The 2022 Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Racing season finale would take place at yet another massively attended Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, Indiana. For those who may not know, GNCC events always draw pretty large crowds of racers and spectators alike. However, the Ironman is a unique beast that draws even larger numbers as it seems like everyone comes out to race one more time before the season ends, and the majority of the population of Crawfordsville comes out to watch it all happen. While most of the championships were already wrapped up, it didn’t keep the racers from putting on a pretty good show. Here’s a few notes from the weekend…
DRIEST IRONMAN IN A DOZEN YEARS!
For a lot of years, it always seems like Ironman has some really, really good conditions. At the same time, Ironman has seen some downright nasty conditions such as last year’s mud race that was really more of a “standing water” race. However, this year was the polar opposite of that as very little rain had fallen at the Ironman since it hosted the penultimate round of the the AMA Pro Motocross Championship in late August.
This left very dry and dusty conditions that would eventually leave the course full of deep, silty dirt that provided a unique challenge of its own. With these overly dry conditions, the silt will often fill in ruts and end up hiding them from view. When you’re out there racing, you’ll hit a spot that seems to be just loose dirt that will suddenly turn into a deep rut full of roots, so this is yet another aspect to keep the riders on their toes. Oh, and you have to make sure your machine finishes as well. Thankfully, GNCC regulars have become accustomed to making extra air filter swaps in these overly dry conditions.
Ironman has seen these conditions before, but that hadn’t came since the 2010 edition of the Ironman which also saw dusty, silty conditions throughout the entire weekend. While a couple of bridges have been added to the Ironman course since last year’s race, there are still a couple of creek crossings to contend with but compared to the normal axel-deep water in some spots, this year’s creek crossings seemed to be just a trickle!
MORE RACERS THAN THE REGULARS!
As we already mentioned, the Ironman always draws a lot of racers and many times there are some past champions and industry staff who take part to do some racing of their own. In fact, the series adds a special “invite only” industry class for some of these folks and this year it would yet again see a number of folks from various media outlets trying some new KTMs out. However, the industry class win would go to none other than the 2003 GNCC champ Barry Hawk, who borrowed one of the Coastal Racing GasGas machines (the team he manages these days) to best KTM sales rep Sam Chalk in second place and Dirt Bike Magazine’s Nic Garvin in third.
While KTM had a slew of guys test racing their new bikes, there were a few others racing that Industry class as well including Rockstar Energy Husqvarna truck driver David Rhine, who naturally raced a Husqvarna. Vital MX’s Michael Lindsey also joined in on the fun as he raced a Honda prepped by the guys at Phoenix Racing for a Vital feature. Outside the industry class, eight-time GNCC champ Kailub Russell would take the Sportsman A class and 10 a.m. race overall win on the brand new 2023 KTM 350 XC-F Factory Edition. Husqvarna brand ambassador Zach Osborne ran into some trouble but finished 115th overall, racing in the Sportsman A class as well. Also, KTM’s Marketing Manager from Austria, Giacomo Zappoli, came to the United States for the first time and borrowed one of the GNCC Staff Sweep Bikes to take the win in the Open C 25+ class. This is another one of the really cool things about the Ironman; you just never know who is going to jump in and do a little racing of their own!
ARCHER CLAIMS WXC CHAMPIONSHIP!
The chase for the WXC class championship proved to be a barn burner as it would come all the way down to the Ironman in a winner take all scenario between Rachael Archer and Tayla Jones. Throughout the entire season, Archer was incredibly fast but had a couple of freak issues that had hindered her results in several events. Jones also rode incredibly consistent as well, but a DNF and a couple off-podium finishes allowed Archer to stay within striking distance.
When the green flag flew, Jones would put her head down and try to run away with the race win and the championship. She would lead the opening two laps, even pulling out a 12-second lead over Archer by the second lap. However, on the third lap Tayla would end up losing a bit of time allowing Archer to not only find her way around her but also pull out a 12 second lead of her own. Unfortunately, Tayla would lose a ton of time on the last lap ultimately allowing Archer to pull away for the race win.
