Strang Wins Elka Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC
by Jason Weigandt

FMF Suzuki’s Josh Strang finally scored his breakthrough win in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series, coming from behind to take the Elka Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC on a dry day in North Carolina. Strang got emotional on the podium after topping his team-mate Charlie Mullins and defending GNCC Champion David Knight for the win.

“My mom and dad, back home, they made so many sacrifices to get me here,” said Strang, 20, overcome with emotion after taking his first win. “I wish they could be here to see it. This is such a great feeling.”

Strang notched three seconds and a third in the last four GNCC races. This time he overcame a bad start to win, which wasn’t supposed to be possible on a dusty track. Mullins grabbed the Racer X Holeshot Award and tried to check out, but Knight ended up in the lead after accidentally missing a section of the course. The GNCC crew made Knight rerun that missed section on the next lap, which dropped him back to fourth. Mullins held the lead again, but Strang put on a charge from about seventh place to get into second. When Mullins crashed on the banks of a water crossing, Strang rolled past.

“I wanted to get a win,” said Mullins, who has struggled in the last few races. “I knew Josh was coming, and then I clipped something coming out of that water and went flying. I wasn’t even close to my bike once I landed, and I was totally under water.”

“It was a shame to see Charlie down in there, but I guess we’ve all had bad luck,” said Strang. “I was able to make up ground in the bottom sections, where they had big motocross type bumps. I was comfortable there.”

As for Knight, the Red Bull KTM rider was just happy to end up third after a strange day. “Feels like a win after all of that,” said Knight. “I tried making up some time, but in the dust, I had a couple of close calls and I decided to just hang back and score some points.”

Fourth went to Paul Whibley, who had won the last two GNCCs but admitted he had an “off-day.” Husqvarna’s Glenn Kearney rounded out the top five. Next came Red Bull KTM’s Nathan Kanney, Am-Pro Yamaha’s Jason Raines, Walpole Trucking Kawasaki rider Garrett Edmisten, and FMF Suzuki’s Jimmy Jarrett.

WORCS Champion Kurt Caselli rounded out the top ten. “I crashed a lot, I was slow and I sucked,” joked Caselli after the race.

In the XC2 Pro Lites Class, Welsh, U.K. rider Jason Thomas scored his own breakthrough with a win. “I’ve been back home for the last 11 months getting my Visa sorted,” said Thomas. “All I’ve been doing was trying to prepare for this, coming back and doing this. I don’t have any sponsors, and I spent my money getting the Visa, so I hope to get some help.” Not long after the race, Thomas was spotted talking to several team managers.

Red Bull KTM’s Justin Williamson, the defending XC2 Champion, returned to the podium for the first time this year with second. “I’ve just been struggling to get comfortable,” said Williamson. “I’m back on my old program. I got the lead from Jason, but then I crashed in a creek and gave it back to him. But it’s a relief just to get back up here.”

Monster Energy/Andrews Yamaha’s Dustin Gibson rounded out the podium. “I never thought I would get up here,” said Gibson. “I was riding so bad, I was so tight, I was scared for my life. I can’t believe I made it back up here.”

Points leader Thad DuVall notched fourth after several hard crashes. Scott Watkins was fifth on his Monster Energy Kawasaki. The rest of the top ten featured Kailub Russell, Eric Bailey, Brian Lawson, Kevin Korn and David Snyder.

Without any rain in the area for weeks, dust was the theme of the day, although the sections deeper in the woods weren’t as bad as the open fields. The track featured the signature Yadkinville obstacles, including the creek jump and a run through a house.



David Knight Report
Knight returns to the podium at US GNCC Round 8

After frustratingly missing out on a rostrum finish at both rounds six and seven of the US Grand National Cross Country Series Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight returned to the podium at round  eight, The Stomp GNCC, where the defending series champion placed third after yet another eventful race. Starting well and leading at the end of the first lap, Knight was penalised 30 seconds due to having fired his bike into life before the starters flag dropped, which in part resulted in him being able to win the race. Having also taken a wrong turn during the opening stages of the race David was forced to re-ride part of the track – something that put him further behind the leaders. Despite not winning the race David remains comfortably out front in the ’08 US GNCC points standings

Second as he exited the first turn and then quickly moving into the lead David Knight seemed to be headed towards his fifth win of the season at The Stomp GNCC, staged in Yadkinville, NC. But just like at the previous two rounds of the series it wasn’t to be for the defending series champion as the factory KTM rider eventually placed third behind Suzuki’s Josh Strang and Charlie Mullins. Firing his bike into life before the starters flag dropped, but quickly killing his engine before re-starting it again and then coming close to claiming the holeshot, David past the one rider ahead of him to end the opening lap marginally ahead of his XC1 Pro class rivals. But deemed to have gained an unfair advantage at the start of the race the Manxman was forced to stop for 30 seconds, which resulted in him dropping to sixth.

