What It Takes to Win in the Woods

Moto Spy pays a visit to Kailub Russell as he takes on a round of the GNCC Championship.

The Grand National Cross Country Championship (GNCC) is America’s premier woods-racing discipline in the two-wheel world. With 13 rounds spanning the woodlands of the East Coast, the GNCC Championship pits some of the world’s best enduro riders against the elements, insanely rough tracks, and each other to determine a champion. Each race lasts around two hours, and with riders’ heart rates averaging around 180 bpm throughout, GNCC is a battle of attrition more so than just about any other form of offroad racing.

KTM’s ace in the hole in GNCC is a young North Carolinan by the name of Kailub Russell. The 26-year-old has three GNCC titles to his name, and seems on his way to a fourth so far in 2017. At round four in Camp Coker, South Carolina, Russell took Red Bull Moto Spy through yet another one of his winning weekends in GNCC.

GNCC racing is a game of finesse, and aggression. Gone are the days when a race could be won by just cruising around riding at half throttle the whole time. GNCC racers now are on a level of fitness and bike ability that closely rivals the stars AMA Pro Motocross — many GNCC racers are also professional caliber motocross athletes.

In fact, to the untrained eye, GNCC looks just like motocross, just in the woods. But the tracks and racing in the woods is a far cry from the 100-plus-foot jumps and deep, loamy soil of MX. GNCC riders are much more subject to natural terrain and elements seemingly designed to trip them off their rhythm, be they trees, roots, dust or extreme dirt conditions. It’s a discipline not for the faint of heart, as proven by Russell’s heart rate data from round one in 2017.

To most people, a dirt bike race is a dirt bike race. But racers who have set tread on a GNCC course know that it is a form of racing unlike any other. A fast pace, a technical and brutal race track and the heat and humidity that overtake the eastern United States all make GNCC an arena that separates the men from the boys, as just about any GNCC fan is sure to tell you.