Story: Noel Flatters - Editor, with content from GNCC.
May 01, 2024

Steward Baylor & Rachael Archer Take second Consecutive Wins each for RMR Red bear Kawasaki, Gus RIORDAN takes XC2 Win Three of Season

WHAT

• The AMSOIL Hoosier, Round six of the 2024 Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series presented by Specialized, an AMA National Championship went off on Sunday at the famed Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

• The approximately 10 mile course was in great shape by the midway point of the morning Womens’ Pro (WXC) race, following heavy rain showers Friday night, through the day on Saturday, and again on Saturday night. Strong winds and large fields throughout the day turned the vast majority of the track into a grippy and physically demanding beast.

• Steward Baylor Jr. (Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki) took home his second consecutive win, coming from behind to beat series leader Johnny Girroir (FMF KTM Factory Racing) and Craig DeLong (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) to the line. Girroir would be relegated to P3 behind DeLong after pitting outside of the designated Pro pits, however.

• Rachael Archer (Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki) also took her second consecutive win of the series, ahead of Shelby Turner (Enduro Engineering GasGas) and Rachel Gutish (Sherco USA) in what was a very eventful WXC race that saw both Korie Steede (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) and Brandy Richards (FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers) finishing off the podium.

• Gus Riordan (FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers) was on the top step of the podium in XC2 for his third win of the season, finishing in front of teammate Grant Davis and Liam Draper (AmPro Yamaha).

SO WHAT

• With his win, and Girroir’s pitting mistake costing him a position, Baylor has solidified his series overall P2 position over Jordan Ashburn (Coastal GasGas Factory Racing), and narrowed the gap to series leader Girroir to just 10 points.

• Archer has extended her overall series lead in a campaign that has seen her finish off the podium just once in the first six rounds. Turner took advantage of Steede’s fuel issue and Gutish getting held up in a deep mud bog to move past Richards in the series overall, and is now sitting in P2. Richards is three points behind Turner now, and this is going to be a battle to watch for the rest of the series. Unfortunately for Steede, she ran out of fuel on the final lap after battling with Archer all race for the lead. With Gutish out of contention for the WXC overall after committing to an EnduroGP campaign and now in a GNCC spoiler role, it was definitely suboptimal for Steede to finish behind Gutish’s (effectively) throw-away points.

• Riordan’s XC2 win helped him keep his P2 overall intact in the class after an uncharacteristic seventh place result the round prior. He sits nine points behind Davis in the XC2 overall after the Hoosier, so this was an important win for him.

Now WHAT

• With the GNCC points system setup (P1 50pts; P2 45pts; P3 41 pts; P4 38 pts; P5 36 pts, then decreasing 1 pt per position down to P40’s 1 pt), things are getting very interesting in the GNCC overall.

• In XC1, Girroir’s strong start to the season combined with podium finishes in the three rounds he hasn’t won, leaves him with a healthy 10 point lead over Baylor. However, the momentum has swung to Baylor with his two consecutive wins and only one finish (P4 in Round 4) off the podium so far. Girroir hasn’t won since Round 3, and the mental mistake of pitting outside the designated area may all be pointing to the pressure he could be feeling.

• Over in WXC, Archer has a series that is going to be tough to catch back up to for Turner, Richards, and Steede. As noted above, though, the battle for P2 and P3 overall in the series is shaping into something epic. Add in the pressure to assert dominance ahead of ISDE, the WXC class may be one of the most fun ones to watch in the coming rounds!

• XC2 sees Davis currently holding an increasingly healthy nine point lead over Riordan. Unlike Girroir in XC1, though, Davis doesn’t seem to have any hint of struggling with momentum. His worst finish was a P3 in Round 1. Since then it’s been two P1’s and three P2’s. Interestingly, though, Riordan has three wins this season. Riordan’s P7 aberration in Round 5 hurt him in the overall, but it certainly wasn’t fatal.

• The GNCC series is a long one, and we could see anything happen in any of the classes - especially XC2 and XC1. Nothing is even close to be being locked in yet, and it’s going to be a fun rest of the year in the championship!

