2020 GNCC Live Round 13 - Buckwheat 100 Pro Bike Race

um rachel archer leads the way after two when she checked in she had uh let's see about a 29 second lead over rachel gutis of rachel archer checks in right there for a completed lap number three and with that folks the white flag is out yamaha rachel archer snatched the win there you go there's your hype moment sorry about that you blink you miss it you think with 961 riders out there i could keep them in line iron man i think this officially makes you the iron woman of gncc broken foot don't matter yeah buddy that's gonna help the game plan for me this weekend is just i want to stay off the ground as much as i can i haven't been riding anything like this and i don't know how long so i just want to go ride out there and finish two laps i saw on instagram i get a case of beer from uh what's his name baylor stu bandler yeah so i want to go finish two laps so i can get some beer from stu baylor ricky towery readies himself and he gets set to ready these riders as we said nearly 1 000 strong and let them know it's time to roll in a matter of time he did finish the race the last i checked he was top 30 overall looks like i owe him a case of coors lattes i couldn't believe that he was he was the type of guy that drank a coors latte but i i got a little more respect for axel now i think it will make a woods rider out of him after all oh just out here living the dream gotta you gotta pay the bills somehow right you gotta raise oh dude cover this weekend dude i was nice and let him buy at the last race because i was like ah first race back you know like i'd be nice but no nice guy this weekend it's going to be some bumping for sure no not good no nice guy all right good luck are you ready to go gncc racers so folks what you're watching on screen right now is the top four they've just started to creep away a little bit from the rest of the xc1 class not much distance between them they can see each other in the corners they can see each other in the field gets around me um oh we do so it looks like lyndon snodgrass leading the way in that one fifth overall today not that that's anything to sneeze at but in the last couple races we've seen those guys mike wikowski johnny uh up into the you know top two top three overall um and within you know here we come into some lap traffic down that's going to slow josh string down to even more and that's going to give baylor that opportunity to gain those micro seconds that it's going to take to put himself in position to try to make the pass on strength cracked along and johnny gerard duking it out wheel to wheel johnny gerrard stopped for a splash craig's along kept on going oh weight of the world lifted off your shoulder after that injury that shoulder injury this summer giving the fist pump to the crowd right man this is a great day in gncc racing no doubt about it they get to see josh string back on the top of the box once again it gets up so it's been one heck of a ride but we've reached round 13 and a rare november round of gncc racing preston county west virginia and cj raceway play host to the amsoil buckwheat 100. under sunny skies with record-breaking temperatures nearing 80 degrees it's sunday and the bikes are ready to roll with the champ caleb russell finishing fourth in indiana josh strang was able to work his way into the lead past stu baylor and hang on for a second win of the season baylor held on for second and ben kelly finished just behind him to round out the podium now with russell on the sidelines it's anyone's race again this weekend and not just the weekend but all next season a deep xc1 field will be even deeper next year with a new rookie class moving up one of those riders craig delong has some unfinished business this year in a heated xc2 battle he needs a strong showing today to hang on to the point sleep while mike watowski who sits in second would have to win and delong would have to finish third or worse for the championship to swing his way we're back in west virginia for the third time this season there's two mountaineers lining up on the front row today look for elaine michael and thad duvall to be in the mix the track this week though is a little different from your typical west virginia rocks look for a sandy clay mix with some black mud in spots in true west virginia fashion there's even a coal pile so who's it going to be can stu baylor keep his momentum rolling into the off-season or will it be another w for josh strang your guess is as good as mine in the xc2 we've got answers and three hours of gncc racing to go in 2020. see it all next live on racer tv from the beautiful mountains of west by god virginia this is gncc live hello everyone i'm rodney tomlin along with mikey waynes johnny gallagher will be joining us a little later today as well as we bring to you our live coverage of this the buckwheat 100 it is round number 13 of america's premier off-road racing championship the 2020 gncc series presented by specialized and ama national championship and mikey man i'll tell you what have we got the stage set for a great season finale championships for the most part have been uh claimed in the xc1 pro class i believe also claimed in the xc3 class and many of the other amateur classes as well but that xc2250 pro class we've got a barn burner that's really starting to shape up in that one although i'll tell you what uh last time out uh we had some great racing and taking a look at the footage from the last round mikey i mean wow what a race i mean coming into this one uh everybody wondered would stu baylor be able to make it three in a row ride by right yamaha position that he had achieved there and of course he came back he answered i think pretty loudly as far as that is concerned but man did he have the competition on sunday yeah no doubt about it him and string were going back and forth and honestly it we all thought it was going to come down to bar banging wheel to wheel at the end and then unfortunately iron man hill took the best of stupid yeah but before that you had caleb russell who was right on the rear wheel of stu baylor and and i think had it not been for an unfortunate incident uh with uh actually caleb getting together with a downed rider you could see the rider was down from our footage that we were watching on racer tv somehow or another caleb clipped the down rider he went down and then something was wrong with caleb's bike now whether or not it happened during that altercation or not he had to take a little extended pit stop he lost quite a bit of time during that time in doing so that's when josh strang moved up from that third place position and then lay chase to stu baylor and that's where it got interesting as well those two were going at it pretty well you saw the time starting to chip away and then all of a sudden in the pit stop when josh had pulled really close to stu as they came into the pits josh gets out of the pits first it was an extended pit stop also for stu baylor i don't know what happened there but whatever it was we had that extended pit stop that kind of cost him the time out there and like you said iron man hill that was the big story maker on that day yeah no doubt about it ben kelly solid day for him he's made continual steady progress i look to see him do some big things today i can't imagine ben kelly wants to leave this 2020 season without a win yeah i know he he definitely wants to do that and in racing as well as he has been as strong as he has been you know he is due one but you also got to take into account the hunger everyone everybody everybody silly season talk about silly season right now obviously you got wonder stu finishing second at the last round of racing behind josh strange who took the win with the iron man and then of course is he gonna go for another win yeah uh if you saw the video that stu posted out this weekend yeah he's going for another win he's going to go for a lot more wins in the future but thad duvall is back uh trevor bowling is also back with us i saw him on friday i i had a quick conversation with him i said hey are you going to be able to ride this oh yeah i'm racing he said and he looks good good coming off that knee surgery uh he seems like he's healed up he seems eager enough he seems mentally fit uh the only question is is he gonna be physically fit and this is a tight race track out here that's exactly right so many story lines in the xc1 who almost forgot xc2 there's still a championship on the line and bad news for of those that are following the xct championship johnny garrard the johnny g as we know him i'm not going to be able to make the race today remember he had that bad get off at iron man gncc i understand that uh through concussion testing and things like that they have elected that it be wiser for him not to race on a health issue from a healthy standpoint so he's not going to be racing and i mean right now to think that he's gonna win the championship obviously uh somebody told me all right he's got an outside chance there's still a possibility yes something happens to the uh other competitors michael and craig who were fierce competitors as well two weeks ago they were craig delong finally got back center of the box on the rockstar husky and uh you know he wants to carry that momentum into this weekend but mike wikowski he's just as focused it's going to be a wild one and the spoilers liam draper yeah and lyndon snoddrest oh snodgrass finishing second at xc2 class it was a crazy one and the xc3 class i think we may have seen the exit of uh jason yeah so jason reigns farewell on the xc3 career but we know jason's not going anywhere he's still going to be racing these gncc's well as tight as the championship is in the xc2 class they tell me the racetrack is that tight as well let's check in with jared bolton find out what these boys gonna be facing today thanks guys welcome to the buckwheat 100 gncc it's a new property for gncc but it's no strange off-road racing this place has had a lot of local races over the year however we've laid it out a lot differently put in a lot of new trail we've really tightened this up this is a very fast force it's really tight uh the quad guys if you don't like the tight stuff you're probably gonna hate me and ryan echols this weekend but uh if you do like that tight stuff you're gonna love us because it's uh pretty tight and twisty and then for the motorcycles that should uh actually stay fairly tight a little bit faster for the bikes but overall this is gonna be a really cool race a little bit of a little bit of tight stuff and then you kind of do get into some faster stuff and then we got some big fast field sections as well so as i say every week there's still a little bit of something for everybody great race can't wait to see this all unfold back to you guys all right thanks a lot jared it looks like these guys have got a challenge for him today mikey and other than that the only thing that we can do is go racing i'm ready to go race and we're going to take it to a quick commercial break and when we come back rodney tomlin down on the starting line with that iconic 10 second call when you crave the canyon passes rocky trails rutted tracks the podiums and personal records it becomes part of you the choice now is you become a wanderer or the wanderer you just need to ride where you belong wow hello everyone and welcome to preston camp west virginia the home of the buckwheat festival the west virginia preston county festival and we are so fortunate here we are folks bright sunshine in a mid november afternoon and we've got a great weekend of race over 1200 competitors have lined up on the lines here here in preston county west virginia newburgh west virginia with me today is our landowner not only our landowner but he was re-elected to the west virginia legislature earlier this week we are so happy to have him as advocate for us ladies and gentlemen this is getting buck jennings he is our uh marshall for today put your hands together folks as we get to come to this farm that his family owns and he supports us throughout the year thank you buck thank you everybody hey we're real proud i'm real pleased that you all are here we're hoping that you have a great time this state is called almost heaven when we ordered this weather up just for you guys we want you to know that so you could enjoy it this weekend also the buckwheat festival we didn't get to bake a bunch of cakes usually we run through thousands of cakes here in preston county the last week of september but next year if you're in this area stop by everyone in preston county sells buckwheat cakes this farm is called cj farms that's my son chris his son corey and my great grandson cason now you know where to get this cj farms from we thank you that you're here we hope you have a good time be safe and give it everything you got thanks for coming and have a great time thank you west virginia delicate but jennings once again for being here and allowing us this opportunity and now ladies and gentlemen with the description of our course and what we have to look forward to here today our junior trail boss and co-course designer mr ryan eckles yeah thank you rodney yeah we gotta say uh thanks a buck for uh bringing this great weather to us uh being 75 in november in west virginia is a really big deal and i was going to make for great racing today uh the morning knocks off some of that slick stuff so it should be a lot of fun for you guys today you're going to take off from the start here you'll head right down into the woods to the two mile mark just be cautious that first lap guys when you get down in there it shouldn't be too dusty it was pretty good earlier so just be cautious out too there it'll take you to the uh fmf powerpoint that first lap you guys will bypass the pro pits so the next time through jeff russell will be down there he'll point you up into the pro pit work your way past that you'll run around the back side of pro pass and uh some track side there you drop down over the hill guys i know i guarantee most of you have been out there and look at it it's a little soft down there the morning didn't have any issues so you guys really shouldn't have any issues i'll bring you back around to the three mile three you guys will turn uh right so you have a short mile there we took out a little bit from yesterday that'll take you over to the four into the monster model nothing too crazy there just some good west virginia coal you'll ride through they'll take you through one of the better parts i think uh they're like called zach's roller coasters you have to ask zach watts called that but i'll take you out and pass the five mile mark and some good stuff so after the five guys there's a downhill i just went down on the quad no issues but about halfway down right in the middle there's a little step in it so just be cautious that first lap pay attention that'll bring you back on your crossover a little fast road and then you head down into more uh rocks a little bit more wet stuff down past and about the 6 8 where anybody has walked out there if you haven't walked out there there's a little morning on it the uh most of the afternoon yesterday really on it it's a slick rock hill but i know you guys can do it so it's in for you from there you'll go work your way back up over the seven it'll open up a little bit some good trail around there before you uh drop back down past the eight mile mark after the eight you'll jump out in that big field out front that's good stuff it's a lot of gp type stuff it's a harder ground it's not really getting rough that'll bring you back in a little piece of wood you cross over the uh the two way to the 10 mile mark uh there's some good stuff there that's where you'll run into a couple mud holes uh after the little bridge we built out there there's a mud hole guys there's no issues with the morning you can go to left you can go to the right you go straight through the middle wherever you guys need to go i'll take you out past that point you'll pop back up in a little piece of grass track we're heading back down into the woods at the 11 mile mark another little piece of woods guys do not go left out into that uh kind of iron mud out there this is a orange mud you guys make it on the right the further you go out to the left you're gonna get might get stuck and you're gonna be sitting there for a while it's gonna be hard to get you out so that'll bring you up into the finish you have a little bit of trackside i'll bring you back out around uh just over here to the right of us a little piece of woods you'll head down that sand wash it's getting a little woopy in that sand so bring a little florida up here i guess with this weather that will bring you back up the hill to the one you'll drop back down uh another little hill and before you head back up again when you get out through there you'll have another downhill guys morning didn't have any issues put some dangers there the dangers were there for a reason so just pay attention to those that'll bring you back here behind the start you'll jump into a little bike only piece there's not too much and it'll tie back in so you guys right at 11 miles still should be a lot of fun so good luck have fun pay attention to those arrows and one last reminder safety first gncc racing like all motorsports can be dangerous racers now that you have had an opportunity to inspect the course have heard the rate procedures and a description of the course if you feel that either you or your machine is not prepared then now is the time for you to withdraw for a complete refund of your entry fee no questions asked it is your responsibility to operate your machine in a safe manner maintaining control at all times extreme caution is required when approaching areas with high concentrations of and family members do not unnecessary risk that endanger the safety of fans crew members and family members you will be penalized racing crew members family members and race fans due to the nature of gncc racing there is no fence barrier around the race it is your responsibility to keep yourself and your children from the racecourse never turn your back on oncoming racers and remember stay off the race track for the safety one unauthorized drones are not allowed at gncc and will be confiscated and finally these are challenging times and we all do our part to keep ourselves and each other safe from infectious disease please maintain a safe six-foot distance from people you do not live with and wear a face mask when you can on social distance wash your hands often and use hand sanitizer and although we realize this may be an inconvenience necessary for your safety thank you for your cooperation and now ladies and gentlemen to ask one final blessing on this 2020 gncc season mr ricky towery thank you rodney and let's do go to the lord and have a water prayer together this afternoon heavenly father once again we just thank you for bringing us all together safely and around you brought us a beautiful place such a beautiful day we thank you for the jennings family for letting us shoot a piece of property to enjoy our sport but once again back in april we wasn't even sure if he's gonna get a season in we stand here today before you with 13 rounds a complete season we thank you for each and every race that you let us put on and have lord we thank you for that or continue to watch over the military men and women in all parts of the world each and every day do be with our leaders that they will make the right decisions for us but we know that the holiday seasons they are just right around the corner help us take time at thanksgiving to be thankful for what you've blessed us with each and every day and when christmas does arrive help us be happy and realize that christmas is all about you sent your son to us so he could grow up and later on die on the cross so our sins could be forgiven so we could have eternal life lord we just thank you once again for everything you do for us we ask you to watch over us this winter let everybody have a safe winter spend time with their families lord once again without you take us all home safely when it's over with in christ's name we pray amen and now ladies and gentlemen if you would please remain standing stand at attention remove those caps and cross those hearts as we honor the greatest nation in the world with the playing of our national anthem by the dawn's early light what so proudly we have um through the night r i know there you have it folks the stage is set and one final time to meet our starting lineup rolling to the line today in accordance to points to the first 12 rounds of the grand national cross country championship as we roll into round 13. he rolls to the line first today second in points for this 2020 championship so far and of course two wins to his credit a former champion of the grand national cross country series healing from australia on the babitz online monster energy team green kawasaki the freight train josh strange rolling to the line sack of the day he is third in points aboard the 127 from livingston tennessee also one of babbitt's online monster energy team green kawasaki jordan ashburn rolling to the line third today fourth in points aboard the number 514 with three wins and a podium in the last four rounds of racing healing from hodges south carolina aboard an am pro yamaha stu baylor rolling to the line next to 5 30 is fifth in points from harrington connecticut on the fmf ktm factory racing ktm ben kelly rolling to the line next aboard the number 314 from honey path south carolina on a factory one sureco the grizzly and up next he's been on fire as of late from booneville north carolina originally from the great state of west virginia on an ambrose yamaha lane michael writing about the number 410 from birdsboro pennsylvania on a phoenix racing honda and next aboard the number 484 it is gncc racing debut from birdsboro pennsylvania on a g p m x school team green kawasaki frenchy greg p mart number 739 welcoming back from morgan to north carolina on the rock star energy factory husqvarna racing husky trevor bollinger the number 27 from blacksburg south carolina klm motorsports kawasaki heaven and last and certainly not least from williamstown west virginia on a rock star energy factory husky racing husky bad fat dude and that ladies and gentlemen your starting lineup for this the amsoil buckwheat 100 gncc our riders finding their way on the starting line now ricky towery finding his way to the first turn as he begins to orchestrate these starts our maestro if you will and conductor of ceremonies rick geeks howery gonna make things happen here today there's no doubt about that my friends and as we look up into the term one he's already told us one minute so we are less than a minute away from going gncc racing here now and of course so much on the line for so many yeah it's the last race championships have been decided but it's silly season one last opportunity to make that explanation point to stake that claim heading into the offseason that you are going to be the one to beat come 20 21. so the nerves begin to really intensify the hearts begin to pound and the eyes begin to squint as we wait for our cues from ricky towery as he gets set to signal these riders next we'll be one minute away from going gncc racing and this is where it really starts to get one minute guys one minute this is where it starts to get thick for these guys my friends the last minute preparations the rituals that they must go through before the waving of that green flag they're all making those final checks at this moment as they await the next call led engine sign here from ricky shut them down guys shut them down shut them down shut them down we are now less than 30 seconds away from going racing here in the great state of west virginia and i'm going to ask you are you ready to go gncc racing well that's pretty good west virginia but i'm going to ask you one more time one last time are you ready to go gncc racing 10 seconds and row number one the xc1 pro will be off and rolling at the amsoil buckwheat 100 gncc round the first turn it's the 127 emerging into the number two turn that is shortened on the babbitt's online monster energy kawasaki grabbing the early lead here today xc2 250 pro class coming up next ryder laughter sam evans liam draper mike watkowski hunter bush ben parsons jesse ainsley craig delong benjamin alco ben bowens hunter newark jonathan johnson and cody barnes in 10 seconds the 328 jesse ansley a great jump off the line how's it going to fare in the second turn it's going to be the 24 big sam evans out of st albums west virginia on the aomc p3 composites fly racing back right grabbing the early lead in this one down to the fmf xc3 125 pro am max fernandez mike delosa eli childers jason lipscomb and zach hayes in 10 seconds 393 e like shoulders like a lightning off that starting line out front by only a half a bike length as we head to the stripe it's going to be childers with the early lead in this one of that moose racing rings riding university dirt squirt racing yamaha 250 a class coming up next we got tristan landers zachary davidson matthew davis bolton barroth brendan polling braden nolette nate meister jonathan mcdougall dakota devore gavin sivan piper and andrew gross 432 braden nolan coming out of that first turn out front grabbing gears and about three bike lengths lead as he crosses crosses the whole shot strike right promoter works race tech bulletproof designs and fly racing out of tarleton massachusetts coming up next our next row the open a-class in ten seconds cubby banker tyler bran of alex luger zachary hugo chase hayes nathan rector dillon de la cruz will simon piper chuck duckworth also ezra prime and joshua ellis that's john duckworth not chuck duckworth but john duckworth as they round the first turn in the opening class the number 95 grabbing the early lead that is 85 of nathan director from rogersville missouri on the marionville powersports moose racing max's back machine going next to the 150a class 10 seconds alex metz cole hickman matthew howard christian evans and nicholas de batallo bartolo sorry about that my mouth got a little pull but hey here we go let's see if he can get into that little early lead out here this week swap them around 578 nicholas dibartolo out of tamat toback pennsylvania he throws two curveballs heavy four stroke a lights coming at you next 13 riders ready to roll in seconds cole whitmer tyler palmer adam holland camp russell smith mitchell owen be justin lafferty hayden dillon adam parker johnny fleming caleb baltimore cody meeks michael wilbur and cooper jones oh nice oh mercy a couple of good out of shape there but the 800 of cooper jones from lawton pennsylvania yamaha backed by factory connection and fmf gonna grab the early lead in this one to the valley 30 plus class coming up next in 10 seconds joe marsh louis oleon james singer andrew france kyle tangler james bauer matt modic and nate throughout cronk first turn they jockey for position it's going to be the 433 andrew france from louisville ohio on the beaver creek cycles nvr suspension vert mx graphics-backed machine coming up next senior a 40 plus in 10 seconds shotgun shawn remington smiling frank messina dwayne connor jason reigns vinnie tomic clark monger beau hamlet joel stoles and darren darmos former pro rider dwayne connor here out of houston pennsylvania let's see how things go for him let's see 53 shotgun sean remington out of new zealand pa on the boost ken the factory connection coastal racing back machine grabbing the early lead junior a b 25 plus class in ten seconds matt bruffey garrett maynard evan maynard grant marriott andrew loudermilk austin franklin matthew pratola cody jeffers andrew boggs and jonathan harker it's the 3 15 315 gary marriott from ulster pennsylvania marriott trucking factory connection moose racing back