It was nearly an XC2 250 Pro lockout of the top overall positions at this weekend’s Hoosier GNCC in Crawfordsville, Indiana, as three of the top five positions were from the 250 class. Grant Davis took the overall for the second time of his career, but the first time on track position and on adjusted time.
Photography by Mack Faint
FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers’ Davis started the race from the second row, one minute behind the XC1 riders, and managed to work his way into the overall lead on adjusted time by lap two and then the Pennsylvania rider ran down series points leader FMF KTM Factory Racing Ben Kelley, making up the one-minute deficit, to claim the overall win on the final lap.
Red Bear Rocky Mountain Kawasaki’s Steward Baylor carried a lot of momentum into the Hoosier GNCC after his win last month at Powerline Park. However, he was a bit under the weather this weekend. Baylor also needed to score some valuable points, having already DNFed a round and finishing 15th and 12th at two others.
Baylor started off right where he needed to, at the front, having grabbed a crucial holeshot as Flatrock Motorsports GasGas Factory Racing’s Jordan Ashburn and AmPro Yamaha teammates Evan Smith and Kailub Russell were left to fight the dust into the opening lap of the race. Meanwhile, FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers’ Angus Riordan and Davis led Honda’s Brody Johnson into lap one of the XC2 class.
Davis didn’t take long to take the XC2 lead from Riordan in addition to the overall lead on adjusted time, doing so on lap two.
Davis consistently turned the fastest lap times on the day and by lap three he was at the rear end of the XC1 riders and was starting to pick them off.
XC1 rider Evan Smith had the ride of his life, running second for the first two laps, although the AmPro Yamaha rider was picked off by Kelley on lap three, eventually settling for 16th in his class.
Baylor continued to lead until lap three, when he began to have clutch problems.
“Right off the bat, I had no clutch, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on,” said Baylor. “On lap four, I left the pit still in second, and I’ve got a quick connect on my battery as a backup system, and it came unplugged. Luckily, I diagnosed it and got back into the race in like P7. But I was struggling with the clutch. At that point, I was trying to ride a little more aggressively, and I went down hard in the field. I pulled my clutch in, and there was nothing. That was it.”
Smith inherited second but bobbled and lost considerable time, allowing Davis a chance to move up behind Kelley, Ashburn and Michael Witkowski. Davis continued to stretch his lead on adjusted time and catch up to the front-runners.
Davis passed Baylor during Baylor’s extended pit stop.
On lap five of the seven-lap race, the overall order stood at Davis, Riordan, Cody Barnes, Kelley and Liam Draper, all on adjusted time.
On lap seven, Davis made the pass on Kelley to take the physical lead and eventually the win. “Honestly, I’ve been working so hard all year, and I’ve been pretty pissed off the last couple races that I’ve been losing the overall wins,” said Davis. “But Ben just gives it to me that last lap every time, and these last two weeks I’ve just been working on myself, trying to figure out what I can do differently and get that win. I normally get up to the XC1 guys, take a breather, and then just try to start passing them. This time, I just got to Ben, and I was just hammer down. I was trying to get around him as fast as I could. I got about 10 seconds behind him, and then I took a little breather before catching up with him. And then I started getting a little gap on him. On that last lap, I hit a little water hole and completely ruined my goggles, so I had to swap my goggles. I ran the whole last lap without goggles.”
Kelley came away from the race leading the series standings by a single point, so he wasn’t too upset. “It was tough,” said Kelley. “I got a decent start and got into the lead somewhere in the middle of the race when me and Davis took a little bit of an outside line. He kind of spun out just enough to where I was able to just pin it. I think I caught him off guard. We kind of rubbed a little, but it was slow speed, so it was nothing major. I didn’t even expect to pass there. It just worked out since he slid out, and I was in a different line. I tried to charge from there. I felt pretty good, but those last two laps, I was struggling. The track was fast, rough and hard, and man, I was sliding and getting kicked and bucked all over the place. I did the best I could. I tried to push and pull away, hoping I could do something that last hour, but like I said, I struggled even worse. Once he caught me, you know, I just did my thing for a few more miles and eventually just let them by.”
Barnes and Riordan had a titanic battle all race. In the final turn, with Riordan in the lead, Barnes went for a gutsy pass but went down. Riordan ended up third overall, with Barnes in fourth.
“On that last lap, I closed the gap on Angus, and I tried to get by in a couple of places, but he held me off,” said Barnes. “It was kind of cat and mouse, and I kind of told myself, ‘Man, we’re just going to have to do a Hail Mary.’ I just ended up tagging his rear tire, and I ended up just going down.”
Draper put on a hard charge at the end of the race to finish fifth overall. Witkowski ran near the front early and finished sixth.
Factory Beta’s Josh Strang turned in a respectable seventh, with Flatrock Motorclub GasGas’ Jordan Ashburn in eighth.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong and AmPro Yamaha’s Kailub Russell rounded out the top 10.
GasGas-mounted Jonathan Johnson claimed his third win in a row in the FMF XC3 125 class. James Jenkins (Yamaha) finished second, but still maintains the class point lead. Jayson Crawford finished third on a Yamaha.
Red Bear Rocky Mountain Kawasaki’s Rachael Archer topped Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Korie Steede to win the Women’s WXC class. Newcomer Danielle Crawford (Yam) beat out GasGas’ Shelby Turner for the final podium position.CN
2025 GNCC Round 7 Results
OVERALL (Top 10)
- Grant Davis (KTM)
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Angus Riordan (KTM)
- Cody Barnes (Hon)
- Liam Draper (Yam)
- Michael Witkowski (Hon)
- Josh Strang (Bet)
- Jordan Ashburn (GG)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Kailub Russell (Yam)
Click here for all the latest GNCC racing news.
