KTM clean sweep at “brutal” Palakta, Wild Boar GNCC round 2

Two rounds and two easy victories for FMF KTM Factory Racing Team’s Kailub Russell in the 2020 Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series. The early season comes thick and fast for GNCC 2020 with round one just two weeks previous and round three on the bounce next weekend at The General in Washington, GA.

Wild Boar GNCC is known for its brutal course with a mixture of sand, black soil and a few mud holes in between. Added to that the course planners laid on four miles of fresh trail, which gave the pro riders a unique stretch of new terrain to factor into their already intense three-hour race. 

Kailub Russell has started 2020 like a rider on a mission. After his round one win, Kailub bagged the holeshot and never looked back at Wild Boar. Even a crash on lap three, when a vine got caught in his front brake, twisting the handlebars and jerking him off the bike, didn’t see him drop the ball. With a decent lead already, Russell had “time to spare” and the seven-time GNCC Champion gradually extended his lead to over two minutes by the flag.

“It was a tough day but I got a great start and just kind of did my own thing, trying not to make any mistakes.” Explained Russell. 

“I kept a pretty steady pace the first three laps and I was able to get that buffer and kind of bide my time and ride the final three laps. It’s easy to do that when you’re not under pressure and you can kind of pick your lines and get around the lappers a little more stress-free. It was a brutal course but it wasn’t as bad as it has been in years past.” 

 

If Kailub was fast out the blocks the story off was an opposite one for Babbitts Online Kawasaki rider, Josh Strang who was bang last off the start. Jordan Ashburn was P2 early on but dropped a place to Layne Michael on lap two who was fast early on.

Strang meanwhile was down in eighth as they crossed the line after lap one. Progressing to fifth a lap later before picking off a rider a lap in the last three laps to cement what has been a solid start to his season – Josh now sits second in the points, square on 46 with Ricky Russell.

It was not such a solid start for Sherco-mounted Baylor brothers. Steward was forced to retire at the end of lap one with a mechanical issue on his new Sherco mount while Grant finished eighth in class and 20th overall.