machine 250 b coming up next got jared testron also worn friend nick martin buggy funk happy birthday buddy 10 seconds austin glass arm moffett joshua connor landon beatty holden richie greg messiah timmy mcintyre michael mouvick leroy patrick christopher eddie hunter morris ryan richard tyler shields ben o'dell ethan eagle lane whitmer cameron matterson aaron marks grant davis and noah martz as we roll past the finish or excuse me the whole shot strike that looked like maybe the 442 of tyler shields that was on a husky though so i'll miss that one on you but as we go next to the 150 b class 10 seconds hayden serena peyton guinn jacob thomas blake kohler toby cleveland nick barrier caden childers maverick thaxton trenton wood braden hashman kyle dutton and aiden meyers 3 21 peyton gwen from parkersburg west virginia dunlop fxr and blow vision crash addicts back ride up next is the vet b 30 plus class coming next 19 riders strong with larry hopper coding host adam hotel jeremy stilwee nick plank 10 seconds ernest martin adam glass ashton glass david ravinsky michael davis christian honeycutt tyler click jeremiah taylor josh real cameron ware ambrose kolasky joshua webb peter arbanese and jim johnson it's the 911 webb webb from montville ohio on his ktm as we go next to the open b-class set and ready to roll in 10 seconds matt clark trenton madison dominic jarvis cody delucci dylan fleming wyatt ford also gregory tenney paul fitzwater ryan tucker colton hawk clinton clock jacob maynard dawson nixon cordell clark and jameson hardy open b off and rolling now dawson nixon a great start for the 767 kawasaki rider out of jonesville north carolina nixon motorsports backed right going to take the early lead in this one dallas we sort them out out of term one now a couple of guys going down ricky tower is signaling our next row the senior b 40 plus class let them know 10 seconds gene squidward leon whitaker josephine ramos scott lyons also brent maynard ray hirsch or hinch scott dowling jeffrey harms rick liller shannon hatfield mike horwat and jason wallace holy smokes do you see that lead by the 788 of jason wallace from conway south carolina he's riding a rocket out there today four stroke b lights class 16 rider strong coming at you next 10 seconds jesse groves levi ward trevor golden miles kefka briar burgess carter kearns jack joy ty ealy max grant anthony blackburn austin mintz logan robinette brandon bollinger hayden schultz cody reese and kobe dunham now it says 276 on the fight it's a 4 19 ty ely out of waynesburg pennsylvania and energy racing moose racing ktm back ride and that my friends will wrap it up as far as the start is concerned and what a day we got here today in the great state of west virginia the stew crew out in full force going for his fourth win of 2020 can he make that happen and man i tell you josh train can he get three wins in a row what about the back welcoming back uh trevor bolinger he's going to be a threat to work with but i'm telling you folks today's the day keep an eye on the 523 lane michael he's in his home territory can he make things happen stick around to find out gncc live continues after this when you crave the canyon passes trails rutted tracks the podiums and personal records it becomes part of you the choice now is do you become a wanderer or the wanderer you just need to ride where you belong morning of family values and a homegrown work ethic kinetic gasket seals your machine so you can focus on the finish line kinetic gaskets are the competitive standard for racers who demand the very best kinetic gaskets are constructed from superior materials designed to perform in the most demanding environment whether it's championships on the line for a day in the dirt with friends professionals and enthusiasts depend on comedic kinetic gaskets sealing championships since 1989 it's hard to put our adventures on hold but now is the perfect time to prepare for their return amsoil has your back with fast free shipping and ordering has never been easier just look up your vehicle select your product add an oil change to your cart and check out spend 50 on amsoil products and shipping is on us order now at amsoil.com even when you're the best you never stop striving to be better with over 40 years of experience in motorcycle sales and service we know racing our inventory of yamaha motorcycles sport bikes dirt bikes atvs and side-by-sides is extensive and constantly changing stop by lojack cycle sales today in torrentium pennsylvania and visit our online inventory at www.lojax.com yamaha wise it's why we ride hi my name is andrea lieb the director of ontrack school how would you like to go to a school where we take into consideration how students learn best well we do that because we find if we can build the curriculum around the things you are interested in you're going to do a better job the mission at on track school is that educational success is possible while chasing your dreams not only will our staff help students to achieve success they will cheer you on to the finish line we encourage you to check out ontrack school at ontrackschool.com where we can help you chase your dreams and still get a quality education grand national cross country is america's premier off-road motorcycle racing series riders compete on extended cross-country courses of 8 to 12 miles per lap and races lasting up to three hours and welcome back to gncc live i'm mikey waynes you've already heard from my colleague mr rodney tomlin down there with those iconic 10 second calls and we'll be joined in the booth here momentarily with uh johnny gallagher johnny gallagher excuse me johnny g uh better known as atv pro i'll be in here doing some play-by-play with us uh here this afternoon this is the amsoil buckwheat 100 the last and final round of the 2020 season hard to believe round 13 is here and to get us started go look at the specialized rapid replay the xc one row number one your pro class up for grabs right here ricky towery with the waving of the green flag we're off we're rolling we're jockeying for position and how about that start out of jordan ashburn snags a hole shot but uh duly noted dad duvall in the mix of things you see lane michael on screen and josh string as well as uh stu baylor back there and looked like the fourth place position uh heading into the woods so i'm ready let's sort it out the last pro championship pro am i should say championship to be decided today the xc 2 class big things that's going to be a major focus here today and boy how about the start for this guy out of the xc2 as you see these guys jockeying from position right here and i believe it is going to be sam evans taking that whole shot right there and great start for him you saw right under the corner right side of your screen i believe that was the 282 of mike wikowski up into that number one spot now keep in mind he's got the battle today between him and craig delong no johnny gerard today more on that this afternoon and now the fmf xc3 the uh 125 machines gotta be honest nothing sounds as good as the 125s singing through the woods of west virginia gotta love it and from what we understand no jason reigns today i believe he's uh he's done with the fmfx c3 career but uh there's childers taking that right there so big congratulations to uh childers taking the whole shot out of that fmfxc fmfxc3 class so where are ulf and roland here and uh looking at your leaders on screen there at the yamaha racing sky cam man already getting some distance that was one of the things uh that we saw a lot of yesterday uh copy that uh adam but uh yeah one of the things about this course and when we get a moment an open moment here uh we will let you know about what to expect out of this track exactly with the track map but for now with the leaders on screen a very tight course if you guys didn't hear uh the track description from jared bolton prior to the race start um pretty tight course for these guys you know it's difficult to make passes as far as the atvs yesterday obviously bike's going to have a few more choices but uh from the general consensus from everybody was there are places to pass on this track but you better commit and uh these these few open sections we got allowed for these guys to pick up some speed and some steam through there uh but uh definitely gonna be a a barn burner coming into this one josh strang coming off the win uh at iron man a couple weeks ago and i'm pretty sure that is still ashburn out front he had the whole shot and uh he's one of those guys we've talked about off and on this season about uh being able to put together that complete race that full three hours and uh fight for that podium position it's eluded them all year long and uh we kind of wait to see if maybe he can put it all together today and i believe like i said i believe that's jordan ashburn out front right now and i know it's early i know it's a three-hour race but you got to believe that jordan ashburn is feeling good right now about this one uh and of course uh the big story of course stu baylor and the things that he has done uh hopefully you uh caught mason raiders uh video on stew baylor that was a pretty incredible one if you hadn't seen that watch it after the show say that uh joined in the booth now by the one the only mr johnny gallagher and johnny uh we've got the bird's eye view right now but from what i can tell i think that is still jordan ashburn out front who got the whole shot but uh like i said little bird's eye view yep coming out into the open here looking as they are working their way through these faster sections of the uh track it's you know this is as you pointed out very one-lined and tight through much of the course but this is where it opens up and this is the opportunity to kind of stretch the legs a little bit on those big 450s and jordan ashburn leading the way is what it looks like to me as well so this yamaha skycam i heard uh yesterday i heard you guys talking about it and was able to hear some stuff about it last night pretty cool to be able to follow the action like this for for racing in november and there's no leaves yes yes uh in a lot of ways uh obviously not ideal to be racing in november but at the same time man we're racing and that's what it's all about and uh you know we've said it so many times this weekend but uh hats off not only to racer productions the racer tv crew but you know all of the fans and the participants of gncc racing for bearing with a very difficult 2020 that you know just couldn't have turned out any better for the circumstances given and hats off to everybody for working together making it through and uh really an awesome season i mean we've seen battles and every class we've seen battles in in our overall championships and uh we've seen a lot of unprecedented things and and uh you know i feel like today could be a day where we just put a little exclamation point on it already wild and wild and wild and willie 2020. yeah yeah that's for sure and off the start um thad duvall was up there battling up in the top four into the top three trevor bollinger was up there so the two rock star husky guys um you know if nothing else they've got something to prove to themselves trevor coming back um saw him right before the race gave him a quick fist bump said man it's good to see you back here at the race so gonna be interesting to see how those guys stack up and of course caleb's wrapped up the championship in the xc1 not racing here today if you guys were wondering about that um and but but big allies i think today on xc2 that championship yet to be decided i believe coming in it was kind of a three-way battle with gerard wikowski and uh de long and i understand jarrar uh thanks to i think a crash at iron man is not racing here there's a couple a series of crashes around this is actually the last two turns before the finish here so we'll zoom in on this and uh we'll get some results of exactly who is leading on screen we believe that's jordan ashburn there we go a little different shot that's jordan ashburn leading the way on the number 127 monster energy babbitt's online kawasaki i can tell you know mikey we watch these guys long enough we can tell by the riding styles we don't need to see the numbers but that is definitely ash prince so wow you know it's been a while since we've seen jordan lead we've seen him up front he's been in the top three a lot um but uh to see him leading um and and looking like he's putting on a really good pace he and our second place rider hometown boy man you know west virginia's own you know he's going to be looking to make a statement today and all these guys are it's going to be all about trying to uh put a little bit of a uh a question mark in in the other riders minds uh looks like third and fourth were just all over each other who was that ben kelly yeah so those are the two that have been the most consistent through the last uh through the last four rounds of racing those guys have been each been on the podium every time stu obviously with three wins and a second place finish ben kelly on the box every one of those races quite a few seconds and a third uh there to go with it but uh here we see again ashburn out making the dust making the roost picking his own lines and uh stretching out just a little bit over third of all but dad looking good and looking comfy there in that second place spot so uh johnny yesterday i believe you guys ran what four laps for xc one uh that was three too many well that was going to be my question these guys they're out there they've got another hour on top of that and i believe they at one point we were about a minute and a half ahead of where we were at yesterday so probably expect what six or seven lap range i probably venture to say six given the fact that we might end up racing in the dark yeah i'd say well i if i had to guess right now i'd say six slap race but obviously we're just guessing for trajectory um you know anything could happen it could turn out to be seven or even more um but my guess would be a six lap race for these guys the morning uh yesterday was four our race was four the morning today was four uh so i anticipate another two laps being enough to get us within that time frame where we need to be um and uh i was just joking about that you know it was this was not my style of racetrack i struggled yesterday did not do well at all there's baylor and ben kelly on screen baylor in front kelly behind so that's third and fourth there on screen from our yamaha racing skycam and like we said man what a pr what a cool view here um you can see the split line stu baylor taking the outside ben kelly cutting it a little bit shorter but still able to carry more momentum around the outside and uh able to hang out of that third place spot but it's a very dynamic track out there mikey it's uh it's rocky in places um there's good dirt in places they're super slippery dirt in places um and it's as we talked about it's fairly one lined at least on the atv side by side there's going to be a few more lines opening up just because they can fit through some places we can't and straight straight lines some things that we've got to go around just because of the width of machines that being said it was uh you know i learned long ago not every gncc track during the 13 round series is going to be made to my specifications and liking um so there's going to be guys out there that are just going to be loving this track today and i'll tell you what one of those guys i'm going to make a little bit of an early prediction here i think i'm not saying he's going to win but i think it's going to be a good day for thad duvall sad rides these traditions very well and and that's even before coming in right um i actually i nailed the top three yesterday in my pre-race predictions i did get second and third wrong i had cole for second uh and jared mcclure for third but i did hear that cole had a pretty good grasp on second until he had an issue so you know yeah based purely on their their speed um yeah this this uh coming into this section here there's there's a couple uh uphills that really kind of separate uh right here you can see they're gonna go down you kind of jump and you go up again and then there's a fast line to the left there it looks like those guys kind of missed it um there's a little bit faster way around to the left there you can carry your speed more but again on bike they might be able to fit through some stuff but uh yeah i think sad dubai's gonna have a good day today um you know jordan ashburn no slouch in the rocks and and we need to kind of point out here mikey it's not like this track as a whole is a rock track there are just some sections that are very rocky so what now we've never raced to national on this uh cj raceway here in west virginia we've never raced a national here before um they have raised some locals what does that do for on the pro level who does it give an advantage to the veteran guys i mean does it kind of even the playing field across the board the fact that we've never raced the national year uh what is the perspective on that from a pro level um i think it does but it doesn't because i can tell you a few of these guys that of all likely being one of them have probably raced this property a number that's true that's true um because they've had uh new east coast races here they've had mountain state races here they've had years ago they had koontz series races here the paul coons promotion series um i think i actually raced what was called a ksr or krs series back in the day here back about 12 years ago um so there's been a lot of racing done on this facility but yes um to answer your question you know obviously most of the tracks that we go to we've gone to many many times over the years oh look at this so our second and third place battle has now worked its way up and they are just about to the rear wheel of our second place rider which is thad the ball there's duval on screen up at the top there look how much they close that gap down so right now the boys on the move are stu baylor in third and the fourth place rider uh of ben kelly they are closing oh wow ben kelly up next to stu baylor didn't quite make the pass but he got right next to him there this is the stuff we need to see all yes exactly how much do you think these guys are playing into it by the way taking a look real quick there's the fmf powerpoint seeing uh outside of the bird's eye view you get better idea of these speeds these guys are running by the way xc2 we'll see them come through here in a moment mike wikowski leading that the guy's competing against primarily craig along back in the number four spot um what is uh oh crap i had a question now i completely lost my training we were talking about the difference of uh actually another writer i just saw on screen i expect big things out of today lane michael the 503 i can guarantee you during his amateur years he raised at least several handfuls of races here so he knows the property he knows the dirt there's baylor there's kelly so that is third and fourth as we see they've prepped up on padre ball who still is not all that far behind jordan ashburn our leader um i see i'm looking here it looks like uh grand baylor not working his way down vp fuels pro row andrew's along is through uh and here we are starting there is josh strength so strang always not a great start for string you have to believe he must have had some lap one struggles because obviously our round 12 winner and has just been coming on stronger and stronger each round as of late for him to be that far back on lap one he's he's definitely had some struggles but don't count that man out the freight train josh strang he will charge back onto the tracks yeah no doubt about that here is probably our xc2 leader if i had to guess there he is mike wikowski on the 282 uh so he is charging there and uh should be liam draper at least when they checked in the time distance was about two seconds yep draper is right behind watkowski draper is another one who lives very close to here looks like it might be uh yep cody barnes the number 99 there in third on that factory beta right it's been riding very well as of late and there is the 3 42 of craig delong now that looks to be uh jonathan johnson there one of the johnsons could be brody johnson that's one of the phoenix hondas there and then jesse ansley having a good ride there looking like he is up in the sixth place spot so that's the highest we've seen jesse ride in this xc2 class since his debut a lot over a year ago um looks like ryder lafferty uh there in maybe in the seventh place spot jesse ainsley one of those guys that you know i i thought it would take him some time to adjust to that xc2 class coming off the uh xc3 125 championship and that definitely had been the case this year so he's probably one of those guys you can throw in into the silly season of hey if nothing else i gotta prove to myself that i can compete and run with these guys and in the season on a high note absolutely you know and i on a lot i i you know i consider jesse a friend and i have no problem there's ben nelco uh coming by through vp fuels prorow another local rider there so that should round out just about our top 10 in that xc2 class and again we're going to keep an extra close eye on that today and we'll keep tabulating the points um i believe the points gap as they run right now mike witkowski would be your overall winner for the season because i believe i'd have to look but as they run right now there's a nine point gap back to second and then there's another uh three points to third so that would be 12 points and i think the gap um unfortunately i have no service here so i know i just think the same to confirm but i believe right now it is watkowski leading the championship on as they run on the course so here is there's your leader jordan ashburn that ball second stu baylor third ben kelly fourth and they can all see each other now it's tightening up mikey is that is the monster mile that section uh that coal mountain whatever you want to call is it as gnarly as it looks um it wasn't really that bad yesterday i didn't feel like honestly the section after it right here that they're going it's pretty rough i believe it's called zach zigzag or zig zach's rollers i heard a roller coaster and man that section is gnarly it's just up down the ground's real soft there's rock mixed in very unpredictable traction and footing um it's just very hard to carry your speed through that section so um i i struggled all day yesterday through that section i know a lot of guys seem to and look at this man things are tightening up even more these guys are pretty much nose to tail their second third fourth all separated by just barely over a couple bike lengths so you got a couple guys in there wanting to well i think all four really wanting to prove something i mean all all top four writers ashburn duvall baylor kelly and uh you can even go back to fifth place trevor bollinger to me are all names that stand out that they've got something to prove here at the end of the season and you know obviously the big thing next year no caleb russell so we're going to have a new champion in 2021 and everybody wants to be the guy and i think everybody believes they will be the guy walkowski on screen yep there's watkowski in the monster mile so we'll see how they still run second time still liam draper the 198 on that tealy energy ktm machine little bit of a gap now back to the third place ride that's opened up a little bit but it is still the 99 of cody barnes and back there in the fourth place spot is the 342 rockstar husky of craig de long and he is lurking there uh looking like he's on a mission knowing probably what he needs to do that is one of the johnsons i can't tell which um good question jonathan should be jonathan johnson yeah look at this whoa on screen wheel to wheel and that looks yeah we can still see aspirin right ahead of them now there is only two bikes there so we may have and i wouldn't say loss but somebody's either gained or lost a little bit of time there um hard to see exactly um oh yeah you can see some of these technical sections these guys are just crawling their way through nope there's still all three of them oh yeah it was just the angle we were at so ashburn just up ahead there and then this is your battle for second third fourth that hall stu baylor ben kelly and mikey let's talk a little bit about this you mentioned these four guys all as well as trevor obviously everybody on the course has something to prove but these four each have their own very different reasons for really wanting this win today besides the fact of a gncc win you know the the monetary rewards the kudos the atta boys that come with it you know the man out front right now jordan ashburn lead the way it's been a challenging season for him oh no doubt he's been in a position to battle for podiums so many times this year uh and just hasn't been able to seal the deal so what better way to show up on the podium yeah than in the middle with you know and that would be a big statement i know we're hearing um i i believe it's official i don't know if i'm saying anything we never know like silly season but i don't believe it's a rumor jordan ashburn will not be back with that babbitt's kawasaki team next year he will be with the land mills xc husky team um so it'll be a change of ride for him uh next year the babbitts team will be coming back with josh strang and their xc2 rider uh why am i forgetting his name lyndon snyder it's not grass um so jordan ashford will be moving on to a different team so in one hand he's he's probably going to want to reward that team for the two years that they gave him give him that win that has eluded him on the other hand maybe just kind of a hey guys just so you know i'm capable of a win for you to kind of hype up the new team then you go back to thad duval basically been off the bike hasn't been riding but just a few short weeks maybe maybe a month five weeks or so now at this point had it had a you know disaster of a season from the standpoint of came in um had a knee injury known knee injury coming in decided he wasn't going to get it fixed thought he would be able to manage it and you know now he's back he's fixed up he's had that knee surgery he's healthy he's 100 um and he wants to flex on these guys and show him hey i understand caleb's not going to be back next year but you guys remember that guy that was battling with him over race wins countless times in the last three four years oh yeah that was me and this is my championship move back one more spot stu baylor won three the last four races second at our last race you know he's been on fire he's really meshed well with that new team that new bike obviously you know the list of reasons that stu baylor has something to run through right is is so long here talk about it again you pointed out mason raider doing that little docu series um and then obviously the rider right behind him there in fourth ben kelly a lot of hype coming into the season one races last year after he moved up and uh hasn't actually gotten that done he's been consistent podium guys since he came back but uh yeah so some each of those guys have something to prove so many story lines uh coming into today so many story lines to finish out the season right now the big one can jordan ashburn capture that xc1 win gncc live continues after this when you crave the canyon passes rocky trails rutted tracks the podiums and personal records it becomes part of you the choice now is do you become a wanderer or the wanderer you just need to ride where you belong born of family values and a homegrown work ethic kinetic gasket seals your machine so you can focus on the finish line kinetic gaskets are the competitive standard for racers who demand the very best kinetic gaskets are constructed from superior materials designed to