With the win, Archer would be able to secure the 2022 GNCC WXC National Championship. Archer came to the GNCC series from New Zealand in 2019 with the goal of claiming the WXC title. After finishing fourth in 2019, second in 2020 and 2021, Archer finally sealed the deal in 2022.
![Tayla Jones]()
Tayla Jones Ken Hill ![Rachael Archer]()
Rachael Archer Ken Hill ![2022 WXC Grand National Champion Rachael Archer]()
2022 WXC Grand National Champion Rachael Archer Ken Hill
WIDE OPEN IN THE PRO RANKS!
With the XC1, XC2, and XC3 championships already wrapped up prior to the Ironman, the door would be left wide open for new faces to step up and attempt to make one last splash before the season ends. Newly crowned GNCC National Champ Jordan Ashburn also announced that he would be sitting out the final round due to a nagging injury he had suffered at the previous race, marking Ashburn’s first missed race since Ironman in 2007!
Given the dry and dusty conditions, the best place to be early in the race would be out front controlling the race from the get-go. That’s exactly what Ricky Russell would do as he simply led the Ironman wire to wire to take the overall win and do so with a fairly comfortable lead for the entire race. First, he would lead Thad Duvall on the opening lap by nearly one minute! Steward Baylor Jr. would take over the second-place spot on lap two (as Duvall suffered bike issues and only finished one lap) but would still be more than a minute and a half down on Russell. Eventually, Stu would chip away at that lead as Russell would settle in, but still would end the day in second place and 43 seconds behind Russell. Craig Delong would come from fifth place on the opening lap, to fourth place on lap two, then eventually into third place through the final stages of the race to land on podium in third.
In the XC2 class, it would be a similar story as Lyndon Snodgrass put a cap on his championship run to lead the entire race and claim the class win. Liam Draper would end the day in second place, but Snodgass also pulled out a fairly sizable lead leaving Draper and third place finisher Ruy Barbosa battling to the finish with Draper edging out Barbosa for second by just three seconds. The XC3 class would see a first-time race winner as Dakoda Devore took the class win ahead of Jake Froman and Jason Lipscomb while 2022 XC3 champ, Brody Johnson would suffer a mechanical issue on the first lap, taking him out of contention.
![Ricky Russell]()
Ricky Russell Ken Hill ![Ricky Russell]()
Ricky Russell Ken Hill ![Thad Duvall]()
Thad Duvall Ken Hill ![Steward Baylor Jr.]()
Steward Baylor Jr. Ken Hill
WHY END ON A HIGH NOTE?
Many of the GNCC regulars were looking to end the 2022 season on the highest note possible as there are a number of team changes on the horizon and several top contenders still sidelined with injury. While there haven’t really been any official press releases yet, it sounds as if there will be major shake ups with some really high profile riders switching teams, machines, and more.
Without giving away too much information that is yet to be finalized and going in order of the final top 20 GNCC points it sounds like Ricky Russell, Josh Toth, Grant Baylor, Steward Baylor Jr., Liam Draper, Johnny Girroir, and Thad Duvall are all riders we have heard might have some sort of change for 2023. Now that the season has ended and a good number of the AMA Motocross and Supercross contracts are set, this is when you’ll start hearing about some of the changes for these guys.
With the year done and literally dusted, these guys will now find a little time off before going right back to work to get ready for 2023. However, this past season proved to be one of the weirdest in the history of the series and with guys like Ben Kelley, Trevor Bollinger, Thad Duvall, Johnny Girroir, Josh Strang, and Steward Baylor hopefully in for a full season in 2023, in addition to guys like Jordan Ashburn, Craig Delong, and Ricky Russell riding a wave of confidence after 2022, next season has the potential to be a really, really good one.
