really happy to get back on the podium. There is no better place than to do it in front of your home crowd. I was happy to start the evening with a heat win. That kind of mellowed all the nerves down. I was riding well and scoring points in every heat. I am pretty happy with the performance.”
Stockholm Top 10: 1 Jason Doyle 19, 2 Chris Holder 13, 3 Fredrik Lindgren 14, 4 Matej Zagar 15, 5 Bartosz Zmarzlik 12, 6 Tai Woffinden 11, 7 Piotr Pawlicki 10, 8 Greg Hancock 9, 9 Maciej Janowski 8, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 7.
World Championship Points after 9 of 11 Rounds: 1 Jason Doyle 123, 2 Greg Hancock 118, 3 Tai Woffinden 107, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 100, 5 Chris Holder 98, 6 Piotr Pawlicki 81, 7 Maciej Janowski 80, 8 Antonio Lindback 74, 9 Fredrik Lindgren 73, 10 Niels-Kristian Iversen 64, 11 Matej Zagar 64, 12 Nicki Pedersen 62, 13 Peter Kildemand 62, 14 Andreas Jonsson 39, 15 Chris Harris 33, 16 Michael Jepsen Jensen 11, 17 Patryk Dudek 8, 18 Martin Smolinski 8, 19 Danny King 7, 20 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7.
GNCC – Round 11 – West Virginia
The 2016 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) spent last weekend at Marvin’s Mountain Top in Masontown, West Virginia, for the fifth annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Mountaineer Run GNCC and it was Kailub Russell who scored yet another win to take a commanding lead over his arch rival Josh Strang who injured his leg leading up to the West Virginia round.
Ricky Russell jumped out to the early lead once and was able to use his good start to his advantage and avoid the first turn pileup that involved Jason Thomas and Jordan Ashburn.
Misfortune hit Ricky Russell in the third turn allowing Cory Buttrick to lead the way into the woods. Buttrick maintained the lead position as he checked through timing and scoring for the first time. After getting off to an unfavourable start, Kailub Russell made quick work and held the second place position behind Buttrick.
“As easy as it may look sometimes, it’s never easy,” said Kailub Russell. “The track was pretty brutal with the dusty and hard-packed conditions, and it really takes a toll on your body and you just have to be patient. I got a terrible start and I was just impatient after that and continued to push through.
While Kailub Russell was busy pushing through the field, Thad Duvall was following in his tracks. Duvall sat within striking distance of Russell at the conclusion on the second lap, but faced bike setup issues which ultimately set him off the pace.
“The course was rough and I felt a little off all day,” said Duvall. “I just couldn’t ride my bike the way I wanted to. I decided to slow down and ride my own race to feel safe and keep it off the ground. When Ricky caught up to me I realized I wasn’t ready to get third again so I just put my head down and charged pretty hard the last few laps.”
Kailub Russell would end up crossing the line 54 seconds ahead of Duvall who placed second. Ricky Russell grabbed the last spot on the box earning his first ever XC1 Pro podium and first podium. “I got off to a great start and then just got a little wild in the third corner and went down,” said Ricky Russell. “I got back up and was mid-pack trying to work my way through the dust. I crashed a few more times and then I started picking my lines and slowly worked my way through everyone. It’s been a rough year with ups and downs but it just feels good to finally make it happen.”
The XC2 class the familiar face of Craig Delong found himself in the early lead bot Delong’s teammate, Layne Michael, made an early push for the lead and continued leading until finding trouble leaving Trevor Bollinger to capitalize on Michael’s mistake and take over the lead. Bollinger continued to lead until the flag.
“I was fighting with vision issues all day,” said Bollinger. “Once I recovered from my bad start and had a clear track I was able to put the hammer down. I had something to prove after Unadilla, because that was one of my worst rides. It feels good to be back on top.”
Despite being on crutches with his left foot in a cast in the week leading up to the event Josh Strang turned up to keep his championship hopes alive and managed a more than respectable 7th place and now sits 50 points back from Russell with two rounds remaining.