perform in the most demanding environment whether it's championships on the line for a day in the dirt with friends professionals and enthusiasts depend on kinetic kinetic gaskets sealing championships since 1989 this week in yamaha history at the 2011 rock run gncc the field was poised for a great and fierce battle north carolina's brian cook had gotten off to the early lead but a young champion by the name of chris borch along with adam mcgill bill balance chris bithell and more were waging war as the young xc2 pro-am prodigy yamaha's walker fowler was in hot pursuit and aiming to claim his first ever overall victory in the end walker fowler bested the boys from the gncc from back on row 2 and marked win number one of now over 50 overall wins each one while riding aboard a yamaha and that's this week in yamaha history hey johnny were you at that race i was and roughly 59 wins later wow and and six championships uh walker fowler still still out there doing the job wasn't racing with us this weekend was actually texas doing a little hunting with the boys from yamaha it's funny you say that he had the opportunity to go out and do that and you know all of his sponsors jordan ashburn on screen leading the way in xc1 uh and your overall fad to ball closing it up there in second stu baylor still in third and there is ben kelly in fourth oh look at this hold on michael putting on a charge in that fifth place spot has closed all the way up and that was the rider i don't know if i ever finished the thought but i said oh yeah yeah i said he has he has more laps around this track than any one of those top riders guaranteed not saying he's going to go out and work the boys but he's making up ground right now it's it's impressive actually rodney and i taught even before we got to the track this morning we were talking about lane michael today and he's one of those writers kind of like ashburn he's had those glimpses of greatness for one two hours and then kind of falls off in that third hour well if he's gonna make it happen this is without a doubt the track uh i think he can make it happen yeah and i i think we really saw in the last three four races we've seen lane up in there later in the races we've seen him uh you know mixing it up what was that two rounds ago was oh this was a crash away the crash on pro last race is up in there battling for a podium you know it's been he's been so close this year he's really just stepped it up to a whole new level and you know he might be one of those guys that just needs that win that monkey off his back not saying to go out and go on a road for sure but right you know where he's up there every week battling for those wins what do you think it does to a guy not just lane but any kind of situation where you're kind of the guy in the pit and then a guy like stu comes along and he starts seeing success with that do you think that would motivate a guy like lane or does it kind of demoralize him you know what i'm going to be honest with you it's i i try to be as as honest and uh and forthcoming with with my feelings with air as our leader mike witkowski and xc2 second place still right there that 198 machine um i had my doubts as to how that was going to work out for lane i'll be honest um lane and i like lane he's a very close friend um but he isn't one that's been known for being mentally strong and i thought that there is okay so we'll talk about that xc2 championship battle in a minute but lane isn't one that throughout his career has been known for being mentally strong phenomenal rider great talent great speed always fit but he seemed to be missing something yeah to be able to continually put the pieces together i honestly thought when stu came under the same tent it was going to knock lane off the rails yeah he did the exact opposite he struggled a little bit at that race in west virginia the first round that stu was there stu won i think lane was maybe six seven five six seven somewhere in there not that that's a struggle solid finish but since then he's been either in a podium position leading or battling every race yeah you know right and i think he just he realized now's the time he needs to pull together and i think on some level maybe there's that fact of hey it's the same bike it's the same team this guy's winning i know i'm as good as him i just need to do it and lane right now has been going out there and doing it he's he's been so much improved these last three rounds um it's been it's been crazy to watch and and i think today could be a day we see elaine michael on the podium or maybe even a win it'd be shocking it would be good a great way to close out the season yeah and pro wouldn't be too mad about that they'd be happy i'm sure they'd be real pumped for sure whether it be lane or lane exactly pumped for sure and then throw witkowski extra we just broke that down during commercial break uh and i'm i'm not even going to try to get through the weeds on that come on you can explain it so all right so if i understand it if wilkowski wins he's got the championship as long as correct craig delong finishes fourth or back is that right okay so here's where we're gonna see already screwed no no no you're good if if craig finishes where he is if they finish as they run mike wakowski would be your xc2 leader okay or your xc2 champion which right now they're running witkowski first yep and along and fourth correct so they're running 1-4 right now speaking of the top four there's your top four xc1 riders now five with lane michael in there top five on screen out in the fields and they still running orders still the same that is uh out front jordan ashburn second place thad duvall third place stu baylor fourth place ben kelly and fifth place back there lurking on the 523 amp pro yamaha lane michael uh in that xc2 battle here's how it breaks down here's how it shapes up right now leading the way mike wikowski on the 282 amp pro yamaha would be your champion if he wins the race and craig delong finishes in fourth there's a nine point gap between them as they start the race okay that would be a 12 point swing meaning that mike wakowski would win the championship by three points now here's where it gets interesting if craig de long went to finish in that third place spot mike wirkowski wins they tie on points there would be a tie but wait there's more but wait there's more the tiebreaker is number of wins right now mike wikowski has uh three and actually or wait is that let me look is that backwards let's let's figure it out um i believe mike witkowski has three and craig delong has four unless that's correct craig delong has four wins on the air and and watkowski has three wins so here's where it gets interesting they would each have four wins so they would tie on the tiebreaker then you go to last race whoever finishes ahead in the last race so mike witkowski as they run if craig delong gets into that third place spot and watkowski wins watkowski would win the championship base not on points they would tie on points right they would tie on wins mike winkowski would win it on the second tiebreaker which is last race so the scenario for wikowski is basically just go out and win don't worry about the rest if he wins he can't control anything else he needs either barnes or um the current second place rider uh which why am i drawing a blank barnes is in third second place is uh liam draper he needs one of those two guys to hold up not hold up but to hold up under the pressure and finish second because if craig delon gets that second place position it's over or if he wins it's over so basically craig delong controls his own destiny if he finishes first or second if he finishes third or worse he needs mike wikowski not to win all right folks at home is that clear as mud you got that it's some if people are writing it down i guarantee somebody will keep you informed we got you covered just remember right now the 127 that happens energy monster uh rabbits online monster energy kawasaki leading the way the 989 rockstar has varna of sad duvall in second stu baylor the 514 ampro yamaha in third and they have shaken the 5 30 ktm of ben kelly just by a little oh look at that lane michael into fourth and around ben kelly lane michael's on the move boys hey just to clarify uh i heard you guys talking just a few moments ago as far as wins this year in the xc2 class craig de long has four uh lane excuse me uh mike wikowski has three and by the way johnny gerard with five wins in the on the championship season but he's not here that crash that he had took him back to 11 took him out of the championship but yeah guys what a barn burner of a date we've got going already and so many scenarios you guys keep going for just a minute i'm going to check these points and see i'm going to try to figure out these scenarios so we don't have to guess it so much so let me ask this if you're johnny gerard are you sitting at home are you watching right now are you looking at life timing and scoring or are you saying forget about it now are there any drops there's no drops in the xc2 okay now that's uh that's a tough one man i mean i'm sure johnny gerard is a fan of racing so he's going to want to know how his buddies are doing uh but at the same time he's got to feel like you know this was really his um you know his his kind of golden ticket you know i mean he had he'd worked so hard all season he'd been the most consistent rider you know he had five wins uh he was the most dominant rider especially early in the season you know he was just clicking off wins making it look easy um but you know mike wikowski and uh and craig delong were just able to keep it consistent they kept themselves there and all it took was that one bad race for yeah for johnny you know he had that big crash and they said he knocked himself silly and then several more crashes while trying to just limp it to the finish line and no one is questioning that dude's toughness that is for danger he's definitely tough and and that's one of those oh look at this new leader now here's another scenario liam draper leading so mike witkowski is in a must-win situation and he is currently not winning so right now oh look at this oh okay now they're all there they were pulled in tight yep and john and uh jonathan johnson they're in the fifth place spot not out of it by any means as well so craig delong now is kind of as they run craig belongs in the driver's seat he can see watkowski only two positions in front in front of him if he's doing math in his head he knows that's three points plus four is seven he's got a nine point lead he's good you're good at this johnny my goodness my issue is i do too much math while i'm riding and not enough twisting of the throttle we did this earlier this season with the wxc class and becca and the points uh chase for that championship during every race if you walked by the finish line back johnny johnny real quick real quick play this out for me um but one of the other things too i mean you got these guys that they want to go out there they want to prove something they want to end the season on a high note i think if you're a guy like liam draper right now i want to play spoiler sure i know i'm not going to win the championship but i'm not happy about that and uh between the two guys that are competing for it i'm gonna spoil it for you i'm gonna be the bad guy well and i don't think there's any loyalties amongst the top four five as they run right now i don't think liam's gonna pull over and let mike bye but by the same token i don't think liam's out there blocking right trying to hold him up i think he's trying to win a race um i don't know of any plans obviously liam rides for a ktm support team which is an extension of our ktm husky is an extension of ktm they're kind of all in the same camp but i would highly doubt that there's any team orders for liam to go out there and slow the pace to allow craig to catch up or anything like that you know and honestly i think if it came down to it craig would fight liam would fight craig in the last corner for that second place spot that he so badly needs even if mike he was leading he's not no one's going to pull over and let these guys buy they're going to have to earn it is what it comes down to and uh right now watching it on screen that is your leader jordan ashburn second place actually i'm sorry that's thad duvall in second and stu baylor in third there as they drop off that's a pretty steep little downhill there and uh we will get to see it adam gordon our producer pointed out there's a really really gnarly little downhill um that drops into a ditch with some rip rack in it uh coming up and and this this is one of those times where the drone just doesn't do it justice because it's essentially vertical it's straight down and a gnarly drop but so awesome to be able to see this racing action on screen and we do think that is our second and third place riders now that looks to be actually we may have had a shake up there yeah the bird's eye view stuff to tell so okay yep so it is still ashburn out front that in second and uh baylor and third it almost looked like potentially um oh look at this here's here comes your xc2 leaders a different leader this lap liam draper leading the way out there rolling liam draper you got to feel good right now this is probably going to sound like a silly question but i heard a few folks talking about it yesterday was uh the time it would obviously race in the same time but the daylight savings time it's november did sun play a factor at all okay bingo that's what i thought it was awful yeah it was so hard to see and i was talking to all the other guys xc1 guys i have never intentionally taken my goggles off during a race with my 116 years of racing um due division issues that were glare and light related yeah started the race like i have every race since the beginning of time with roll offs and about four turns into the race i realized the glare from the film across the world um so what i actually did was i i um pitched my goggles had i thought of it i should have just pulled all the film and got rid of it so and broke the film so that i had just the lens there yeah but what i did is i i managed to hold onto the goggles for one lap pitched them in the pits and screamed tear-offs as loud as i could and then the next lap when i stopped for fuel they gave me a fresh set of tear outs i provide i proceeded to rip all seven laminate tear offs off in one turn so i adjusted bare goggles because and even then i really didn't want goggles i could honestly see better without them yeah because obviously it takes away the glare the issue was it was just dusty enough there was just enough debris flying around that you really couldn't ride without goggles safely so yeah it was a battle all day and and these guys will be battling the same i i just i know cole richardson talked about it yesterday on the podium and like i thought i thought it was literally just me watching the race and not being able to see looks like sue baylor has gotten around thad duvall there he is stu baylor on the hunt heading for the front going after the 127 of jordan ashburn but he has gotten his way around there's that downhill right there and that you it's hard to see but those guys are turning into that berm because if not they would fall off the face of the earth into that rip rock ditch there um so baylor now in a second and look at that lane michael charging up to the rear wheel of your third place rider fad of all these guys both the guys in third and fourth right now are the guys that have the most experience at this track uh again never having raced to gncc here before uh these other guys are kind of flying blind but your third and fourth place riders have definitely raised here throughout the years so one of the things about lane michael that we talk about we we've talked about how great he starts a race and then that two hour mark starts to fall off maybe today he's riding a little smarter instead of exerting all that energy early he's like okay i know i can pace myself here maybe that's going to play well for him maybe he can pick up you know a position or two before this is said and done maybe he's got something left in the tank come that three hour today being back there in the middle of the pack of those xc1 guys well you know what rodney can can chime in on this but one of our one of our jobs here in the race for tv booth is too speculative to build the hype and and this isn't all hype there's some truth to it rodney for many years when lane was coming up through the amateur ranks and the a-classes we would see him you know he'd have a few good rides here and there um you know and and was definitely a fast rider but we would get to that mason town race we would get to snowshoe we would get to places super excel and he would finish so far above par for his finishes um you know it was crazy so he this is like the meat and potatoes of what would be his backyard and uh he's right now putting on a charge he's up to the back of thad duval ben kelly's still right there as well and i mean the top five you could throw a blanket over basically all there's baylor now in second there is duval in third just behind him the 523 of lane michael in fourth and the 530 of ben kelly in fifth well i tell you uh whether or not there's extra carrots out there to dangle or not the one thing that we can point out about lane is is that we were seeing that uh progression that we were hoping for in the early part of the season midway through the season obviously the injury came along and and now that he's been back looks like craig delong in for an mmi pit stop i don't know if you noticed but johnny campbell in the pits this weekend as well nice little story to talk about with that one here in just a few moments but uh but uh nonetheless uh you know just a lot of variables in this race and we can see a lot of things uh change change the face of this one but uh yeah i got sidetracked there it seems johnny campbell i do want to elaborate on that a little bit for you uh johnny down there helping the phoenix racing honda team i talked to johnny asking what what's been going on lately and uh he said you know things are doing well uh he's going to you know he's hanging out on the west coast doing his west coast thing and he's overseeing things and he's actually you know got a pretty solid team over there and i guess what he's going to be doing he's going to be monitoring both the west coast and the east coast team so he's going to be offering some assistance and and helping them excel and get a little stronger in the in the mechanic side of things as far as the off-road world is concerned there at phoenix racing very cool you know johnny has a whole lot of experience um he's he's been an off-road guy with his 863 baja championships seriously i think it is 11 times that he's won the baja 1000 and um you know he's just an absolute legend of off-hood racing came out actually had the jcr honda team here for a number of years and it was just uh made more sense uh phoenix was was wanting to do some uh dirt bike team stuff they already had their atv team for honda and uh made more sense for them to uh it was a better fit here for gncc and johnny was able to go back and focus on the west coast it was a good fit for honda all around i think honestly yeah and so after you know after a couple of years here uh johnny's had a little bit of changes out west i don't especially this year i don't think they've been able to do as much racing um so for him to be able to come out and lend some experience and a hand to those guys i'm sure it'll make the whole program even stronger of an already strong program and finishing my thought there just a moment ago on lane michael is the fact that uh you know now that he's back you know we're talked about the incentive i mean he had the incentive to con continue to build on what he was already building upon obviously uh with stu being ba as ding stu being on the team now that's another extra bit of incentive for him and uh you know honestly uh it seems like things are going pretty smooth in in that transition i know that i've talked with randy hawkins he has assured lane that uh everything is fine he's still his guy and he's going to be back and he and both mike what counts could be racing the xc1 and xc2 for pro yamaha next year yeah each of those guys do have another year on their deal rodney want to point this out look at this stu baylor going for it in the monster mile not quite able to make the pass took that outside line there but baylor is on a charge and he wants the lead he's going after jordan ashburn and he's right on the rear wheel wow so nice stuff going on there and uh stu trying to take over that lead still very tightly knit here josh uh excuse me jordan ashburn uh stu baylor thad do fall lane michael back and forth ben kelly in the number five position and of course speak of the devil we were just talking about this guy just a second ago johnny campbell from jcr honda johnny campbell racing and i guess american honda now as well as we uh welcome johnny back to gncc man good to see you back out here yeah thanks rodney it's really great to be here you know especially when it's 75 degrees i'll just claim i brought that here okay we'll take that no actually we first got our first winter storm in uh california this weekend so it's colder there than here surprisingly wow that that's that's nuts to think about that but uh no it was a welcome change i walked up into the phoenix honda racing pits this morning and i was like who is that dude in the sunglasses over there looks like jc man and bo and there you were man so uh i was like what's up and you told me that uh there's a lot of cool things on the horizon yeah we're really excited you know at honda there's they're going through a pretty large corporate change right now and uh you know moving in the future for off-road racing uh my role i guess you could say has been elevated in a capacity and that i'll be you know advising some of the other off-road teams like phoenix racine and slr on the west coast and uh so i think it'll be good i mean they can use my experience and and support and uh you know whether it's bike development you know just being pro hope we got a pass for the lead sorry about that johnny but just got the the word dear stu baylor has made the pass on the 127 of jordan ashburn and johnny gallagher i tell you i hate to get oh good caught you just before that but uh man this he like you said he has been in this he was trying to make that strike over there in the monster mild uh great opportunity for him to try out there with those option lines it kind of failed for him but he found another one out there yeah absolutely you know and stu is it looking looking like he was getting racy there for the last couple miles um you know ashburn held on the lead there for two laps and uh stu is just starting to look like he was getting a little antsy back there in that third place spot we saw him make the move get into second got around duvall and now he's taken over the lead and here is your leader in xc2 liam draper leading the way mike wikowski still in second and it looks like oh nope cody barnes took that out oh no craig delong has gotten into third so as they run right now and another shake up there in fourth and fifth looks like jonathan johnson has actually gotten around cody barnes so there is your top five in xc2 and as they run we'll keep out updating it correct along would be your championship winner right now if uh wikowski is to finish second place craig delong will have to finish fifth might tie it up might put it in a tie situation six would definitely win it for him but uh uh johnny campbell man what do you think about this i know when you left we had some really good racing and everything but while the depth of a talent the ferocity in this xc1 pro class and the xc2 pro class is just off the scale these these days yeah it's amazing uh just to see the difference you know this is my first gncc back in about two years i think and uh you know you see how the talent coming up is is pretty amazing but uh yeah the fight next year one has just been you know such a great thing to watch all season and you know especially being able to get the 13 rounds of god yeah that's that that is amazing in and of itself right there being able to get to that full 13. so you're going to be spending a lot of time with us next year we're going to see a lot next year in the phoenix hot on the racing pits yeah you'll see me a lot more frequently than uh you know this year of course this year's been a weird year for everybody but uh yeah the yeah the plan is uh just to uh you know come back and support the team when it's necessary well that's awesome man we're glad to have you back and glad to see you back here in the gncc racing nation welcome back johnny campbell and of course uh american honda building strong here in the gncc racing nation we have got a man on the move baylor has moved up to first place from third here on this third lap of racing and he is man on a mission what's going to happen behind him and how is this one going to play out stick around the finale here in west virginia the buckwheat 100 returns on gncc live right after this it's hard to put our adventures on hold but now is the perfect time to prepare for their return amsoil has your back with fast free shipping and ordering has never been easier just look up your vehicle select your product add an oil change to your cart and check out spend 50 on amsoil products and shipping is on us order now at amsoil.com even when you're the best you never stop striving to be better with over 40 years of experience in motorcycle sales and service we know racing our inventory of yamaha motorcycles sport bikes dirt bikes atvs and side-by-sides is extensive and constantly changing stop by lojack cycle sales today in torrentium pennsylvania and visit our online inventory at www.lojax.com yamaha wise it's why we ride hi my name is andrea lee the director of on-track school how would you like to go to a school where we take into consideration how students learn best well we do that because we find if we can build the curriculum around the things you are interested in you're going to do a better job the mission at ontrack school is that educational success is possible while chasing your dreams not only will our staff help students to achieve success they will cheer you on to the finish line we encourage you to check out ontrack school at ontrackschool.com where we can help you chase your dreams and still get a quality education doug whitmer coastal racing team mechanic for my two boys cole whitmer number 44 and lane whitmer was a youth rider now this weekend's a first weekend on a big bike number 587. i started mechanical for barry hawk in 1996 and i went from 96 to 2010 with barry when he retired but i actually started the gncc series racing in 1986 big bear was my first race so i raced four wheelers from 86 to probably and then i switched to bikes um had some knee injuries and things like that and then i started working for barry so i wouldn't be afraid to say i'm one of the oldest guys around here or at least has been in the gncc series for uh you know one of the one of the longest times i can tell you that maybe mike holbrook might have me beat um you know this is the last race for us on huskies it's publicized everybody knows we're going to gas gas next year and a lot of the same riders we've got a few maybe new riders and i think everybody's fired up about it so you know we'd like to end uh end this weekend on a good note and welcome back to gncc live here on racertv.com rodney tomlin along with uh johnny gallagher and of course our cohort mr mikey wayne's out about he'll be giving us some updates and as you look on the tv screen right now you might see a very compelling video that was released uh earlier well