The Full Story

XC1 OPEN PRO

Off the start it wasn’t much of a surprise that Girroir took the holeshot. By the end of Lap 1 the FMF KTM Factory Racing rider and series leader had built up an approximately 22 second lead over Coastal GasGas’ Jordan Ashburn, with Delong sitting in 5th 26 seconds back, and Baylor in 8th approximately 40 seconds back. Baylor noted post-race that “It was a decent start, the bike fired good, but I just got closed off there on turn two and got buried in the pack a little bit. But, you know, mid-pack is good for me so I was stoked. I could see the leader and was in the same starting stretch so it was all good until I made it bad. They changed a section that I had walked prior to the race, and I just had my line picked but just blew it and dropped all the way to last place.”

From that point Baylor and Delong engaged chase mode and started working their way back up the field. By the end of Lap 2 Baylor was up into P6, running a lap time just two seconds slower than Girroir, and Delong was holding steady in P5 with an eight second slower lap than Girroir.

By the start of Lap 4, though, Girroir, Baylor, and Delong had settled into the top three in 1st/2nd/3rd respectively. Baylor had run the fastest lap of the day third lap as he pushed up the field, with a 25:00.4, while Girroir’s pace had started to slip with 25:22.2 lap time, and would progressively slow down for the rest of the race.

One of the key features on the course was a deep mud hole that challenged riders all day. By lap 6 it was practically unrideable for all but the top riders. On lap 5 Girroir entered the pit ten seconds ahead of Baylor, but Baylor got stuck exiting the bog after mistakenly hitting neutral with a bent shifter. Baylor lost another 13 seconds at the point, and from the side of the track it was hard to believe that he could regain contact with Girroir after expending as much energy as he already had in his chase to the front. Coming into the bog on Lap 7, though, it was Baylor back in front (just barely) of Girroir, where he’d stay to the finish. Girroir did, however, end up pitting outside the Pro pits during the race - a mental error that ended up costing him a 1-position penalty that dropped him back to P3 on the day behind Delong.

Girroir: “Yeah, I felt good. And then I fell apart and, kinda got sick to my stomach, hit a tree. Big cartwheel. I missed my pit like an idiot turned around. Yeah, just a mess, man. Fell apart. got to be better at the next one.”

Enduro Bureau Analysis:
With his win, and Girroir’s pitting mistake costing him a position, Baylor has solidified his series overall P2 position over Jordan Ashburn (Coastal GasGas Factory Racing), and narrowed the gap to series leader Girroir to just 10 points. With the GNCC points system setup (P1 50pts; P2 45pts; P3 41 pts; P4 38 pts; P5 36 pts, then decreasing 1 pt per position down to P40’s 1 pt), things are getting very interesting in the GNCC overall.

Girroir’s strong start to the season combined with podium finishes in the three rounds he hasn’t won, leaves him with a healthy 10 point lead over Baylor. However, the momentum has swung to Baylor with his two consecutive wins and only one finish (P4 in Round 4) off the podium so far. Girroir hasn’t won since Round 3, and the mental mistake of pitting outside the designated area may all be pointing to the pressure he could be feeling.

WXC PRO (Story courtesy GNCC with analysis from The Enduro Bureau)

The WXC race saw some intense battles throughout the morning, as Enduro Engineering/GASGAS/FXR’s Shelby Turner got the jump off the line and grabbed herself the $100 Kanati Tires WXC Holeshot Award. However, Rocky Mountain Red Bear Kawasaki’s Rachael Archer was ready to battle and made the pass for the lead early on. Archer would continue to lead unbothered for the first two laps, but by the time the white flag flew Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna Racing’s Korie Steede was just five seconds behind her. Unfortunately for Steede that momentum was short lived as she Archer emerged from the woods first into timing and scoring to earn her third win of the season. 

Enduro Engineering/GASGAS/FXR’s Shelby Turner would also make a couple of last lap passes to overtake second place in the WXC class, and Sherco USA/Moose/Rachel Gutish Racing’s Rachel Gutish would battle at the front of the pack throughout the race to round out the top three WXC class finishers in Indiana. Steede would cross the line fourth on the day. 