The 2016 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series continues next weekend, October 1 and 2, with the Polaris Ace Powerline Park GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
XC1 Pro Event Results
- Kailub Russell (KTM)
- Thad Duvall (HSQ)
- Ricky Russell (SUZ)
- Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM)
- Jordan Ashburn (KTM)
- Cory Buttrick (KTM)
- Josh Strang (HSQ)
- Johnny Aubert (BET)
- Ryan Sipes (HSQ)
- Chris Bach (HON)
Overall National Championship Standings:
- Kailub Russell (286)
- Josh Strang (236)
- Trevor Bollinger (155)
- Jordan Ashburn (143)
- Steward Baylor Jr. (134)
- Thad Duvall (130)
- Craig Delong (127)
- Ricky Russell (120)
- Grant Baylor (117)
- Chris Bach (105)
XC2 Pro Lites Event Results
- Trevor Bollinger (HON)
- Layne Michael (HSQ)
- Josh Toth (YAM)
- Benjamin Kelley (KTM)
- Michael Witkowski (KTM)
- Craig Delong (HSQ)
XC2 Pro Lites Series Standings
- Trevor Bollinger (276)
- Craig Delong (233)
- Layne Michael (205)
- Benjamin Kelley (166)
- Jesse Groemm (158)
Santa Rosa Mile – Santa Rosa, California
Brad Baker may have won the battle at the Santa Rosa Mile but Bryan Smith won his first GNC1 championship on the back of a solid second place finish after battling with defending Jared Mees all of the way to the chequered flag.
“I can’t even describe the way it feels,” Baker said. “It’s been a roller coaster of a year. And it seems like every time, I’d have an eight ball. If anything that could happen badly, it did. You just got to grin hard and not let those things bother you. Same thing with the team… You just have to move forward and that’s what they did. After that Semi, it did kind of come out to my advantage because I got to try out some lines on that motorcycle. Can’t give a big enough thanks to my whole team.”
Smith finally had his fairy-tale ending, but describing what it felt to win his first GNC1 Championship was not easy. “It’s something you can’t explain,” Smith said. “To win it and come down that close, I would have liked for Jared (Mees) not to catch me. My heart rate went to about 360 that last lap. I had also all of my friends and family out here and all of my friends who are like family, including my whole team. It means so much to have them all here supporting me. Thanks to all the fans, all my friends and everybody that’s been behind me since I was a seven-year-old punk in Scotty Parker’s garage. Everybody back home watching, including Scotty Parker, thanks man, I love you. I wouldn’t be here without you.”
So Jared Mees hands over his number one plate to rival Smith, not easy for such a fierce competitor like the three-time Grand National Champion. Mees kept Smith honest in the end, so he took comfort in that down-to-the-wire fight and gave his fellow Michigan rider props. “I wanted to race him for it and we did,” Mees said. “That’s exactly what the crowd wanted to see. It came down to the last lap, last corner and I knew he was out there getting squared up, I knew he was going to make me come right on by and he did. Hats off to the whole team. They’ve been working extremely hard. They beat us on our weak days when we had a lot of breaks and stuff. That’s what it takes. To win these things, you have to finish. They did a great job. Hats off to Bryan and the entire team. I have got to give a big shout out to my team, we worked extremely hard this year week-in and week-out.”
RESULTS – GNC1 – Final
- Brad Baker (H-D)
- Bryan Smith (Kaw)
- Jared Mees (H-D)
- Brandon Robinson (H-D)
- Henry Wiles (Kaw)
- Sammy Halbert (Duc)
- Joe Kopp (Ind)
- JR Addison (Kaw)
- Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (H-D)
- Chad Cose (Kaw)
FINAL 2016 GNC1 STANDINGS
- Bryan Smith (240)
- Jared Mees (235)
- Brandon Robinson (182)
- Jake Johnson (176)
- Sammy Halbert (165)
- Brad Baker (147)
- Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (143)
- Henry Wiles (122)
- Cory Texter (87)
- Jarod Vanderkooi (86)