just a few days ago uh it's the stu baylor story um what took place from well basically march until now and the story you've heard bits you've heard rumors you may even know the truth but to know it as deep as what this truth is right here is unbelievable yeah i mean it was definitely uh pretty wild to watch i've kind of known a lot of what went on behind the scenes we all it was very well publicized his split with uh with shirkoh you know his recovery from infection but to actually see um some cell phone video footage taken when they were as they were driving him to the uh the hospital when he had that infection um you know a lot of things a lot of things you can kind of uh i don't know some kind of fake but anybody that questions how severe stu baylor's pain and infection was if you hear the the pure panic in his voice that's not staged no um and what he came back from and what he came through you know it's an inspiration to us all yeah so yeah obviously very compelling uh you know i mean the uh just a three day stretch in his life man that you know i mean it was just one one takedown after another you know and to see i mean that was about as low as as you can go i mean i'm sure there's a lot lower that you can't go but that's about as low as you go in a professional career like that and then to bounce back like he has has been remarkable no doubt so check that out uh you can find it across the uh you can go to stu's instagram and there's a link there that will take you to the youtube video or you can search stu baylor 2020 on youtube either one of those should get you to the right yeah without any problems and again it's a must-see video uh no doubt about it you you will certainly get a little better look into what uh stu baylor's heart is like you know what i mean as far as his passion for for racing there's no doubt uh waiting on the leaders here at they've actually come have they come through the running order was basically still the same uh obviously we know that what we see on screen is not the actual running order it is stu baylor leading the way uh jordan ashburn is second sad to vol third uh lane michael in fourth ben kelly fifth andrew delong sixth uh it did appear from what i saw on screen it did appear that josh strang had worked his way around uh grant baylor and was on the rear wheel of trevor bolinger but we'll see how that evolves once they come into uh hey we should we need christopher eddie christopher eddie if you are another whereabouts of christopher eddie we need him to report to the medic station please christopher eddie to the medic station the picker the pit crew of christopher eddie sorry about that the pit crew of christopher eddie to the medic station so with that uh johnny yeah man i mean uh the the ground the the groundwork is laid here in this uh first hour of racing we're due in for uh lap two complete in a little over uh six minutes about six and a half minutes or so riders are running in the uh 26 are started out in that 26 and a half minute mark i will look at the lap times from that previous lap ashburn had a 26-31 duval a 26-30 it was a 26-24 for stu baylor but lane michael had a 26-17 so we're seeing that he's got some speed he's been able to make up some time at least uh there on lap number two we'll see how lap three has been carrying for him so far yeah it seems from what we saw on screen when they last checked in now there is your xc2 leader liam draper second place mike witkowski and they have now pulled out a little bit of ground over this guy right here the 342 of craig delong followed closely by jonathan johnson and off in the distance they're now coming in is the 99 on that factory beta of cody barnes so there is your top five that close together in xc2 and again that's a close one to watch today we need to keep an eye on it because that is deciding your 2020 gncc xc2 overall champion and what a yo-yo of a year what a battle of a year for the championship in that one there's no doubt a lot of highs and a lot of lows for for several different riders in the battle for that championship that's for sure looks like we may have our leaders on screen here on our yamaha racing skycam looks like it is still baylor out front ashburn in second and i think that's still the ball in third hard to tell um yep that is so there's your top three and that's just how close they are so that answers the question was stu baylor able to run and hide nope jordan ashburn was able to latch onto that pace and he's sitting right there kind of ish on the rear wheel uh close as you can get in these particular sections oh look at that little mistake from baylor uh and allows ashburn to close that gap up just a little bit thad duvall looking solid there in third and a little bit a little bit of a gap back to our fourth place rider which could be either as we last knew it was lane michael or perhaps ben kelly those two were pretty much wheel the wheel when we saw him last a little lap to rider we'll see if it has any problems no problems for stu baylor there as he is laying down the law out here you know like you said you know he he's not running away from these guys right now but the big question is you know uh what is he pushing with right now has he just pushed to get to the front and now he's just kind of all right guys ride with me if you can and gonna ease it on a little at a time uh you know that third hour has been the hour that so many writers have struggled with even stu baylor throughout his career and he's figured out it seems like anyway figured out what that third hour is all about and and how to put it all together for the one two and three and uh i i honestly it seems like there's no change in his pace i mean it's it's an intense pace it is uh uh full throttle uh ice forward the entire three hours of racing well you know and it's interesting stew baler has been very candid about the changes that he's made um not necessarily in how he prepares physically he hasn't really talked about his training you know stu stu loves to tell people that he just goes home and and drinks bush lattes and and uh you know he loves to cook that part is true so he's an eater that's why he's not a small man but stu trains a lot doesn't talk about that much but the one thing that i've really been shocked that he's so almost eager to share with everyone was his mental mindset change that he made that he feels is really making the difference for him and he said he went home he watched the races he watched the way caleb russell basically dissected his competition and didn't race the track he raced the riders right he said i don't ride the races the way i want to or the way i think i need to win anymore said it's not about me winning it's about me beating my competitors and that's that's in his mind he's that has made the difference for him and sometimes that's all it takes is that mental confidence and if you simplify it like that that that is the case because you're not putting as much pressure on yourself i got to win i got to win you you're saying i gotta beat my competitor and you know that you're getting the whole win thing out it's just that one-on-one competition that you're going with not the whole dramatics of everything that comes along with the wind yep and and i can tell you firsthand from spending some time around caleb you know caleb was very um you know focused on himself in terms of his preparation but when it came to race day he would say things he never came right out and said the way student has like i'm just out here to beat those guys but he would say things about the riders he would race was racing with there is fourth and fifth and we are we were correct about that ben kelly back around lane michael so elaine michael back to fifth ben kelly up to four but those guys still very much in touch with the lead group so your top five all still battling over over who's gonna be the one to raise the uh the trophy here from the buckwheat 100 above their heads in just a short amount of time there's your leader stu baylor jordan ashburn right behind him got held up just a little bit by that lapra this is one of those times where you know uh ashburn really is in kind of the better position here stew baylor's the first rider to come up on these lappers uh this track is is very technical in that you know you got to kind of pick your line ahead of time it's more difficult to change lines you know mid straight away or mid corner um so if stu gets in the wrong line and the lapper moves over on him you know it's it's continuing to keep that gap closer where before he had the advantage of being the guy behind see stu taking a different line there and pulling away just a tiny little bit from ashburn so ashburn will have to kind of watch and and check out those lines and go with stu when he makes those quick quick directional changes wow just watching the way that these guys are carving through these woods right now is just so impressive and i i remember making these same statements when we saw this kind of footage that we saw back in georgia uh one at the general gncc coincidentally before the foliage was all out exactly so now afterwards wow this is just uh just so great to see yeah and uh i know uh just looking for greater and bigger things as we continue here at racer tv and this kind of coverage in the future as well but i get you to afford this luxury uh because of uh no leaves on the trees but yeah um this is this is going to be a good one and you know one of the statements just going back one last time alluding to what uh stu baylor was talking about and talked about in in the video but probably one of the most impressive statements that he made throughout that entire video is he's i want to win so much that i don't appreciate it anymore that is that statement carried so much weight with me from that video yeah and and that's a mindset you know some people would would listen to that and say that's arrogance some people would listen to it and say that's you know unappreciative for the position he's in but it's all about his mindset and if his mindset is that he wants what he actually said as you said was i want the wins to be coming so easy that i don't appreciate them but i want to appreciate the work i want to appreciate the journey that i put in to win those races but not the wins themselves and honestly those first three looked kind of easy yeah you know but in the ever-evolving world of gncc those guys that battled him at the last race and ultimately taking away the win josh strang you know they have no interest in making it easy on stu baylor now is that again the leader that was with kel and he has gotten around there's draper yeah so as they run right now craig delong in third game set and not quite yet match not yet mike wikowski so this is a chess match that's what we're watching yep so it's gonna be a tough one for him no doubt uh right now baylor checking in for three laps complete jordan ashburn four seconds back on the clock ben kelly another five seconds back in the number three spot lane michael close in tow only three seconds behind ben kelly and guess what six seconds behind that the 989 a bad bad duval that's your top five check again so far and that so far those are the only five riders to check in with three laps of racing complete last time around andrew delong was only eight and a half seconds behind that fifth place ride so that's starting to open up and in talking with grant baylor back there in that seventh place position he was another 20 seconds back but talked to him this morning i said hey buddy how's it going he said man i'm nervous and i said nervous what are you nervous about so once he said oh he says he because i just want to make sure that i have a good ride today and i get out of here safe he says i got the national championship next race next week for the national enduro series that's something i can tell he wants that really bad johnny so uh yeah he's chased that national enduro title for years his brother stu's won it twice um so he's in the driver's seat for that one so couldn't couldn't really blame him if he's kind of riding a little on the cautious side this weekend not really in any major points battles for top three at least here in the gncc so uh you know he's just kind of yeah it's still riding very very fast out there no question oh yeah but trying to maybe not take those chances i think we're gonna see him maybe probably relax a little bit as we see josh strain checking in now in the number six spot 52 seconds back i'm not sure what's happened there maybe we can get a word in from mikey wayne's here in just a little bit trevor bollinger the 739 machine back in that number seven spot and andrew delong now has checked in in the eighth place position there is grant baylor in the ninth place position so their search changes we should be seeing mike wikowski and liam draper coming near the finish line here pretty soon as well and uh interesting you know you had pointed out uh andrew long was only eight seconds back there last lap he did stop this previous lap no one else stopped fuel he was the only rider that stopped in the vp fuels per row so that probably let him fall back into the clutches of josh strang trevor bollinger all those guys that were there right behind him and ultimately dropped him back from six to eight but he is still there close uh and he he was actually ahead of string we saw him on camera at the seven so he's he's uh hopefully able to latch on there and maybe those guys can push themselves and 52 seconds is is not a a gap that's too far for a man like josh strange mikey wayne's down in the pits what's going on mikey hey guys i just want to let you know there are obviously uh riders getting ready to come in for the pit stops fuel this that and the other babbitt's online kawasaki pits look like they're preparing for a little bit more uh not sure what's going on but might be something a little extra for the ashburn pits so we got our camera guy down there we'll keep you informed all right thanks a lot mikey wayne's down in the vp fuels pro row preparing for the mmi pit stop coming up here for xc1 pro class rodney if you want to go ahead and refresh that screen our xc2 top four maybe top five by now have checked and we saw the top four on screen things are heating up and out front the 282 amp yamaha mike wikowski doing what he needs to do and right now he's doing it just enough right behind but he's actually stretched it out just a few seconds over liam draper but right behind liam draper is a very very hungry cragged along knowing that the position he's in is not enough to get it done he needs to get around draper if he wants to lock up that 2020 xc2 title well that that's for sure so he's going to be riding for that and you have to know that both the long and wikowski are riding with the weight of the world on their shoulders right now wiscowski is doing everything that he could possibly do and that's right now win and he's got to be in that position at the end in order to even think or dream about a championship unless something drastic happens to uh craig along with 342 machines so and right now uh doing the math or would we be in a tie situation here in third is that how that would work as we were talking before you were out of the booth so as they run right now craig delong would win the championship or i'm sorry mike wikowski would win the championship they would tie on points they would tie on wins it would go to the second tiebreaker which would be who finishes ahead of who in the last race meaning your overall you're i'm sorry not your overall your xc2 champion as they run right now would be mike wakowski tying on points tying on wins the tiebreaker would come down to who finishes ahead of who in the last race the best finish in the last race that's as they run now so basically craig delong still controls his own destiny doesn't even have to pass mike wikowski but he does have to pass liam draper to get to that second place spot yep wow that's that is tight that is very tight right there so exactly that's going to be a one to watch for sure as we roll through this and we haven't even reached the halfway point we're still 10 minutes out from the hour 30 mark here comes your leaders into vp fuels pro row and tell you what ben kelly has whipped it up and is now all over the back of well he actually just passed jordan ashburn there in the pits yeah and i believe their pits are a little farther down it looks like ben kelly does pull into the pits right now as i'm watching out the front of the studio here and looks like ashburn is out of the pits and he will get back around it looks like ben kelly there so that should uh but look at that all three of them in the same shot stu baylor leading jordan ashburn second and ben kelly third all in the same shot all in the same corner yeah this is this is tight friends this is very very tight again approaching the halfway point of this race right now lane michael was another three seconds behind i'm not sure how he fared out of the pit stops coming out there just a moment ago we didn't see him in that particular shot but uh don't be surprised that just a little further back behind this uh ooh rodney let's watch this section right here there is lane michael looks like he went down yeah oh he's got they're adjusting some stuff on the right-hand side he went down in the mud and that's where he lost that time yeah it looks like he went down real deep in the mud yeah way deep i didn't even know there was that much mud out there anywhere to be honest with him and a heartbreaker for him but uh now is the chance to see what he does after this new second place rider i thought i was watching the pass take place whenever we were watching uh just before as the shot faded away it looked like the pass was being made and that's an interesting section through there because there's so many lines and they all crisscross each other so i was actually getting ready to say watch these guys through here uh and this is where actually stu baylor had a line last lap that he was able to pull away a little bit from jordan ashburn not quite here but coming up soon looks like ben kelly had a nice little nip tuck line there he was able to make up a few bike lengths on stew so there is stu the lead rider you see on screen second place ben kelly third place jordan ashburn and all three of them just wheel the wheel well i'll tell you right now if there is one rider on the race track that may be in stu baylor's head it might be the 5 30 of ben kelly who is behind him and knowing the story and the history of the ktm ride for stu baylor and knowing that of course ben kelly got a ride that maybe stu baylor felt he might have been his by air apparency but regardless uh you know he's got points to prove out there and not only does he want to win but he certainly wants to beat ben kelly uh as much uh you know from a professional standpoint as a personal standpoint on this one i think yeah absolutely i mean and these two guys as we pointed out earlier in the show these are the two guys that have kind of uh since we came back from break they've been the cream of the crop um you know stu bailer winning three races finishing second and the only other race he didn't win uh ben kelly has been the guy that battled stu baylor for several of those wins uh right down to the end we saw the at the uh mason dixon gncc heck that one came down to the final corner with you know ben trying to tuck under stu not quite being able to make the pass and settling for second second also at the mountaineer um and he's been on the podium all those races mike wakowski starting to now really stretch it out over kim draper when i say really stretch it out it's not all that much of a time or distance it looks like maybe we're looking at 10 12 seconds but that's huge compared to the fact that before they've all been just wheel to wheel and here is second place draper starting to look like he's fumbling with his lines a little bit and that guy behind him right there is oh that was actually cody barnes so barnes has gotten around to long did maybe de long get around because there was a big gap that had opened up between first and second there maybe the long got around for a second i think de long was the next rider that came through on screen it's hard to tell with that sun glare but um we'll have to uh it looks like some of those guys were in the vp fuels pro row and i'm looking like in and out of the pitch the long just left i believe he's now in third looks like cody barnes got around him while de long was in the pits so so now to long back to fourth because second place was actually liam draper draper went through there as well so unless draper had a long fuel stop now craig delong is back to that fourth place spot and has to work his way back around cody barnes and try to get up to the back of the number 198 of liam draper to make that pass so the drama runs deep in that xc2 championship battle mike wikowski out front stretching out that gap look to be maybe 12 15 seconds by far the biggest gap we've seen on those guys all day man i look back at this season there's no way you could have scripted this championship in 2020. there's no way you could have scripted 2020 in any way shape or form and for it to come out like this i mean spectacular i mean what better way to finish a a championship season than with a barn burner like what we've got going on right now yeah absolutely you know and if you're gonna have a season that's so back and forth and when we talk about you know johnny drawer obviously not here racing with us today super unfortunate situation there but as much as he kind of controlled this one uh here as of late you know it was back and forth throughout the season as we talked about you know craig delong has three wins or four wins mike wikowski has three uh johnny gerard had six or five look at this wow and there's a pass whoa what just happened right back riders yeah lapped riders i got confused i don't know what happened there i know there was it looked like a pass that took place there but i'm not sure if it was the lap rider if it was uh one of the uh no that would that was a pass for position and i believe that may have been uh that may have been jordan ashburn getting back around ben kelly because it did not look like stu baylor but as soon as we can find them on screen and kind of identify some colors we'll uh we'll see we can find out but i believe well there there are the two riders i think that that swap positions right there that we're looking at right now is there anyone out ahead of that is the question that i'm trying to answer myself yep i see him just ahead so i think that might still be stu out there and he may have gained a little bit of space between those two in that little transaction yeah the left riders there were really really worked into the favor of we believe jordan ashburn moving back into that second place spot at least what it looked like here from the yamaha racing sky cam and i can tell you we're gonna see that shake up about 15 more times before this one's over if not more these guys are just absolutely laying it down rodney wow man that i you you like i said couldn't have scripted it and if you were thinking man i don't know that i even want to go to that last round what are we going to be looking for this is what you want to come for there's mike mikowski making his way through the monster mile here at the four mile marker and now it's when we get a really good look at what this gap is starting to look like 126 47 as he entered into the woods there so we'll see what that gap is to the second place rider last we knew that second place router was the number 198 of liam draper followed by the 99 of cody barnes followed closely very closely by craig delong and they are still in that order as they come in here yeah oh look at this jonathan johnson now up into the third place spot so look at this craig along back to fifth whoa so he's gotta now pass three riders to get himself into position to win that xc2 title running back in that fifth place spot and he needs to get to second if mike wakowski wins this race i would almost have to think that that might be pitting strategies that we've got going on there to be honest with you so if that's the case then we might have to see those guys pit here in the coming laps so that could change things up it could maybe work back into the favor of craig delong but how much damage will be done by the time that happens and how's that the xc2 class gonna pan out how is this xc1 class gonna pan out it is still so up in the air do not go anywhere stick around gncc live continues after this when you crave the canyon passes rocky trails rutted tracks the podiums and personal records it becomes part of you the choice now is do you become a wanderer or the wanderer you just need to ride where you belong it's gncc's top five moments of 2020 as we wrap up this 13-round championship and moment number five ben kelly's solid season johnny gallagher you take a look back at that one since he's made his return back to gncc racing i think he may have finished off the podium twice his worst finish so far has been a fourth he's got a bunch of seconds some thirds and a couple of fourth place finishes so what a solid season we've seen ben kelly put together and a rightful reason for stu baylor to be worried about him as far as this and other riders as far as the upcoming 2021 championship is concerned no question everybody thought ben kelly was the guy to watch coming into the season injury took him out early but he was able to rebound since coming back from injury and he's been right there every race moment number four in our top five moments of 2020 the xc2 battle down to the wire the one that we've been keeping an eye on obviously we had that three-man shootout going down and then the unfortunate incident for johnny g at the iron man gncc taking him out of this round but wow it is certainly left a lot on the plate as far as two champions two riders going for that championship yeah i mean three riders last race battling and they're all three of them are on screen along with lyndon snodgrass who actually isn't racing with us this weekend it seems um but wikowski now in the driver's seat obviously we know johnny gerard unfortunately sitting at home watching this one or maybe not watching this one but uh craig delong and mike grakowski still put it out there trying to decide this one moment number three of 2020 josh string taking two overall wins and doing it in quite spectacular fashion not that he went out and he just did it josh went out and took those wins he did it with fire and pressure coming in from well caleb russell the first time around and the second time around that he took the win he did it with guess who right on this rear wheel and that was the man on the roll talking about stu baylor we've definitely seen a resurgence in josh strang in 2020 we started to see it last uh last year obviously having a solid season grabbing some podiums but this year he's just been on a whole another level he was the closest competitor to caleb russell all year long the last man standing in that championship fight and then to be able to put the icing on the cake twice with two wins and still not done here yet today he's charging we might see him up front so it's been a phenomenal season for josh strang and there's the straight arm long four he's known for the podium moment number two of 2020 is stu baylor's crazy season and i'll tell you this you know he had the amazing circo right obviously he had the lead and this one coming right down to the wire ends up going wide caleb russell gets around steals that win at the very end of that one and what a heartbreaker and of course we know the story and if you watch the video you'll know even deeper on the story uh the covet hit the surgery the infection uh the loss of his ride and then of course the