Despite his best efforts David was unable to work his way into the lead, soothing that was partly due to extremely dusty conditions. Third by the midway point of the race, and comfortably ahead of the fourth placed rider Paul Whibley, David opted to settle for position and in placing third maintains his sizeable lead at the head of the championship.

David Knight: “Third isn’t the result I’d hoped for but considering the race I had it’s not too bad. I’m pleased with the way I rode, I guess things just didn’t go my way. I started well, but because I fired my bike up before the flag dropped I got penalised 30 seconds at the end of the first lap. I’d stopped my bike again and re-started it again when the flag dropped, but I had to take the penalty. It was tough watching riders go past when there was nothing I could do
because I was just sitting there for 30 seconds.

“I felt good during the first lap, but after I had to stop it was hard because of the dust. It was pretty tight and dusty in the trees that it was hard to make up time. I could have pushed harder but it was easy to make a mistake. After the last two races it’s nice just to be back on the podium. I still have a good lead in the championship, so all in all it wasn’t a bad race for me.”



Red Bull KTM Factory Team

GNCC Bike Series
Red Bull KTM Factory Team riders David Knight and Justin Williamson earned podium positions at the eighth round of the GNCC Series.
Williamson earned his best finish of the season in the XC-2 class after getting a great start and remaining up front all day. Williamson came around the first turn in 4th, found his rhythm and quickly moved into 2nd. On the second to last lap Williamson passed for the lead and looked like he might take his first win of the season when he crashed into a bush and lost 20 seconds. The time lost was all it took for fellow KTM rider Jason Thomas to pass Williamson to take the win. Williamson finished 2nd overall just eight seconds behind Thomas. Williamson's 2nd place finish moved him up to 5th place in overall points.
 
"I am really happy for Williamson. He has been testing different set-ups and finally found one he is comfortable on. He looked great today and has found a rhythm he can carry throughout the rest of the season," commented Red Bull KTM Team Manager Antti Kallonen.
 
At the start of the XC-1 class, Knight, accidentally hit the start button too soon and although he got a great start he was later penalised 30 seconds for jumping the gun. Meanwhile, his team-mate Nate Kanney was 4th off the start. Defending WORCS Series Champion, Kurt Caselli, also joined the team in his first GNCC of the season and he came around 5th off the start. Despite Knight's penalty on the start, he was still running up front until he realized he had taken the wrong trail on lap one and was set to suffer another penalty, this time one and a half minutes in length as he came around for lap number two.
 
"It was unfortunate that I had to incur two penalties today, but I agree with the rules and realise that it was my fault and am glad that despite the penalties I was able to finish on the podium," commented Knight.
 
After the two penalties, Knight was sitting in 5th and came up on his team-mate Kanney who was currently in 4th. After some time, Kanney let Knight pass, realising his speed was a little bit faster through that section. Knight moved into 4th and then eventually 3rd before the finish. Kanney was still holding on to 5th until the 2nd to last lap when he crashed pretty hard and lost some time falling back to 8th. Kanney recovered and caught a couple riders passing back into 6th on the last lap. Caselli finished 10th overall for the day. "I had a lot of fun racing the GNCC, but I need to work on my bike set-up and endurance," commented Caselli. "I tired on the last two laps and struggled with my bike set-up since I was still on my WORCS bike. I am looking forward to coming back for the next round where I will race on the two-stroke KTM 250 XC which I feel will suit me much better."

GNCC ATV Series
FRE/KTM Factory rider Adam McGill earned 5th overall at the eighth round of the GNCC Series while his team-mate Taylor Kiser also finished inside the top ten taking home a hard fought 8th overall.
McGill got a decent start and was battling with the top riders early on. Unfortunately, his team-mate, Kiser, had worse luck and neared the first turn almost dead last. In the first lap, Kiser was able to charge through the pack and move into 10th at the check point. From that point it became more difficult for Kiser to pass the other riders as the course was dusty and tight through many sections. "I rode to the best of my ability but once the top riders began to spread themselves out it was hard to make up time in the dust. It appeared that where you started was where you would finish," commented Kiser.
 
Kiser did eventually move into 8th place and began to catch William Yokley and Chris Borich on the last lap. "By the time I got them in view, we were down to three miles to go with only tight sections left. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough to make the pass," reported Kiser. "I was happy with my performance today considering my poor start and the track conditions and I am just hoping for a better start at the next round."
 
McGill rode a smooth and consistent race and finished 5th overall. His 5th place finish puts him 3rd overall in the series points just one point shy of second place.