Five races and five winners in the 2023 Grand National Cross Country Series as Grant Baylor puts Kawasaki on top at the 2023 Camp Coker GNCC after an epic battle with Craig Delong for the victory – results and RAW video highlights.

The FMF Camp Coker Bullet at Moree’s Sportsman’s Preserve in Society Hill, South Carolina provided epic racing and intense heat “like florida” as GNCC Racing saw its fifth different winner in five races.

South Carolina born and bred, Grant Baylor brought Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green its first win of the season and his first win since the 2021 season.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong grabbed the holeshot and the early lead as the laps ticked past. Baylor G was on a mission though and began to reel Delong in and took the lead on lap five when the Husqvarna rider made a minor error.

The pair had an epic battle for the win from then on until Baylor had the pace and stamina in conditions, which looked more like Florida, to pull clear on the last lap for a 36 second gap at the flag.

FMF KTM’s Ben Kelley had a fairly lonely race in third and was among the riders saying they were suffering in the heat. Third place means Ben takes over the points lead in the National Championship standings again but this season is hyper-competitive and as the series heads north, there is no clear favourite.

Defending Champion and Magna1 Motorsports Husqvarna’s Jordan Ashburn finished just shy of the podium in fourth in the XC1 Open Pro class and fifth overall on the day. Babbitt’s Kawasaki’s Josh Strang who had worked his way up from an eighth place start to round out the top five in the XC1 Open Pro class at the FMF Camp Coker Bullet.

What happened to Stew?

Steward Baylor had one to forget as his brother claimed the win. With injuries plaguing the championship challenger still, his Rocky Mountain ATV MC/Tely Energy KTM might have looked sweet but mechanical issues were affecting his Camp Coker and with seemingly no points in the bag, he was forced him to retire after lap four.

Chile conditions suit Ruy

The XC2 250 Pro class win went to Phoenix Racing Honda’s Ruy Barbosa for the second race this season. Leading for most of the race, virtually unchallenged by the rest of the XC2 field, the Chilean clearly liked the conditions and claimed fourth scratch for his efforts in what was one of his best GNCC performances to date.

Trail Jesters KTM Racing’s Mason Semmens battled from seventh on the opening lap, steadily picking off the riders to make a last lap pass to take over second place in the class.

Phoenix Racing Honda had a good day with Cody Barnes narrowly bettering Coastal GASGAS Factory Racing’s Ryder Lafferty for the final podium position. FMF/RPM KTM Racing’s Angus Riordan would battle back from a 10th place start on the day to round out the XC2 250 Pro top five finishers.

Pro Class results

Archer tops three-way fight for female honours with Gutish and Steede

Trail Jesters KTM Racing’s Korie Steede took the WXC holeshot and the lead for the first two laps of the morning race at Camp Coker.

Company came a hunting though from both AmPro Yamaha’s Rachael Archer and GASGAS/Over and Out/RG Factory Racing’s Rachel Gutish.

Archer made the pass stick for the lead with Gutish tailing her with two laps remaining and they trio remained in position to the flag.

That’s thre wins and two P2s for Archer now who leads the points standings on 140 from Gutish on 117.

AM Race results:

Video Credit: On The Pipe Podcast

Photo Credit: Ken Hill