craziness that took place throughout the summer the scrambling that took place and he ends up on a yamaha ride with doing that getting that just days before returning back from the summer break and coming back winning three straight finishing a very close second in the fourth race and out there leading again today stu baylor has just been absolutely on rails these last five races and uh you it would be hard not to put him at the very forefront of your championship contenders for 2021 no doubt about that so a remarkable season it's been crazy but it's been crazy good and our number one moment of 2020 caleb russell taking his eighth national championship and of course 67 total overall wins when it's all said and done uh definitely one of the greatest gncc racers of all time hands down no question about it you look at the day the time the era the struggles the that in the mountains that he climbed throughout this season and for those eight championship remarkable okay no question rodney you know caleb russell has elevated the game of gncc racing uh hard hard to argue the fact that at this point in time he's the greatest gncc dirt bike rider of all time uh he has won six championships and been so dominant and so such a force in those years yeah six eight all right i believe mikey wayne's down with uh rachel goodish our morning wxe winner yeah hey thanks rodney down here at the uh the beta racing pits and uh rachel goddess man you've had some podiums this season but today finally got the job done took your first pro win uh what did it take to take the win here today in the wxc so the big thing for me today i think was just race strategy am i live okay the big thing for me i think today was race strategy in the past i've always had trouble whenever i get into the lappers so i decided just first lap i'm going to charge as hard as i can try and build up the biggest gap i can that way if i have problems later on i have a bit of a cushion to work with and overall i think it paid off pretty well i mean i finally got the win so you got the win you got the whole shot as well uh courtesy of trail gestures another hundred dollars on top of that uh rachel what kind of momentum do you feel like this gives you moving into 2021 well it's definitely good to end the season on a high note especially a season that's been as strange as 2020 has been so it's nice that we had at least for me i had something good come out of it and i can go into the season like i'm obviously motivated to work hard that always hungry that never changes but it's just it's like i've got a weight off my shoulders like now that i've finally done it i think it's going to be easier in the future and then something i did want to say like i've been doing this nine years now and it's crazy to see how big of a difference there is in women's racing at this point like if i could have teleported five or six years ago i would be annihilating everyone the speeds have just increased so much with maria coming from the west coast and then casey and then taylor and now like rachel archer and everybody coming up it's just it's incredible to see you know we're not all on one row anymore it's not everybody from maria to claudia to myself on my 105 lined up on the same row anymore we got three classes a whole group of girls racing it's just it's nice to see the sport advancing the way it is and it's nice to be able to say i'm a month near the top of that well big congratulations to you rachel thanks for hanging out with us today congratulations on the win looking forward to seeing what you do in 2021 thanks again guys thank you back to you rodney all right thanks a lot mikey congratulations rachel and of course uh big big day for her no doubt about it we've been seeing her get a lot of hole shots this season and to be able to seal the deal on the 2020 season with a win like that certainly a uh a great a great feeling for her no doubt about it well as we said it's been a crazy one and as johnny gallagher said there just a moment ago before he stepped out this has been a barn burner especially in that xc2 class the 250 pro class that's has been intense to watch and the yoyo effect that of course craig delong has been going through i think dropping back maybe to at least fifth place position now after those last pit stops and running at one point in that third place position mike watkowski last check and that class was leading and so far seems to be in control of the championship as he headed into this round again with a nine point deficit uh meanwhile up front in the overall uh stu baylor uh jordan ashburn ben kelly have really been swapping things up they've been kind of tight nose to tail ashburn and kelly really battling and waging war for that second place position we saw some crazy transitions out there they got mixed up with a bunch of left riders i think we saw a pass and there's another pass back so we'll see where we are here in in just a few moments but i believe we still got stu baylor out front ashburn and kelly still battling for the number two and three spots elaine michael in fourth uh thad duvall still back in the number five position but as johnny gallagher pointed out a few moments ago uh back there in the sixth place position now is josh strang uh strength turning a pretty good clip as far as lap times are concerned and if he can get a little more incentive on him he might be able to bridge some of that gap and uh really move closer towards that top five position whenever he gets to that top five position in theory he's kind of close to the front of the pack and maybe even a podium position finish uh the top five when they checked in yet four seconds between first and second five seconds back to the number three spot another three seconds back to the fourth place position and thad duvall was only six seconds back um so we're thinking this might be stu out front here and maybe ben kelly now in that number two position as we pick the riders up out here near the eight mile marker and rounding the big pond out here so yeah i believe you're right adam adam our producer saying uh that's what we're looking at and that's exactly what that is that's kelly back there in that number two spot that stu baylor in the number one position and oh wow look at this baylor really choosing up different lines and going to some some different places out there i thought that ben was maybe going to sneak by him there on that particular little uh transit transaction through that through that turn but uh stu really seems to be uh kind of riding uh not necessarily forcing the envelope he's just kind of hitting his marks and hitting his lines out here in this open field section he's still got a lot of speed but he's also got ben kelly right there and like we said you know we we've heard him talk and i heard him talk in interviews earlier in the season one of the writers that he has been concerned about on several different levels and for several different reasons one of those is speed that he is closing up on him right now is is that ben kelly is going to be one of the big threats as far as uh racing not only uh race by race but possibly and likely in a championship scenario now as we watch these riders now make their way through the wood lines here and of course in the mountains of west virginia on these mountain tops it's not real steep mountainous terrain here kind of hilly more than anything but the elevation is here the hills on a mountain if you will so nothing really too drastic you don't have that snowshoe uh effect or anything like that there's not a lot of off camber here but there is a lot of tight wood section and look at that still throwing a blanket over the front two as they make their way through these open sections now working through the nine mile marker and heading for the 10 mile marker here pretty soon and again getting lost in this race right now wow looking at this race you know watching the atvs race yesterday saw a little bit of dust kicking up kind of like what we're seeing out here uh man just amazing what kind of conditions we have out here not too wet not too moist and and not too dry temperatures are perfect today conditions are perfect to watch from our yamaha racing sky cam and there they are at the 10 mile marker as we said pushing toward the 10 that is still stu baylor and yes that is vin kelly on the 5 30 making his way through literally on the rear fender of the 514 here at the 10 mile marker now there is your third place right now the 127 jordan ashburn seems to be running about 10 seconds off the pace of your front two riders now and we'll see what kind of a a gap is opened up to fourth place now elaine michael when he checked in that the finish line was in a fourth place position but we also saw that he went down and he spent a lot of time in the pit so there's a pretty good possibility that that duval got around him there and moved into that fourth place position and uh we may see josh train inching towards that top five position at the same time meanwhile we picked the action back up in this battle for the lead the yamaha racing skycam and it's still the yamaha mounted rider of stew baylor out front of this one as they bob and weave their way through the trees and you know talk about how tight this this course is we're seeing uh yeah it's it is tight but uh it's starting to open up we're starting to see some alternate lines really be used out there by these uh xc1 pro class riders and you can see that a lot of different individuals are using those lights because they're starting to get burned in more single track lines than what the atvs left for them from yesterday's racing and that was the the big key everybody especially on the atv side of things talking about how tight things are here a new venue for us yeah we've had some locals or there has been some locals that have been ran here but uh obviously a lot if not all new trail that we're running here in newburgh west virginia it is a brand new trail for the gncc so everything that these guys are seeing it's all new and everybody's on a fair and even playing ground unless you might be from west virginia you might have a little slight edge because you've got the crowd on your side there's no doubt about it the crowd around preston county certainly a lot of the local racers here from earlier morning races you know they're they're out cheering on these xc1 pro class riders and there's a lot of folks especially around west virginia i believe that our stu baylor fans there's no doubt about it especially after that win when he opened up that winning streak in beckley west virginia down in the southern part of the state still watching this battle wage on through the trees right now and and you know lap traffic a factor yes and no we are witnessing these riders encountering that lap traffic uh for the most part the riot lap riders are getting out of their way there has to be i'm sure some second guessing going on by our lead riders on what is going on as far as their passing lines and so forth but still picking and choosing and trying to use their head here they come into the finish line chicanes now stu baylor out front this will wrap up lap number four according to what i'm seeing here we may be a little bit uh later on time so the flap times might be slowing down yeah went from a 26 36 to a 27-10 and now ben kelly checking in at a 2703 he was actually faster than stu baylor after we check in and looks like he might be faster coming out of the finish line area as we begin lap number five now looks like ben kelly man on a mission trying to get around stu baylor and make his own statements here in this final round of racing if you remember correctly last year it wasn't until the last round of racing that ben kelly was able to get his overall win but remember he had raced a lot of the xc2 but not only that uh this season he's been out of uh due to injury so to see the kind of progression we've seen out of him there's the 282 mike witkowski leader of the xc2 pro class seemingly still out front by himself as we uh saw the gap it opened up quite a bit over the course of lap number four here that uh we are wrapping up right now liam draper kind of dropping out of that battle with last check it was the long dropping off several spots to the top five are just barely outside the top five there so a lot of questions to be answered as these riders check in and we reassess the situation here with these riders we see that jordan ashburn has checked in nine seconds back he so far is the only other rider than your leaders of baylor and no take that back josh strange has checked in as expected moving up in positions to a fourth place position he is now one minute and 11 seconds behind jordan ashburn it puts him a minute and 10 seconds behind ben kelly looking at lap times right now josh trying a 27-22 uh to the front runners 2703 and 27-10 he's gonna have to find a little bit more speed if he intends to close any gaps up on first and second but jordan ashburn could see himself in a little bit of trouble if josh train can get some clear wind here in these next couple of laps slain michael now in the number five spot 14 seconds off the pace of josh strang the long back in the number six position as trevor bowens or checks in at seventh aboard the 739 wow pollings are right there on andrew delong's rear wheel less than a second uh at the uh scoring barrels as they checked in there a few moments ago grant baylor another 13 seconds back as we told you ryder very nervous heading into this race today just wanting to come out of this one clean and unscathed as he was hoping to capture the national enduro title next weekend there is thad new fall he has not checked in yet with his fourth lap or at least nope has not checked in with fourth lap completes yet so we got to wonder what's going on with bad that hopefully no major uh incidents especially after coming back from injury uh i hate to see something like that here in the final round of the season but the good thing about it is it is the final round and if something did happen he would have the winter to try to once again heal up and prepare and get ready for the upcoming and new championship that's anybody's ball game as you've heard so many people say a new champion will be crowned in 2021 but today we will have a winner crown here in this xc1 pro class and we will crown a champion as well in the xc2 250 pro class so we got some pretty cool things going on here here comes wikowski now into the finish line region duvall still not checked in yet by the way mike wikowski not only now ahead of him on adjusted time but also physically on the racetrack so not real sure what's going on with the uh 989 just yet here comes uh the rest of the field in the xc2 so let's uh break them down for you as they make their way across the finish line stripe there mike witkowski was leading liam draper just a lap ago but as we wrap up lap number four mike witkowski out front a 27-39 he stayed pretty consistent to what his lap time was on lap number three here on lap number four rodney look at this this is the battle for the championship coming in yeah and i don't see anybody else that has checked in in the second place position yeah second and third or right in front of him so craig long there and fourth that was cody barnes in second liam draper in third and mike and uh craig delong in fourth as they check in wow 44 almost 45 seconds back to barnes between wykowski and barnes in first and second liam draper 1.6 seconds back of barnes cragged along 1.8 seconds back of liam draper look at this here's your battle for the lead on screen and it could not get any closer we keep saying that but it just keeps getting it it stays the same since it can't get any closer it stays just that close and they're battling wheel to wheel just tit for tat around this track they they are and i'm going to tell you i've had a couple of moments where i've kind of taken a breath waiting to see what's going to happen ben is really getting a little creative in some of those lines and i'm not going to say aggressive but he is certainly not letting the fact that stu baylor is in front of him slow him down annie absolutely not and here they are wheel to wheel and they're headed for vp fuels per row and they have already each pitted on lap number two so will they pit again this lap stu baylor into the pits ben kelly making the pass but ben kelly looking like there's a sign oh no sorry neither ride or something they both continued on yeah uh they just gave bin kelly a pit board so they gave him i didn't couldn't see what the what it was i was watching out the window here seeing if anybody was stepping out with a gas can nothing like that happening so and jordan ashburn's still really close yeah uh you know yeah we're not getting to see that a lot as far as the camera shots but yeah ashburn only nine seconds uh less than ten seconds uh behind that battle for first and second place right now i did hear while i was out and about rodney going to grab something to drink i heard sad duvall's wife say that thad does not have a clutch ah that would explain why he's kind of dropped off the radar a little bit there yeah that would explain every reason why he's dropped off the radar those are at this level anyway it's kind of hard to to to race this race and and do it competitively without a clutch there are your leaders on screen the rider on the blue machine you see out front stu baylor closely behind him on the factory ktm is uh ben kelly and wow look at this i i mean i feel like we've seen this battle so many times in the last couple weeks stu baylor on that factory uh ampro yamaha ben kelly on the factory fmf ktm and uh you know it's like these guys they just find each other on the track and they battle and that's what they do yeah it's almost yeah i mean it's it's just like destiny destiny brings them together and uh certainly uh they make for a great war there's no doubt about it i'm looking for a sticker if you're wondering why i'm digging around in my pockets here and kind of searching for words at the same time got me a sticker a couple of stickers as a matter of fact i must have put them in my truck but have you seen the stew crew yamaha racing stickers by any chance i have yeah and we've also got the 2024 make american dirt great again or something like that stickers for stu baylor so somebody getting pretty creative out there yeah it looks like on vp fuels per row as those guys check through there uh it was so grant baylor's trying to put on a little bit of a charge he's getting inching just ever so closely to the riders in front of him which is trevor bollinger andrew delong lane michael and also josh drank just ahead of them so uh looking like uh looks like andrew long was just in the pits he did lose a spot to grant baylor at least as it looks like as they exit bp fuels pro row there so he was the one who was pitting if you remember he pitted early he pitted at the end of lap number two when no one else did so now he has pitted again uh on lap number four so he's going with a two pit strategy where it seems most of the other riders put it on lap number three trying to go at least trying to make it uh on on just one pit well we remain to be seen if this will be a six or seven lap race i don't know if they've called that officially yet we've not heard uh we believe it will probably be a six slap race but we don't know that for a fact just yet yeah it's kind of hard to tell that we're running 27 minute laps now um and we were running you know in the 26 minute range as well so it has slowed down a little bit so that could lend itself to more of a six lap race than a seven-lap race here we go through the monster mile once again and look like maybe a little different alternate line choice for stu baylor but it kept him out front there in front of the 5 30. yeah stu taking that outside line ben preferring that inside line in the monster mile through the coal piles i guess if you will um some discarded coal that didn't make the didn't make the grade to go get burned in somebody's furnace so it's just kind of hanging out there on the hill for now um that's west virginia for you this is coal country baby that's it there we see stu again on the and now here's whitkowski on screen uh working his way he'll be coming through vp fuels per row we can actually look out the front of the studio and see him and i'll tell you what that man is rotting like a man on a mission wow i mean you have to wonder what's going i mean uh going through his mind right now you know they're giving him the pit board and how close and how tight it is right now and you know he's trying to focus on doing what we you know have said he just has to win this race and worry about what happens behind him after it happens but that's easier said than done john actually that's a question i have are they giving him pip boards about what's going on behind him i'm sure they're giving him his gap but i if i was in mike's position i wouldn't want to know if i know if i go out and i win the race i've done all i could do so you gotta want and that's a personal strategy thing so maybe they spoke about it before the race you know are they telling them hey currently you're leading you know you're leading but you need that's almost too much to think i think he just you know he stretched out a very comfortable lead right now there we see here comes the riders two three four so now it's draper in second third place there uh right behind him is oh no whoa craig delong has dropped way back now well when i say way back about 15 more bike lengths but he is back behind so there is and now delong in for fuel he's going to lose even more time so cody barnes was already ahead of him liam draper was already ahead of him now jonathan johnson has gotten around him so he's all the way back in that fifth place spot and you've got to think that if you're cragged along you do not want these guys riding so well today because they all are they're right there they're riding well and they're really making him work it and he's got to get second if mike mikowski wins this thing high pressure situation so i guess really all the weight may lie at this particular point and in this circumstance on craigslist so maybe he is the one that's feeling the heat right now i'll tell you what and i hope uh you gotta wonder if you're mike witkowski you know how good of friends are you with guys like liam draper and cody barnes and jonathan johnson you know not that they would do anything to intentionally uh impede craigslong surely that's not the case but at the same time you know when when you've got a guy behind you that's fighting for a championship and it's late in a race like that you know and you're digging deep you got to think man like man does this guy just want it that much more than me so that's craig delong he's got basically you know a little over an hour left to find out how bad does he want to be the 2020 xc2 champion well i think that's the big question of the day in both the xc1 and the xc2 class johnny gallagher who wants it the most well who is it stick around to find out tncc live continues after this well as we all know gncc racing well we watch and we want to be the best but in order to be the best you got to start somewhere and that's in our amateur rings and that's what the heart of the gncc racing nation is all about as we take a look at our top results look at that senior a40 plus class we'll get back to that jason reigns in that one believe it or not but his open b class dawson nixon out of jonesville north carolina gregory tenney wyatt ford at west union also dylan fleming and paul fitzwater the third rounding out the top five of that open b class as they wrap up the 2020 season here with us grant davis 250 b-class winning that one cameron madison joshua connor lane winter and noah martz i think grant is he just moving up from the amateur ring or youth ranks i believe so uh congratulations to uh grant on a great run uh right starting out here in things the 150b class toby cleveland leading peyton guin aidan myers in the number three spot it's hayden serena in the fourth place position as jacob thomas rounds out your top five jack joy also moving up from the amateur ranks or excuse me the youth ranks from earlier this year out of terre haute indiana in the number one spot of the four-stroke b lights class ty ely in second levite ward third miles gafkin fourth and it's max grant rounding out the top five michael davis leading the bet v30 plus class out of cutler ohio over david ravinsky out of slotsburg new york jeremiah taylor is your third place ride with josh webb and josh real rounding out the top five senior b 40 plus class scott dowling on waynesburg pennsylvania shannon hatfield from logan ohio in second jason wallace in third is joselten ramos in the fourth place position and ray hinch rounds out your top five after four laps of racing complete or three laps of racing complete for those guys for the four laps complete stu baylor ben kelly jordan ashford josh string lane michaels that's the way they checked in there just a few moments ago and of course as we see dad duval dropping off to that ninth place position experiencing some clutch problems at the moment the battle for the championship down to the wire right now mike wikowski holding on to that one got big favors coming in from cody barnes and liam draper as they run second third craig along the nemesis back in the number four spot current points leader as a matter of fact jonathan johnson rounds out the top five ufmfx c3 125 pro am class zach hayes leading max fernandez the eli childers in the number three spot mike delosa in fourth and jacob jason lipscomb rounding out your top five will simon piper leading the open a class chase hayes in second looks like nathan director in the third place position tyler brown up and forth and alex luger rounds out your top five 258 class tristan landrum out of nelsonville ohio leading now braden nolette who got the early lead in this one and the whole shot in second dakota the four in third brendan polling in fourth and zachary davidson rounding out your top five positions the 158 class matthew howard from standardsville virginia leading alex metz there another virginia native nick bart de bartolo who got the whole shot in that one and the number three spot uh cole hickman in fourth and christian evans rounds out your top five cole whitmer leading the four-stroke a lights class over tyler palmer with mitch of being third cooper jones in fourth and michael welburn rounds out your top five yeah i guess junior a b uh 25 plus class andrew boggs leading out of mason town west virginia not real far from where we are now cody jeffers in that second place position out of north carolina with marriott in the number three position it's matt brumpy and fourth and matthew preptrola patola rounds out in the top five james bauer leading joe marsh in the vet a30 plus class with matt modic in third kyle dengler from fmf is fourth place and james singer rounds out your top five and one more class to look at here that senior 840 plus class jason reigns leading frank messina smiling frank shotgun shawn back in the number three spot joel stoles in fourth and dwayne connor former pro rider and the number five position so james or excuse me jason reigns i knew he was moving up we've already got this i knew that i knew that he was moving up but i just didn't quite realize that uh he was moving up as much as what he did uh as we took a look at that amateur rundown that was the first one that popped up it was only up there for just a couple of seconds and i read that and i was i got pretty excited for him as they continue to scroll through the more of these guys some of them are going to see a couple times but that's a okay as i pointed out there rodney you know with uh grant davis moving up and and winning currently leading that 250a and then obviously in