Enduro Bureau Analysis:
Archer has extended her overall series lead in a campaign that has seen her finish off the podium just once in the first six rounds. Turner took advantage of Steede’s fuel issue and Gutish getting held up in a deep mud bog to move past Richards in the series overall, and is now sitting in P2. Richards is three points behind Turner now, and this is going to be a battle to watch for the rest of the series. Unfortunately for Steede, she ran out of fuel on the final lap after battling with Archer all race for the lead. With Gutish out of contention for the WXC overall after committing to an EnduroGP campaign and now in a GNCC spoiler role, it was definitely suboptimal for Steede to finish behind Gutish’s (effectively) throw-away points. The battle for P2 and P3 overall in the series is shaping into something epic. Add in the pressure to assert dominance ahead of ISDE, the WXC class may be one of the most fun ones to watch in the coming rounds

As noted above, FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers WXC rider Brandy Richards finished off the podium at The Hoosier down in P7. From trackside, she had a tough start and was already behind the leaders in the first small woods section. Throughout the race it was clear that she was having an off day, and it appeared that she was (smartly) in damage limitation mode. She noted post-race that “I struggled to get going the first lap, then it all fell apart once the mud holes really started to show. Spent most of my time trying to get unstuck! Learning to predict how the track will develop and how to navigate around mud holes and bottleneck sections has definitely been the biggest challenge, it’s frustrating but I learn a little more each time. Ready for an off weekend to heal up a little more, and to get ready for more.” There’s no doubt that Richards will be highly motivated to turn it around at Round 7 two weeks from now.

XC2 250 PRO (courtesy GNCC with analysis from The Enduro Bureau)

As the XC2 250 Pro class took off it was Phoenix Racing Honda’s Cody Barnes grabbing the $250 Steel City Medical Center Holeshot Award and headed into the woods first. As the XC2 class raced towards the scoring area, the first four riders were separated by just one second each. The FMF KTM Factory Racing Lander’s duo of Angus Riordan and Grant Davis would swap the lead position throughout the duration of the race, along with AmPro Yamaha’s Liam Draper battling between the two. 

Riordan would continue to hold the lead the second half of the race, but Davis and Draper would continue to hold on and push for the remaining laps as well. Riordan would cross the line first earning the win in Indiana. Davis and Draper would round out the top three in the XC2 class at round six. 

Enduro Bureau Analysis:
This was an important comeback race for Riordan after a dissapointing P7 two weeks earlier in Round 5. While that wasn’t a fatal result to Riordan’s XC2 championship hopes, there’s no doubt that the young Australian rider was looking to comeback in a big way at The Hoosier. Riordan now sits nine points behind Davis in the class overall, and with a comfortable lead over third overall Draper he can focus in on trying to catch his teammate. As noted above in the ‘So What’ section, Riordan has three P1 finishes to Davis’ two but crucially has finished off the podium twice. Davis has yet to finish off the podium, and his worst finish has been a single P3 in Round 1. This will be another fun one to watch

NOTES

For the Canadians, Shelby Turner was obviously the big story but there was a notable finish from Calgary’s Kevin Dupuis (BFD Moto/Husqvarna Canada) who finished P5 in Vet A, and P66 overall in the afternoon. Kevin now sits in P3 in the Vet A overall series standings after going P5/P4/P4/P5/P5/P5 through the first six rounds.

Kevin’s son Hayden Dupuis (Husqvarna/BFD Moto) had an unfortunate mechanical DNF in the morning’s YXC Super Mini 2 race. Hayden was running just behind the eventual race winner Travis Lentz when he had to abandon on Lap 4 of 5, but notably had the second fastest Lap 2 and the fastest Lap 3 by 31 seconds over Lentz. We’re looking forward to seeing what Hayden has at his Loretta’s regional qualifier this coming weekend, and at GNCC Round 7 the following week.

(Hey, if you’re a Canadian racing GNCC or any other US off-road series, make sure to hit us up through our Instagram or at info@enduro.media so that we can follow your shenanigans!)