the the 150 or the first okay lights class uh jack joy so those are two youth riders moving right up to the three hour afternoon race and leading to a classes or i'm sorry actually grant davis leading the b class and then uh or both of them in the b classes so it's four stroke b lights and uh the 250 b class but straight off of uh basically a big wheel 105. that's a straight you know a big boy class and to be leading you know they're doing quite well well we're at the two hour mark right now three hours is the tail of the tape for a lot of these guys hey you know one writer we haven't really mentioned or talked anything about today we've mentioned jonathan johnson a few times and and writer's name has come up but ryder lafferty doesn't seem to be uh must not got the start most had some issues there on lap number one because i kind of would have put him in here as one of these uh spoilers that we're seeing right now with cody barnes and liam draper running in right now it's definitely been a interesting season for ryder you know he started off the season kind of consistent and then uh right kind of as we went to a break there with the um kovit he kind of started to really catch his flow and we came back he had some podiums and and he had a second and it seemed almost a matter of time until he grabbed a win there and then he's kind of been struggling here as of late he did get his first ever uh there is tristan landon on screen that's our i believe he said 250 a uh leader and potentially probably our overall amateur at this point i would guess um or right up in there if not but uh yeah ryder i think you would probably have to say he's got to be a little frustrated with how these last five rounds have gone he's just not been in the same position i know at uh the bur oak gncc actually pulled off with some stomach problems he's had some crashes um so it just hasn't been going his way so i'm sure he's one that will be pretty happy to put 20 20 behind him uh and and get geared up for 2020 2021 but at the same time you know he does have to be happy with the fact he got his first career xc2 podiums you know he got that second place finish and he was really up in there battling with those guys uh in in the meat of this championship early in the season yeah one i want to point out ben bowens uh racing uh batman we know him from new york we've seen him race the xc1 class in uh seasons past uh seen the little guy's name yesterday in the youth atv races and i believe that's his son or at least a family member that's like i wonder if that's ben's boy you know and then the next thing you know lo and behold ben raced i think it was the morning atv program maybe on a 4x4 uh raced on that and then is out here racing today in the xc2 pro uh pro class so uh good to see you ben back with us man he's kind of a busy fellow this weekend yeah absolutely put two races in one weekend and having your boy out there racing look look he did just see trevor bollinger and grant baylor come by on screen so those both of those guys were running inside the top seven uh as they were working things out there on lap number four uh here at the seven mile marker well tristan landrum is in the top 20 overall leading the uh top overall amateur in the 250a class the 37 is 18th place overall and just fyi ben bowens is 20th place overall yeah i think that is pretty cool yeah batman remember back in the day he used to come to iron man race just that one race and he would almost always hole shot on that open face helmet 250. uh and uh i'm sorry what did i say you said iron man but yeah yeah yeah that's all right it's late this season my brain's about gone so uh interesting i love the stories yeah is this our leader here on screen i think i don't think so no it may not be he was ripping whoever it was must have saw the drone over here i gotta look good for the camera out here in these fields he had some great lines and speaking of other top amateur riders that we'll be looking at here uh looks like second place in the top amateurs right now is the will simon piper leader of the open a class he is currently 22nd overall place braden nolet the 432 out of charlton massachusetts 258 second place right is 23rd overall that would put him third top overall amateur i got to tell you rodney you know i didn't much care for this track from my standpoint it wasn't my style um but these field sections were some of the most fun uh sections we've had on a racetrack in 2020 in my opinion i just had a great flow i think that almost looked like ben kelly i i yeah yeah yeah i think that might we might have a new leader now as we take a look at that if that is ben kelly that that is i believe stu baylor back there in that number two position so we may have a change up front we'll get a little closer look but that looks like the yeah very unofficial just an fyi right now the riding style looks like ben kelly yeah and that definitely is stu baylor behind him so folks we have a new leader wow yes we do thanks to the yamaha racing drone we were able to get that just in time and ben kelly looking like he's on a mission just charging through that rough stuff trying to put him dis in some distance between himself and the 514 am pro yamaha stu baylor rodney this one comes down we'll find out here in just a matter of moments if we're looking at two laps left or if we're looking at white black waving but uh we're gonna know here in a minute and uh we're joined in booth now by somebody who knows something a little bit about uh these races coming down to the wire we were talking about you just a few moments ago on our top five moments of gncc um and uh we're joined in booth by caleb russell the eighth time i said sixth time before sorry to show you two championships eight-time champion 67 wins and uh out here caleb you're joining us in the booth today tell us a little bit about why you're on this side of the camera today yeah i i mean you know it's uh obviously i i'm bummed in this way the guys are on camera right now we have been almost going down watching the front here uh stu right there in seconds stand strong you know these guys right here on camera they're they're asserting themselves to be the the two guys to to battle for this championship next year and 21 going forward you know these these guys have been up front the last five races in a row now um it's good to see you know they're they're finally coming into their own you know stu's obviously been through tons of adversity over the years and he's sort of put himself in that position himself but you know he's fighting against all odds when he's the when he's the underdog and uh you know thinks he's the one counted out he really shines so uh stu's been on it ben's been you know clicking away and uh yeah i like where ben is at at this point what we got an hour left so probably seven lap race is that right we're waiting to see here uh we're kind of waiting on confirmation we don't know if they're gonna throw a white flag yeah if they throw the two lap board sorry not a white flag but if they throw the two lap board at this point it's gonna be coming in maybe just a shy yeah um but uh it would be um really close i i gotta believe at 207 five laps yeah they're gonna have to throw two lap board it's gonna be a seven lap race i don't think there's no they i don't think we're going to see a white flag waving yeah yeah for sure for sure two laps here yeah because they're doing 26 27 minutes 26 points yeah 305-ish uh depending on just how much these guys ratchet up to pace and yeah yeah they're they're pulling away from the rest of the pack and like i said they they're you know they've been the guys up front here the last five races now and uh ben's been a little bit behind the eight ball here you know he puts himself in a bad position on the start and today it was almost no different he wasn't up there or stu was kind of right there in the mix but the the pack was closed today uh you know this track is tight twisty a little bit slow and uh it's a little it's technical so um you know ben likes that stuff so does stu um i'm anxious to see i know there's um it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out and then actually how the results even play out from here i know there's uh there's some speculation on some some line choice out there as well you know uh watching uh the the the ferocity of these battles and and you've even competed in them i mean josh trang i mean we've seen a lot of good things out of him recently uh you know watching what we're seeing out of ben seeing what we've seen out of stu here's recently and and everybody going into next season uh the championship field is deep and i know we talk about these two riders as we get set to wrap up uh this lap of racing here let's see what they have here the two lap card coming out and it is yep two lap boards coming out and it looks like it looks like ben stretched it out now there's dude right there i was going to say i couldn't see a little bit four seconds 4.4 seconds is what it's saying that last you know half a mile mile or so just from uh riding it with crew and watching that was the mini bike the micro track over there that really fell apart in a couple couple spots so that could be uh something to watch there you know at the end i'm not sure i was shaping up at this moment but uh you know that could uh there's there's lots of little spots out there that can jump up and bite you and you know especially if there's a guy down in front of you that's at this stage in the races you know the lappers the the amateur riders they're getting tired and it's hard enough for them just just to get out of the way but i gotta tell you watching this on screen i would have expected stu to retaliate a little more quickly you gotta wonder if he's kind of gathering himself or if it's just maybe ben is is quicker in this part of the track but but ben is definitely as they run right now marching away just a little bit and this is just enough that when they get into something he's going to be out of sight stu looks like he's laboring just just a tad bit you know he doesn't look like he's as aggressive as he wants to be um you know i i know i know ben he really picks it up in the last bit of the race he gets a little bit more comfortable and that's that's his uh that area you know that last hour he's i rode behind him all of uh you know last race last hour hour of the race and i was kind of i wasn't falling off i wasn't in my groove and he got around me and i was able to stay with him but he was really on it and we sucked back up into those guys so you know i'm looking i'm anxious to see if you know stu can hang with him he really he's almost in that zone of where if he gets out of sight he's gone right there you know he's on that that edge of uh i would say the edge of no return you know you lose you make a mistake and you lose another five eight seconds right here you're probably not catching back up without a mistake from ben so um it's gonna it's like i said it's gonna be anxious to see off-road racing is here's mike witowski on screen he's still that xc2 leader leading xc2 and as they run right now he would be your xc2 champion when they checked in with four laps complete craig delong had it was in fourth place when they checked in at the completion of lap four but actually lost another spot when he stopped the pit so he last when we saw him on screen he was back in fifth and we did the math if he finishes third they would tie on points but mike witkowski would win on the second tiebreaker so that means that he needs to get all the way to second so he's got to make three passes he's got to get around jonathan johnson cody barnes and liam draper to win that championship he's got craig's got to make three passes he's gonna make three passes in this last two laps if he's still in fifth when we last saw on screen that's where he wasn't interesting another rider that was right there with them riding we didn't talk about this the 989 of thad duvall was also in that mix we were we've heard secondhand that he doesn't have a clutch at the moment um don't know exactly what that means it sounded the motion that was made with his left hand guard was missing so if if he doesn't have a clutch he must have fell and broken the clutch line if if now that it's making folks craig delong has made those passes he's in the second place liam draper hot on his heels so he right now craig delong is where he needs to be to win this 2020 xc2 title cody barnes there in fourth so there they are two three and four and just in that amount of time from the seven mile marker when we saw him he was all the way back in fifth all the way up to second craig along right now man on a mission wow that's how quickly certain things can turn around that's what we were talking about you know oh what's this josh strang appears to be into the uh abbott's online team green pits now so real problem maybe maybe a bent sprocket maybe i don't i'm that's just speculation at this point but they're working on that rear end that looks like they're taking the master cylinder off over there like you may have lost the rear brakes maybe that's what they're doing they're they've taken the axle back so they can yep there it is so the master cylinder coming off the brake caliper coming off and that's a heartbreaker for josh strang because he had made up a good bit of ground probably wasn't going to be in the battle for a podium but it definitely worked himself up into the conversation in fact i think he was in fifth uh when we last saw him yeah that's a bummer to come off uh you know a win and you you want to end the season on a high note obviously so uh you know josh is another one of those guys he wasn't really up there battling at the beginning but you know he only gets stronger as the race goes on and that's uh that's definitely hard to see he probably could have called his way back up there to you know maybe get into podium contention i doubt he's gonna catch kelly and baylor but uh you know he's he's uh he's got that mentality once the race gets going on he only gets better lap after laughing if you start like i said if he starts up front the guy's going to be be there the whole race so and to see them changing out a brake caliper or a complete brake system this late in the race the final race i i could be wrong but i believe josh is locked into that second place and yeah he's um so this is at this point you know they're just going out there for pride trying to see if he can somehow salvage a top five or even a top ten um you know and this is just kind of practice on the track you know they're maybe a mess with some settings or something and knowing that we may come back here and race next year just a little bit more seat time around this place there you see your leader on screen stretching it out two miles in ben kelly and he is going to be coming into the vp and he has definitely stretched it out over stu baylor that gap is getting bigger and bigger yep like i said this dude looks like he's lost another like you know two three three three to five seconds and he's coming into the pit too ben did not pit stu is pitting so maybe they figured well ben i would think would have to pit next slap um so he's probably using this as an opportunity to try and stretch that gap out because i don't think ben would be able to make four laps after pitting on lap three yeah they're gonna come in a splash of gas you know two three seconds max that's you know he had what like uh six to eight seconds right there maybe maybe 10 close to 10. yeah so stu probably just lost another it's that wasn't a quick splash it didn't seem like you know that was a that was almost a normal pit stop from what we've watched there and not jordan ashburn coming into vp fuels per row we'll find out far behind yeah that's a good ride doesn't look like he's stopping for fuel either so maybe just a splash on that final lap yeah this is this is good to see jordan you know he's he's he's been at it for a long time he's been on the bubble you know he's he's he's on like uh that bubble that fourth to fifth place guy and he just needed that that breakout ride to get up there and get on the podium you know the the class has been a little bit weak this year so you know a lot of guys have had chances but he just hasn't been able to make it happen so it's it's it's nice to see that you know a lot of guys have returned and you know he's stepped it up today yeah you know like you said there was some guys out injured throughout the season everybody with the exception of yourself i believe is out there and josh toth also not out there today but um other than you two everybody else is out there and healthy and jordan led two laps of this one and is still you know within sight of second and no more than 25 seconds or so off of the lead so looks like josh strang going back out he is actually going to have to go out and return from where he came from on the track you're gonna see he's gonna duck through the uh the banners here and head back over to the section of track where he left so we're going to see him drop well outside the top 10. very possibly outside the top 20 in the overall but we'll see exactly how once he comes in and checks in with five laps complete ben kelly on screen leading the way still from our yamaha racing sky cam continuing to stretch it out we're going to speculate somewhere around a 10-second lead and then with that stop for stu baylor maybe add a few more seconds to it and i think caleb you know obviously you're a guy that's been in this position this many times ben is going to be looking at those pit boards and any chance he has in the fields taking a look over to gap and kind of meter his effort because if his effort is paying off and he's stretching away he's going to continue to just floor it and go for it but if if he's not making any gains you know is he going to continue to run himself ragged trying to get away if stu is able to stay right there uh you know ben's a young guy and uh you know right just riding with him the last few races like i said he gets stronger as the race goes on the guy's not going to back down he's going to go for it the whole time looked like yeah lane coming into play elaine almost missed the pass in his pit there he came jumping up into his fuel pro row yeah ben's not going to let up he's he's going to go as hard as he's going to give it 100 um all the way to the end and uh you know if stu catches him and beats him then that's you know that's all he had okay he's looking good he's looking strong you know that's that i noticed last slap he doubled that on that on camera right there that's that's no sign of letting up that's uh you know pure determination wants to get this win today um i i know the the results here you know and this is just speculation but uh the results in xc1 and xc2 the way they stand i know there's going to be some penalties served up here to come there's uh there's been some uh you know there's black and black and yellow placards out there that you need to go between there's uh been a few guys that missed some so we'll see what we'll see what it shakes out well we'll uh we'll take more than one then huh yeah there's quite a few guys actually you know i hate to see it but these guys cycle the track they know what they're doing um yeah it's it's tough to see but uh yeah we'll see what shakes out i know i i actually handed tim carter some video myself um you know just policing the track and like i said i'm not trying to bust anybody but these guys know the track know the trail they they cycle it multiple times and it's their it's their job it's their decision and uh you know you got to do what's right every time not not every not not every once in a while you gotta you gotta do the right thing every time right on uh hey i i respect that and i appreciate that and uh you know that's something that uh you know like say maybe it's late in the season they don't think you gotta abide by all the rules through every race through uh every minute of everybody so there you go uh caleb you know looking ahead the next season man and this is one question that i've i've just kind of wanted to pick your brain about man um obviously you know we've had a lot of guys out this year with uh injury and a lot of crazy things happening but we've also seen some some wild things happening with stew and you know the resurgence of josh strang and things like that heading into next season man i mean the field is wide open are there any clear-cut clear view riders that you think are going to stand out hot far and above the rest do you think it's going to be a situation where one guy kind of controls when everybody's trying to chase him or is it going to be it's going to be a fight for dominance for a while um no i mean absolutely there's there's two clear-cut you know guys that are establishing themselves right this minute uh as the guys to beat and that's you know uh stu baylor and ben kelly right they're the guys the last five races they've been up there and uh you know at times um the last like i said the last five races here's mike wikowski in the pit uh he seems to have a pretty comfortable lead in that xc2 class but but getting back to next year in the championship scope um yeah you know uh there's there's that's still coming back and bollinger's just coming back but ricky's gonna be back ricky's gonna be back but he the these guys are still a little bit behind these guys have got the momentum they know what they're capable of they're showing it on the track right now if they stay healthy um i feel like just with these results in the last few races you know that confidence that that that that carries them into next year and you know these other guys are coming in and they're like okay we got some work to do and catch up but it's to get over that next hump it's uh you know it's at this stage it's all mental you know all that i think all these guys can get into it and get into the mix but it's it's who takes it to the next level and you know makes it happen right and stu and finn are doing that they're displaying uh you know championship level race race racing skill right now exactly guys on screen sorry to cut you off but that is our that is the battle for the xc2 championship not between the two riders that are actually in it but one of the riders that is and oh and thad duvall still there with that xc2 battle stopping for a splash of gas obviously an xc1 rider we know is having some clutch issues uh looks like he may have damaged that clutch lever or maybe by now they've repaired it because it looked like he used it pulling out there but at one point his clutch was out so there may have been some damage there but uh right now as they run it looks like the man with the grasp on the championship is craig long sitting there in that second place position that's all he needs to do to wrap this one up folks stay tuned because this one's far from over we've still got a great battle going on for the win we've got a battle for the championship in that xc2 class coming back we got about a lap and a half of racing left join us back here in just a moment on racer tv live born of family values and a homegrown work ethic kinetic gasket seals your machine so you can focus on the finish line kinetic gaskets are the competitive standard for racers who demand the very best kinetic gaskets are constructed from superior materials designed to perform in the most demanding environment whether it's championships on the line for a day in the dirt with friends professionals and enthusiasts depend on kinetic kinetic gaskets sealing championships since 1989. it's hard to put our adventures on hold but now is the perfect time to prepare for their return amsoil has your back with fast free shipping and ordering has never been easier just look up your vehicle select your product add an oil change to your cart and check out spend 50 on amsoil products and shipping is on us order now at amsoil.com even when you're the best you never stop striving to be better with over 40 years of experience in motorcycle sales and service we know racing our inventory of yamaha motorcycles sport bikes dirt bikes atvs and side-by-sides is extensive and constantly changing stop by lojack cycle sales today in torrentium pennsylvania and visit our online inventory at www.lojax.com yamaha wise ease it's why we ride hi my name is andrea lee the director of ontrack school how would you like to go to a school where we take into consideration how students learn best well we do that because we find if we can build the curriculum around the things you are interested in you're going to do a better job the mission at ontrack school is that educational success is possible while chasing your dreams not only will our staff help students to achieve success they will cheer you on to the finish line we encourage you to check out ontrack school at ontrackschool.com where we can help you chase your dreams and still get a quality education yeah here we are at the buckwheat 100 the final round of the gncc season and it's a new venue so i'm super excited um you know it was cool that we got all the rounds in you know unfortunately i wasn't able to make them because i was hurt beginning of this season but been around for the second half and yeah i'm feeling good now speed's coming back fitness is there everything and yes i'm excited for today track looks really good you know it's got some rocky stuff some some softer loamy dirt and some fast open fields a little bit of everything um out here in west virginia so excited to get out there and uh try to bring it home strong and uh really want to get that first win of the season so just shooting for that yeah i guess you could say that you know uh just thinking about it as any other race you know i always want to do the best i can and and you know go for that win and stay up front so yeah my last chance i got to make it happen so yeah just going to get out there do what i know how to do and try to run away from those guys all right we're back folks and now we're hitting sitting here waiting at the seven mile marker and uh you can start to see it's starting to get just a little bit darker in the woods the sun's starting to go down in the sky and uh you know this is coming this direction these guys aren't going to be affected but on their way out and here is your leader ben kelly the 530 ktm has broken away on the race clock we see drops down that hill at 225 58 and we'll uh we'll wait and see exactly what the gap is back to stu baylor but it has already grown it was nine seconds six scoring it's uh we're up yeah fifteen we're going to be close to 20 seconds if not over yeah it looks like it's right at 20. pretty much a 20 second deficit 20 seconds so that's from nine seconds to 20 and about seven miles of race course so he stretched that out that much more and uh that's you know you've almost got to believe at that point um you know caleb when you pull somebody 11 seconds and seven miles and you were just battling with them and through those same sections the lap before looking racy looking aggressive you got to believe that you know barring unforeseen circumstances it seems ben kelly probably has this one yeah don't don't get me wrong i'm not i'm not sitting here saying she's tired and he's falling back by any means but but bin looked like you know he was motivated and he was he was attacking the track in a different manner and stu was you know a little bit hesitant in spots like um you know as a racer you know i can i can sit here and look and tell by the writing style how aggressive somebody is even ashburn he's not super far about 40 seconds 40 seconds behind so yeah this is probably ashbrin's best race of the year you know he's he's looking like he's charging right there and obviously wanting to solidify third place for the day and uh you know barring a mistake you might even be able to catch up to stew but um that's that's a little bit of a long shot with a lap and a half to go but uh and caleb how much of this comes down to when you say like you can see a guy that's comfortable you can see guy that's charging it would be hard not to point out that these are somewhat atypical conditions for gncc yes it's a rough course yes it's in the woods yes it's dirt but with the rock mixed in with a little bit of different soil here and with nobody having really a baseline for a setting for this place not having raced here you know how much of what we're seeing late in the race could be guys that really nailed their setup versus guys that maybe struggled a little bit to find their clicker settings yeah i mean it could like i i know just from riding with stu and and uh and ben the last the last few races uh ben made a a small fork change going into the day um with the dirt being a little bit harder it looks it looks loamy on screen but it's actually a pretty hard slick oh yeah you know it's not soft and ruddy so he softens his forks up a little bit and there's some rocks out there and i know from riding with with lane all the time and right from riding behind stuart some of these races uh when those yamahas get these conditions you know those those bikes they're they're it seems like those those bikes really excel in these these types of terrain and uh yes like i said stu's been you know awesome at the last five races uh he he's he's put in more consistent results in these last five races in his entire career no question so he's he's definitely whatever happened in the times he's looking good and like i said that's you know that's stu being the underdog he's been counted out by a lot of these guys on this pro row and he's wanting to prove them wrong so i i'm anxious to see you know when stu isn't the underdog and he's the guy you know the man for the job how he responds to that because that's that's more pressure than uh being the guy very good point and you know i was kind of thinking the same thing and i i was wondering because you know uh who knows i mean i know there's not been any announcements or anything like that and who knows if and when or uh what the announcement will be if they will beat you but you have to think that with a success that you're seeing with stu baylor on the yamaha that's something you're going to possibly see and likely see in the upcoming season is he now just writing as i mean not saying he's writing as a job but does he not feel the pressure that he felt before if he maybe has something secure that people don't know about right now and maybe he don't need to push or don't have the heart or the desire to push as hard as he did those other rounds no i i don't think that plays into any factor for this race or these these races here i'm talking about going into the next year when you know he's in this he's into this season 2020 as the guy to beat and uh when you take that pressure and look at ben you know working the edges there wow that was a pie cutting down you know he's feeling it looks like he's i can't i can't tell where stu is on here but i'm sure ben can see him wherever he's at he's checking checking progress and knowing that uh knowing that he's opened up ground just a little bit that's a that's a nice little jump down right there these on these guys are hard on the throttle and ben like you said caleb definitely not letting up he's he doesn't he he earned those uh 20 seconds that he's got over stu right now give or take he doesn't want to give a single one of them back he wants to come into this white flag waving with every opportunity to further stretch that gap and not have to worry in the final moments i mean we saw bennett mason dixon really get up to stew's rear wheel and stu admitted after the race caught him off guard didn't know he was there so ben's not going to want to put himself in that same position for sure yeah like like i said ben ben's young and he's hungry and he he just uh he's not going to flip that switch off you know like if i was in this position because if i was in his position you know i honestly i i wouldn't be i probably wouldn't be riding at this at this day and age with the same intensity um you know i'd be letting up a little bit but uh you know he he's he's clicking it away he's he's still on the gas as you can see just just you know in the in his form and in his line selection and how he's attacking the tracklit right right there like just flowing you know and it's hard to see from this camera angle but that is really rough down through there and this turns here on the bumps you know that's that's a guy that's on point and he's feeling it and obviously we don't see what stu is doing here but i like like i said i'm not saying stew's getting tired but but ben is hungry he wants to win this year um he he came to the season hurt um and i feel like he would have been really you know if he wouldn't have got himself hurt it would he would have been i would have been battling been for this championship this year you know maybe not the whole season but he was going to be tough to beat in a lot of races especially these last five you know these are keyed up for for guys that live up north and ride this you know hard packed slick rocky rudy terrain all the time where i i really excel in the beginning of the year so it would have been a a cool championship uh see that jersey ripped just about off so definitely getting into something there here is your xc2 leader now michael faust again the 282 amp yamaha mile marker number seven he's got about another four miles to go and then from that about five miles actually and from there it'll be a white flag waving in a scenario where he's done all that he can do so far to this point stu baylor now coming through here at the uh at the 10 mile marker and uh still looking good but as you pointed out yeah definitely just uh he's some more time yeah he's lost a little bit more time uh so that's 20 second gap is now about 25. yeah he's he's settling in he's realizing you know ben's ben's on it right now uh a point to prove trying to end this season on on a high note for sure but uh earlier uh about stu being the guy to beat next year going in you know he's won what uh four out of the last five race or three out of the last five races and three in a row um yeah so it's a whole different mentality you know when you got something to prove and you're you're the you know sort of the the black sheep of the group and you know all these teams are you know shutting you down you're coming out with something to prove and but not but now he's he's the man he's he's winning races and he's up front guys real quick uh that is the xc2 battle for the championship on screen craig delong still in that second place spot but hot on his heels liam draper and jonathan johnson so he's got two riders potentially that could knock him out of the position that he needs and you know if you're craig's along caleb you're this deep into this champion we were talking about this earlier themselves they want each one of those guys first off at the very basics of it if mike wikowski remains out front there's only two spots left on the podium and there's three of them the only ally uh craig has in this group right here is thad and he's he's behind all of them right there so um and you gotta wonder if you're you know if you're rock star husky you know thad after having made repairs to the bike you know is he maybe out there just kind of trying to help craig pace along to to keep him or is that just out there kind of riding for himself to you know he's obviously haven't taken this much time off you know bike settings all that kind of stuff is stuff they're probably working on to get ready to go into 2021 yeah i feel like you know he started up front and like i said i i was unaware i just seen him when i was out on the track he was he dropped way back there and i seen that his handguard was missing and then obviously it makes sense with the clutch issue that left side being damaged uh but at this point i feel like that's just out there you know trying to get that seat time trying to get that that race aspect back into his life because uh you know you you miss half the year it's that's a lot of time but here comes ben he's pulling his visor down the sun's getting in their eyes it's uh four o'clock the sun's gonna set in another hour and a half here shoving that thing down about another hour if that yesterday by about five o'clock it was about dark in the woods yeah he's gonna look like a goon the last lap but uh as long whatever it takes to get the job done 26 19 lap time man he he picked it up yeah yeah quite a bit they've dropped about a minute in the last couple of laps or at least ben has anyway and pushing hard really really trying to uh stretch it out you can see there you can see again trying to stay out of the rough stuff like you pointed out just kind of dissecting the track not running the berms not running the main lines this track really did get chopped out more so than i had anticipated yeah the dirt this this overhead view is a good a good shot you can kind of especially with the way the sun is like you can see the shadows and the bumps and how long they are you can't tell how big those are but those the exits of those turns uh that that chatter is you know it beats the hell out of you yeah you know those those hands and your butt they really feel it and you pointed out the ground here is really hard you know it looks loamy in the woods but it's about like a rock yeah yeah there's there's loam in the turns like just from the the roost of the bike you know but underneath in the middle of the track those ruts they're they're polished they're slick uh it's it's tough it really does a number uh on your body just beating you up it's choppy all feedback coming through there but uh so ben kelly leading the way in this one six laps complete two hours 36 minutes into this one and he is out on what will be the final lap of racing action here at the buckwheat 100 round 13 of 2020 a wild 2020 by all accounts not just the racing action off the track on the track and to see it come down to a battle like this that it really has been all day and and we can't exactly just go ahead and hand this one to ben yet still with you know uh basically about ten and a half miles of racing left you know with a 25 second ishley did did stu check in did we get a uh we haven't seen him unless unless they just yeah he checked in 21.6 seconds back his lap time was 26 37 a minute and 16 seconds behind him was jordan ashburn and uh there's where the gap really changed yeah because ashburn was no more than probably 20 seconds behind baylor when we saw him come out of ep fuels pro road less than a lap ago right so to drop back he's lost over a minute to stew so as you pointed out ben picked it up it seems stu maybe not quite as much as ben but also picked it up yeah he did pick it up he turned to 26-37 i think he was in the 27 minute range also so they dropped their laptop and like like i said once you once you lose that uh that line of sight man it's really hard to uh to keep that distance stu is doing a great job and and keeping it a reasonable gap um but you know i i feel like stu would be able to hang on to him if he was still in view it's it's almost like it's a mental toe yeah it is it really is because you know you feel like you're going as fast as you can all you got but uh you know same thing with me at the last race in iron man like i felt i i knew i was riding pretty good and i couldn't bridge that gap and then ben was came up on me he was uh he he had it he got around me um i was able to hang with him i dropped my time by you know my lap time by a minute and i would have been able to do that with myself but i was able to hang with him but i just i couldn't make it happen at the end of the race it was really hard to pass so it's one of those things where you know neither rider is you know they're both giving it their all but once you get out of sight and you get that grab that gap borrowing any major catastrophe here for ben or a tangle up with a lapper it's going to be tough for stu to uh to bridge that gap and get get back in into sight to where he can make a move or get back up on his rear wheel um you know it's it's crazy to think we we've got a 12 mile track or 11 and a half mile track and you know back in the day i i remember 20 seconds was nothing like but now it's like almost a minute yeah here comes mike watowski yeah mike wakowski monsters inc as they call him he's now actually physically passed uh trevor bolinger who's actually quietly having a pretty solid ride back for his first ride back in in nearly a year we last saw him on track uh very last race yeah iron man of last year so actually it's technically it's been over a year since we've seen him on a gncc racetrack quietly having a good ride sitting there in what place is he in rodney uh in the xc1 class mike who's that seventh overall yeah seventh overall and so that would put him no he's seventh in cl why well i think the oh yeah no yeah so actually so yeah so that's gonna he's gonna drop back yeah he's gonna be seventh in class yeah seventh in class yeah oh actually wait no because that's gotta be a lap hold that is a lap hole for actually he hasn't checked in yet but he's gotten around actually lane michael just checked in in the number four spot guys there you go two minutes and 35 seconds behind jordan ashburn yeah so the uh string was almost two minutes behind us water has uh switched up quite a bit and here we go there you go craigslist there's that still second did we not there's liam draper so still second oh it looks like liam's bike is that is he smoking no i thought he was smoking looks like he's laboring a little bit you know so that is not that in the same section and he was kind of looking around so so craig delong has not only gotten around rodney he's actually put a little bit of a gap on that third fourth and fifth place spot so he's in the position he needs to secure this 2020 xc2 title as they run that right now mike wakowski leading the way but craig delong in second and that's all he needs to do to wrap up this title grant baylor is checking in now in the number five position we've only got top five riders checking in with six laps complete again kelly baylor ashburn elaine michael and fourth grant baylor in fifth he is 35 call it 36 seconds behind lane michael right now that's another thing rodney you were talking about earlier with uh kind of him having the weight on his shoulders it looks like ben kelly there let's check this section out it's pretty ready in here making a little mistake there bobbling but uh i'm sure those ruts have gotten really deep a lot of crisscross lines in there too if you go wide and set you up inside yeah right left and then there's one line right here into probably a pretty deep polished off rut makes it look easy this is a pretty cool line here going to the left and down to the left oh actually ben stays up high yeah he did we were running that outside line yesterday and it seemed to be a little faster for us but it's probably gotten chewed out by now oh for sure because it's a swamp down there on the left so you can't go too far i'm sure it's gotten eat out and like i said the you look at the dirt at this place and it looks like it's going to be good but really all the good dirt is has been thrown off and roost on under the berms it's been pushed off the track now we're down but we're in west virginia there was no good dirt to begin with yeah that's why i've always struggled i i it's taken me a long time to get good up north and really it's just a state of mind and a mentality that i bring to the bring to the track to to attack these places and um you know with covet this year i haven't been able to ride up north as much as i would uh would have in the past um it's a little been a little bit unknown and then with uh with covid and the racing schedule and i've been doing full gases i've just been kind of staying home and riding right into my house in north carolina and the dirt's you know we've had a record rainfall this year so the dirt's always been good so i haven't been able to ride in this choppy dry hard pack slick conditions in a way i'm not saying this is dry by any means but it's it's similar because it's polished and it's uh it's hard pack underneath it looks like it's chewed up and like good but uh it's it's very deceiving and on the flip side of that coin you know you talk about you being down in the carolinas and a lot of the guys riding different dirt ben kelly from the new england states up there he's been up here all year yeah he's actually been going home all year as opposed to in the past where he would kind of spend some more time down south black dirt's right up his alley and stu is in the kind of the same situation as me you know i think uh you know stu likes this this type of train a little bit more than myself and he's always been been good in this stuff but but ben definitely has an advantage when it comes to this black slick hard stuff and you know his writing style he stands up it kills me riding behind him like you know since he's been on screen he hasn't sat down yet yeah he's no he definitely does spend a lot of time up on it he hurts my back just watching he's young bud look at him still jumping down that he's still charging man he wants to smoke these guys yeah he's uh he's trying to put all the time he can uh so two forty three thirty as he went into the woods oh oh wow dude look at this there folks seven seconds count them out man emergency we've come to know the last uh two months you know what well and but stu was always charged i'm not saying he was ever bad no no but like yeah but he always made it far back to make the difference it seemed where now man i didn't see that coming not that i expected him to drop further back i thought he'd stay in that 20-25 second range he's down to seven seconds seven seconds for sure but look at this slew of riders right here they're just they're just barely making it through the track right here you you know each one of these guys right here that's that's five to eight seconds of time lost when you get behind them you know and and that's i call i call them chess pieces when you're out there when there's that many laptops you got to play them like a board you know i i practice with all sorts of different riders at my place and uh even quad guys even johnny you know but uh when i'm out there motoring doing lap times and i catch them like here's gatlin for example right here but no but no when you get behind these guys and i'm doing lap times just just out of out of the track motoring down you know i get behind him he takes you know two seconds to get out of the way that that actually hampers me by five to eight seconds that's that's how much my lap time differs so you know you get behind three guys there's 15 seconds easy especially on a track like this where in a lot of cases very tight and twisty did you did you actually pedal the whole thing i pedaled half of it but from everything i could see especially up until this four mile marker i don't know much past the the six it gets a lot tighter i'm sure it does but yeah that's that's the thing but yeah it's tight and twisty and it's hard for these guys to move out of the way and they think they're moving out of the way but they're actually cutting you off and pushing you into the trees um so it's nothing to like i said 20 seconds um back in the day seemed like nothing and it's they're proving me right right here well 20 seconds has turned into seven as we race for the checkers here in west virginia at the buckwheat 100 will stew with baylor bridge the gap will he be able to make the pass on ben kelly or will ben kelly in the second c season consecutively with the big win stick around to find out tncc live continues after this what just happened when you crave the canyon passes rocky trails rutted tracks the podiums and personal records it becomes part of you the choice now is do you become a wanderer or the wanderer you just need to ride where you belong morning of family values and a homegrown work ethic kinetic gasket seals your machine so you can focus on the finish line kinetic gaskets are the competitive standard for racers who demand the very best kinetic gaskets are constructed from superior materials designed to perform in the most demanding environment whether it's championships on the line for a day in the dirt with friends professionals and enthusiasts depend on kinetic kinetic gaskets sealing championships since 1989. um it's hard to put our adventures on hold but now is the perfect time to prepare for their return amsoil has your back with fast free shipping and ordering has never been easier just look up your vehicle select your product add an oil change to your cart and check out spend 50 on amsoil products and shipping is on us order now at amsoil.com even when you're the best you never stop striving to be better with over 40 years of experience in motorcycle sales and service we know racing our inventory of yamaha motorcycles sport bikes dirt bikes atvs and side by side is extensive and constantly changing stop by lojack cycle sales today in torrentium pennsylvania and visit our online inventory at www.lojax.com yamaha wise it's why we ride hi my name is andrea lee the director of ontrack school how would you like to go to a school where we take into consideration how students learn best well we do that because we find if we can build the curriculum around the things you are interested in you're going to do a better job the mission at ontrack school is that educational success is possible while chasing your dreams not only will our staff help students to achieve success they will cheer you on to the finish line we encourage you to check out ontrack school at ontrackschool.com where we can help you chase your dreams and still get a quality education live coverage of the 2020 gncc series on racertv.com is brought to you by mmi get there faster smarter specialized specialized turbo e-bikes it's you only faster and by rockymountainatvmc.com get ready and welcome back to newberg west virginia preston county if you will and of course the final run of this uh 2020 season it is round number 13 of gncc rodney tomlin along with johnny gallagher also mikey waynes and of course our eight-time gncc champion now with us caleb russell and caleb uh you brought to our attention that there might be some instance we've now uh gained some video of some of the incidents that you were talking about out there yeah uh if you look at this video here all these guys they're they're going in between these the black and yellow placards right here you see craig vellans the last guy through i think it was liam draper john johnson cody barnes and craig delong and uh you know there's those black and yellow placards they're they they act as a double arrows nowadays and uh these guys have been made aware of it um for a while and and you see mike watowski to the right to the right he was inside of the double placard so that will result in some form of a penalty uh the officials will have to decide that after the race now just out of curiosity what was gained by using that line honestly honestly and this is this is the the sticky part of the situation nothing was gained by by using that line it's the it's the point of the story the rules are rules right and um you put those double double arrows up those those black and yellow placards and uh they mark the edge of the trail uh here comes ben kelly out at the seven mile marker they use them in places in the woods where they're unable to or it's not uh pertinent to put string up um and that it you have to go between those specific markers it's in the rule book we were all made aware of it the pro riders meeting and that gap is rodney you're making this you're making this symbol yeah it's way long now stretched out it was seven seconds and it appears that whatever happened that either slowed ben down or stu charged up has uh gone unless unless there was a head of bench yeah we might have missed that completely yeah but it doesn't appear to be that's it that's that's a tough one there i wait i don't see with without a without a crash i don't see how he could have lost that that much time yeah this is waiting he had been in front of him here yeah or yeah i mean anything's possible could have been a crash could have been a bike issue um well i don't know if we can check with our producers to see if they missed what about hollywood what's hollywood saying so you got any updates all right so we're going to go to the track crew and try to get uh so at that at this point in time uh with with ben coming by and no stew it's speculation that stu made the pass or he is uh gone behind yeah way back he's way behind it some some problem is happening here here's the next shot here well this is this is three miles later they didn't cover that much ground quickly we're waiting for him here but we won't see nine minutes later we'll see him on the field from that drone shot before we'll see him there at the uh at the 10-mile marker this is the tough thing about off-road racing there we go all right we just got through all right new leader new all right here it is we've got a specialized rapid replay oh no specialized rapid replay come on griff yeah no rapid replay but here it's all right is not our third place rider there was dust in front of him in that field so apparently that was stu stu was able to not only close that gap from 20 down to seven but actually catch bend and make right and right here before the seven mile marker there's there's a key hill at the at the six point three i believe there's that's right rocky hanging out the rocky uphill um you know this late in the race one if taking the main line one guy goes down uh if you're in the the line of left here we go here's the third place third place jordan stronger places got a handguard missing that's this one's just rolling it in he's just rolling into the first podium of the year i believe for jerry first yeah of the year so good for him i i'm i'm uh happy to see him yeah he blows out the year strong yeah he wrote like several races in the early part of the race it seemed like he's been he's been up there he's been up there and it's just it's been tough for him to pieces uh the pieces of the puzzle together and and finish off the race strong you know it seems like you know you get those the fourth fifth lap sixth lap something kind of happens he falls down loses focus and uh he kind of goes drifts backwards a little bit but it's nice to he obviously he's lost touch with these guys but these guys have picked it up for sure yeah and uh but yeah he stayed steady and uh finishing the year out on a high note that's good for him yeah and as you pointed out ben's probably got some points to prove stu still got some points to pray here we go here's the battle on the screen yep there it is out in the open field section oh man they're close this is going to be a battle to the end boys yeah and keep in mind folks just ahead of them got them look look at bingo on the inside this is just a few miles we've got this is about the nine-mile marker about the eight mile marker actually i don't know what these turns look like ben's got an inside line here watch this yep that's big big roots right there yeah he was squaring it up but stu was in the line that he's been using to square it up you know ben's done a lot of j-days you know that and this is typical j-day racing oh sideways wow sideways out of the berm we lost some bike bike links there that's you know that little mistake right there that's that's not what you want to do he was right on them um you you give that take five six corners to make up that couple like three bike lengths right here but he's got this this looks really steep and off camber this whole section totally different line selection for these riders it's almost like this guy on the inside is blocking ben out oh he got in the inside there and and you know you say right in two different race tracks you know you've heard that statement a lot but in reality it can be two different races ben's got him squared up here go for it oh here we go ben kelly trying to reel in stu baylor once again and he's going for the win here in the late stu blocked him that was textbook right there ben he knew ben had him squared up straight up the middle he makes the pass got shot at that one wow just freaking hammered it it looked like stu got a little squirrely on the bridge there and he had to let out of it and that allowed ben to make the pass sent it through the ruts wow and now you great pass well you see it there you know and we know that that stu's caught him tracked him down 21 seconds made the pass on him and i think that has like i said that that hill something must have transpired there right even before that those lappers you get into those lappers they nickel and dime you and there there goes your lead but um man i hope the drone can follow still a battle to the finish yeah like i said it looks like ben just just by watching that all transpire ben's been still gung-ho yeah look uh stu is having a hard time tailing him so you know that's a good that's a that's a good sign for ben if if he can hold that that that seems like tight racing right there but he's not right on his rear wheel bearing a mistake from ben stu is not going to get around him here see there's a couple multi-line sections coming up here and i saw as you mentioned caleb you were talking two laps ago this section coming into the finish basically from the 11 mile marker to the finish is gnarly it's gotten deep it's gotten wet and the water is pumping up out of the ground it's it's down to just nothing left of it there's no nothing there they're crisscrossing to try and get through and that's really where this race is i feel going to be decided here just coming up in just under a mile on screen here and there they are it's still that close ben kind of miffed this corner last lap this lap he does it clean stew right there though and you could see these guys giving it everything they have wow that's all that's all you got from here on out the 10-mile mark they got a mile and a half of this this is a tight little section not a whole lot of room for uh for passing in this area a couple left riders here too there's multiple lines but i'm sure they all have the fast line figured out by now uh bearing mistake it's kind of like i said the last few turns man it's blown out from the quad so it's you can't really square it up inside outside and find that traction to to get in on somebody unless you're just absolutely running in on them and there is still those two mud holes left there's the one uh actually where the crew crashed yeah yeah and then great race man yeah there's another one just literally two turns from the finish there's that muddy section where they made that new line so you see that line right there from series look at this i thought he's gonna gain some more timeline but lost it there you go one you go one side of the trail and it might be good in a spot and then you lose time at the exit or vice versa you know these lapped riders coming out look at this see that's that yep and then it messes you up even more yep then he's got a zigzag by this guy so ben's still leading the way stu is still stalking here in a second all square where they were they're coming up here they're gonna pop out they got another section of pits and then they'll have a fast section down and then that final stretch of woods and this is where they're coming now this is the fast up they're gonna pop out into a field here in a fast section of pits and stu is right there still yep still on them laptops left we got around them all right they got a left a sharp left right here and then a sharp right down into the woods and then there's that one final little mud hole there yep that's all that's i'll clean through that that's that's a really tricky turn right there it's down a steep bank some gnarly roots it's super polished and they got this little ridge right here right along this hillside and this right before you pop out into the finish area you got this one final mud hole i'm sure the line has pretty much established the fast line through it so barring a tip over it's going to be tough to make a pass we're going to find out here they're going to pop out in just a matter of moments there they are ben kelly's still leading the way stu baylor right behind him this is the last little section of mud a hard right hander ben kelly still leading the way just a couple chicanes and they are into the finish line there it is they're on the field there's no pass in here so here we go folks don't fall down don't call it charlie mullins at uh you know morganton nc in 2011 we're rolling in right on sketchfield right on time there it is checker flag flies for big kelly's he takes his first win of 2020 puts the exclamation point on it and says look at me guys i'm coming at you in 2021 and that's it for the buckwheat 100 gncc at least for uh first and second ben kelly taking the win heads up against stu baylor uh swapping on the back what a pass wow swapping it back i'll tell you what man that's to just i i haven't seen that that bridge and then into those ruts but but ben absolutely just sent it he did you know that that you can you can see on screen you know up 80 feet yeah of the track was all ruts and just he's centered across there right straight down the heart of it man that's uh that's some never give up attitude right there again both both those guys that was that was yeah stu didn't give up when he was down 20 seconds he stayed in it he stayed on the gas pedal and uh yeah man that's it's awesome to see that kind of racing it reminds me of you know i've had these battles for for years and years with charlie mullins and paul whibley and most recently thad duvall um so it's cool to see two guys stepping up at the same time and we're we're in for a help 21. oh yeah so these these two guys right here yeah they've established themselves as the guys to beat yeah hands down yep no doubt and you got those other hungry hungry ones coming in josh toad's gonna be back ricky russell's gonna be back uh josh strang is gonna be a force to be reckoned with and again we're just a tip of the iceberg right there when we talk about those guys right now trevor bollinger yeah like i said but but by far these these guys have shown the heart determination they want it they're next in line uh you know these these other guys are going to have to step up to the plate ben just absolutely exhausted yeah he gave it all everything he had three hours one minute 19 seconds for ben kelly 1.4 seconds behind at the checkered flag with stu baylor three hours one minute and 21 seconds wow that's that's uh you know reminds me of going into blackout that's what i used to call it you know like what just happened i i seen that a couple of times this year i think there was a lot of heat and things there was a couple of races that really took a lot out of not just you i mean a lot of the guys out there yeah man i i've been doing it for so long i'm honestly really really happy to see uh just just in my position to uh to be able to take the racing of this level and uh you know see these guys stepping up and battling like this it uh you know it makes me happy to see them get then take it to the next level right and still continue these battles right here because i mean this is what it's all about look at them smiling yeah they're like dudes like ah yeah you know i should have gave it more throttle just a few laps ago that's where stu baylor actually took the lead he was able to make the pass on the outside the line he was taking and then ben kelly able to come back and pass him back in the center so it just goes to show yeah so folks we just saw it looked like auntie collin from ktm and uh ben's mechanic there i don't i don't know his name caleb but uh jose um they were there and they were talking with ben ben was kind of discussing it looked like they had something serious we are getting word rodney yes we are getting word that there will be some adjustment in the overall uh i haven't we haven't heard necessarily particularly what it's going to be what they're saying is hold i'll hold all the interviews don't announce anything final just yet and don't even allude to it being final because we will have some adjustments how those adjustments will will pan out that question remains to be answered still but if they're talking about it that quick you have to wonder if maybe kelly might be part of that yeah obviously we we just heard that they said the overall positions may may be swapped right there and it's sad to see and i think the same is going to happen with with x with our xc2 battle and it just boils down to like like i said earlier you got to make the right decisions every time not not every once in a while um it's 25 feet 5 feet 25 feet 25 feet you got to go in between you know this race could could be decided within you know a matter of inches of being outside of the wrong marker yeah and uh and you just you got to be aware at all times i want to point out where you're at you got to you got to do the right thing with with mike wikowski you asked the question rodney how much of a difference does that make we're talking fractions of a second look how close that finish was right there exactly that literally and we're not pointing fingers at anyone we're just the we're just the voices of reason at the end saying that when those at home sometimes will argue and say well wouldn't have made a difference anyway yeah we don't know what's gonna happen with one two we hear there may be some discussions but if ultimately even if it was something similar to what we saw with mike wikowski that one bike length that fraction of a second could have been the difference between him making the pass in the field or not he made that pass literally by inches yeah so that's why as you said caleb it's you know it comes down to the rules it comes down to the markers the course officials right now talking with the writers they'll make the right decision and we'll move on from there yeah and we can't we're not going to take anything away from these guys we're not calling either either you know any of these guys you know frauds or cheats no um it's it's part of the rules and they they need to be enforced right um you know and i'm sure you've had the rule you let loose of that aspect and um then it starts begins a becomes a free-for-all and uh everything becomes a gray area but with those black and yellow placards that gets rid of the gray area you have to go between those things there's and i'm sure when you've made mistakes or made wrong with you obviously i'm not i'm not going to sit here and say i'm an angel and i've been perfect my entire career my entire life but you know i i've actually you know way back in the day i penalized myself and then i've been docked for that you know fred andrews contested that when he was running the yamaha team when i was in 2008. i got off the track at a muddy john penton race um ik i came to the i got to the pits and i was like i was i was like the last person that was in front of me was justin gibson at that time and i was way ahead of him i was like i i got off the track somewhere and that was the year where it was a complete right you know bloodfest and so i sat there i waited for justin to go by i did the right thing i penalized myself but uh i had penalties after the race because i i did cut the track so you know it's like like i said i'm the opto angel yeah i think i think mikey but thanks for sharing that mikey are you ready down there at the podium yet bud hey rodney getting things set up right now uh we are we've got uh an official word but they wanted us to hold off for a second until they informed the riders first uh so here in the couple i'd say probably less than a minute we should be ready to roll all right so it looks like exactly that it looks like exactly they they've swapped positions uh maybe docked uh been a position for the infraction that uh that he uh committed you can see the discussion going on right now and as you said the courtesy of letting the riders know ahead of time so that they're not in their interviews saying well wait wait what do you mean i didn't win so that's what's going on right now maybe we'll find out here in a minute officially but it looks like that is probably there it's hard to see i like like i said i'm sure you can hear me but we have i had the same discussion with them last race you know this gotta be aware yeah yeah and ultimately like you said i mean it did for today it was for a win it didn't affect anything in the points but when it comes down to the champions championship so both of these riders are well i mean it sounds like stu not not in error today but ben will cert you know this may be potentially one of the best life lessons or racing lessons ever yeah he's not gonna make it he's never is it's never gonna happen he gave it everything when he crossed the finish line and to work that hard and ultimately you know have made a mistake or a misstep or an error at some point in the race that it looks like he's it's going to cost him the win uh you know that'll stick with him i'm sure for a long time i've only quit one race in the last you know eight years i learned my lesson cost you a championship it could be nine times you learn quick and there is jordan ashburn uh looks like you're talking to him as well so we'll find out if he's oh here we go looks like we got mikey wayne with our well with stu baylor we'll let him decide where he's at hey thanks guys so to let you guys know officially uh it is going to be stu baylor ben kelly and jordan ashburn that is your top three uh due to the penalties as a matter of fact you guys have been talking about it earlier so you know why uh but that is the official word so with that said man we're down here not necessarily the way you want to get a win but stu baylor man wins a win yeah you know it's good i i got out ridden today um you know ben a hell of a race he was uh he was really smart strategic followed me and put on the lines just some edges and i think he uh he stalked his prey all day and he made the move on me twice in the same spot and um you know i got balls like a like an elephant that's all i know because he was holding her wide across those ruts but no it's uh it's good um you never want to win like this um you know ben's ben's a hell of a rider put on a hell of a race and uh you know hats off to him like i said i was definitely outright today it came right down to the wire a couple mistakes there on the last lap and an intense battle the last six or seven miles it was uh it was gnarly made us made a mistake on uh on a hill climb and was able to slip by and then uh we we were back and forth just like i could i could hear him i could feel him everywhere on my where i wasn't on the track and um you know when you're when you're leading the race you want to ride as conservative as you can while still going fast and and that was the tough part you know he uh he was just hanging it out and and he was like i said got out ridden hats off to him um sucks the penalty you know we've we've all seen it and it's uh it sucks there's a lot of lines out there a lot of lines of form and you know we've talked about it before um it's it's hard to police but at the same time um you know it it in an xc1 position either you're a cheater or or you're getting passed and and a lot of times that's the case and um you know it's hard to make a bad judgment none of these guys mean to do what they do it just you know sometimes you find yourself off the track well stu uh let's talk a couple things one you had a little viral video this week so people got a kind of a more of an inside scoop as to what you went through this year so man put this season in perspective for the folks at home on tv yeah you know we i signed a new deal and everything was looking up and um you know we were it sounded sounded like uh we were going to have a new program for the year and and things switched fast you know i i after after georgia one during the covid the code crisis we uh we ended up ended up going and getting knee surgery and then i lost my job came back on a different color i came back on the husqvarna then on a kawasaki writing some national enduros and before we we went to the gncc's we got got hooked up with yamaha and you know these guys have put together a hell of a program and um you know even even doing so short handed last minute um these guys have done everything they could and you know that was awesome and i was back way early i was back i was back i i didn't start walking until the two-month mark due to my infection and i was racing four weeks after that no rehab nothing just i had to i had to make i had to make a living and there's a lot more to the story that was it was overlooked but you know it's awesome mason did a phenomenal job and then last weekend at the national enduro i dislocated my shoulder so that was like another big thing this week all week long i was like i don't even know if i can race i got here and it was like you know i feel good on the bicycle and then i crashed on the bicycle last night and shoulder was hurting again but um you know i was really fortunate with injuries up until this season and um just a rough season but you know we're coming out on top putting these putting this yamaha in the center of the box and uh hats off like i said to ben today and to the whole whole yamaha team those guys are awesome there you go guys make some noise your winner here today stu baylor all right congratulations to stu and want a ride that is uh well uh officially now i guess when you look at i'm sorry did you guys listen to that interview i mean how uh sounding like uh you know a top class guy right there his world has changed i hear it i hear that well not to say it wasn't but yeah when you feel like you have to be selling out a little bit wow when you have a microphone stuck in your mouth in your face that much you got to sometimes you start to grow into your role and she's growing into something no i'm four of the last five honestly you know and i get grief from stu's fans you know as fans do and fans of mine they're a different breed and i get slack from stu's fans but uh you know i'm a fan of stew baylor and what he brings to the table and how he speaks his mind it's it it's it's a fresh breath air we need that in our sport he brings a lot of attention and you know it's it's it's not always pretty but uh he speaks his mind he's gonna do that he does and he like you say man i mean brings a lot of attention to that that was uh that was winning in class right there you know it it he didn't win but it was a little bit handed to him but that was a classy way to put it uh proud of them let's head down to our second place interview now with mikey wayne thanks rodney down here uh ben kelly man a heartbreaker uh you put in the work you're out there uh the penalty was assessed you end up taking a second place today and i know everybody at home knows as well how much you wanted this win man where's your head at right now yeah you know i'm just mad at myself i got a bad start and um worked my way through the pack and uh yeah i was feeling good and um you know uh first lap uh you know staying on the track and then some guys ahead of me took that inside line and i didn't see it while i was out walking the track so i just figured oh it's a better line so i went and took it on the second lap but second i got into it i knew it was you know too far i slowed off by look and uh you know i slowed up and uh but i knew i knew i i messed up but uh since i didn't gain position i didn't really know but rules of rule so uh yeah i'm bummed uh you know i don't think it had anything to do with the way the race ended up so you know uh in my mind i think i won straight up but uh yeah rules rule so you know i understand and uh not a cheater you know i didn't mean to do it happens so yeah but uh all in all crazy race crazy battle with stew down to the wire and yeah you know came through ahead of him but penalty is a penalty so it is what it is it is what it is man we're talking about 2021 we know what the goal is for ben kelly does this fuel you even more i mean are you ready i mean let's start 20 21 season tomorrow yeah i know i'm ready uh you know fitness is good everything's good just uh you know been working on the speed and you know it's definitely coming back i still definitely think i have more to give but yeah i'll be ready for 2021 and just you know mad at myself for for making that poor decision but it happens in the heat of the moment i guess it happens there you go guys after a penalty assessment today ben kelly finishing in the number two spot well there you go guys that's uh that's a classy way to take one on the chin you know he was clearly not happy with the decision but he also pointed out five times i understand it i get it a rule's a rule he said i knew as soon as i got on that line it was a mistake i didn't see it when i pedaled i saw it some guys take it on the first lap i didn't i jumped in and on the second lap took it as soon as i got in and i realized we've all been there took it like a man and you know it's one of those things these guys that are doing their homework and getting out there and finding out exactly which lines are are legit our legal are where they're supposed to be it's really paying off for them stu baylor got the win today just by taking the right lines true sportsman on both accounts i think absolutely both of them yep there's ashburn right here thanks guys uh down here jordan ashburn man we've been talking about you all season caleb even mentioned it during the show today kind of on that bubble always in that fourth fifth spot final round of the season you made it happen you put this thing on the box yeah you know it's it's been a it's been a it's been a great year but i've just been hunting for the podium all year and you know we've been close so many times this year and it's just frustrating going home just being a little bit short and i'm just super happy to to end the year on the podium and come away with that number three overall for the year and you know it's just it's it's been a it's been a couple years since i've been the podium so it means a lot well man talk to us about uh you know end of the season definitely ending it on a high note what's in store for jordan ashburn moving into 2021 uh well there's some good things going to change definitely but uh you know i'm just ready to get back on the podium next year and you know be top five every race and be on that hit the podium and you know who knows we might could contest for a championship all right there you go congratulations jordan ashburn taking third place here today all right thanks a lot congratulations again to jordan ashburn welcome back to the box buddy and uh wow you know third place on the day third place overall in the in the national championship that's you know that's not to be taken lightly obviously there's there's a lot of guys out this year with injury uh and jordan like i said or earlier jordan's been on that bubble but uh you know he he brings a lot to any team you know he he's uh a veteran now yeah you know he's been around a long time and he knows what it takes he stayed in it he you know he hasn't he hasn't gone away he doesn't get anywhere he he can still be that he hasn't he hasn't ever won right i i feel like this guy could you know potentially win races especially when it's muddy we haven't had mud race all year right right you know we've been close but we haven't had a mud race likes the mud but this is a guy that's maybe without a ride that just got third overall in the national championship you know he he deserves some credit right you know i have a lot of respect for jordan he's been along around a long time and i hope the best for him amen and i agree with you and looks like we got the best for this guy today man everything came out in his favor let's head down with mikey wayne's who's with craig delong thanks guys uh craig delong man what a gnarly season you make the jump to the rock star husky team we saw you clicking off wins and then you had some ups and downs when it was all said and done you're a champion yeah it's pretty wild um they didn't go very easy for me i can tell you that uh bad start well i had a good start but it was like chaos like getting a third turn and bikes were flying everywhere and i stayed clean and i was in the back of the pack made my way towards the front and it's like a five rider battle again for the lead and i just kind of played it cool and just hung out and then try to salvage the podium you know has it sunk in yet i don't think so we'll give you some time to let it sink in man let you get rehydrated uh craig put the season in perspective man with the ups and downs you had the jump to the rockstar husky team talk to us a little bit about what it took to to put the whole thing together uh it was good i mean the whole crew was was really good you know they they kept me calm and i when i needed to be and i when i wasn't so a huge thanks to those guys and for being just professional and and easy going you know i'm a kind of a new kid when it comes to a team like that so uh they they treated me very well and uh yeah i can't thank him enough there you go craig delong congratulations he is your xc 2 2020 gncc champion yeah and i'll tell you i don't know if you guys heard or noticed when he came through the finish line down there you could hear i think they were interviewing stu baylor when that was going on and this place erupted you could hear the finish line and we're several hundred yards away from the finish line it was nuts down it's been a long time coming for craig you know he's been in xc2 for quite a while now been on that coastal team stepped up to the rockstar husky team this year when those guys went out with injury uh and he really delivered got him back in the top ten and uh won the championship uh it's been a great year for him he's been consistent all year you know johnny gerard was kind of the the key figure to beat but uh craig was uh the most consistent guy all the way through and mike gave him a great challenge but um just fell a little bit short well a little short good should make for a good championship again next year i know mike wikowski will be back xc2 and i imagine craig will be back to the beach no xc2 is going to be a barn burger boy those three guys are still in the class uh they're all hungry they all want to win and you know they're just as fast and just as capable as the top xc1 guys well stu baylor gets the overall win in this one after a uh an assessment of penalty and it looks like that ben kelly will take second jordan ashburn will take the number three spot as far as the overall is concerned guys that's pretty much putting a wrap on it for the day and for the 2020 season johnny thanks for being alone caleb thank you so much for stopping by today man yeah no worries i'm glad i'm glad i could uh stop in for a little bit maybe we'll see some more next year you never know i mean i i might be around i like being on the track better but uh you can stop it i i like watching the tv screen everything's in front of me i got i got the results at times it makes it nice cold water in front of you cold water we're living life perfect for mikey wayne's johnny gallagher and the eight-time gncc champion caleb russell i'm rodney tomlin have a great day everybody you

Channel: RacerTV

Views: 66,868

Keywords: RacerTV, GNCC Racing

Id: h5SQGfXIMis

Length: 238min 55sec (14335 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 08 2020