Sunday’s Mud Mucker GNCC was one of the most highly anticipated season openers in recent history. Rocky Mountain ATV*MC/AmPro Yamaha’s Josh Strang shot out to grab the $250 All Balls Racing XC1 Holeshot Award, with AmPro Yamaha’s Paul Whibley and Rockstar Energy/WMR/KTM’s Ryan Sipes close behind. Incredibly, the riders who dominated last year’s championship, the Factory/FMF/KTM duo of Mullins and defending GNCC National Champion Kailub Russell, were down in a heap in turn one, complete with bent bars and parts sent flying everywhere. XC1 Pro Class contenders Steward Baylor and Andrew Delong were down as well, setting up drama-filled charges through the pack.

Mullins wouldn’t be denied, however. The 2011 GNCC champ quickly made his way from nearly last into the lead position by the second lap. From there, Mullins engaged in a heated battle with Whibley that lasted for nearly an hour, with Whibley, the two-time champion from New Zealand, getting the lead back. Down the stretch, Mullins made the right moves to get away, completing an impressive charge from down on the ground to the center of the Maxxis Victory Lane. Mullins also claimed an extra $150 by laying down the KR4 Performance Fastest Lap Award on Lap 2.

Whibley, who spent much of last year battling an injury, was happy to start the year with a solid second place finish. A furious battled for third emerged between Strang and RideMPS.com/AMSOIL/Honda’s Thad DuVall. They battled down to the final field section, with Strang grabbing the final podium position by less than one second.

DeLong and Baylor also put in strong comebacks to capture fifth and sixth overall. Whibley’s N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha teammate Jordan Ashburn was seventh, with Sipes, in his full-season GNCC debut, showing impressive speed and strength to score eighth place in the class. As for Russell, he, like Mullins, worked his way all the way back to the lead pack, but ran into mechanical problems on the muddy course. Fighting through the adversity and nursing it home for points, he salvaged fourteenth overall. Former Japan National Cross Country Series Champion and Pro Motocross/Supercross rider Takeshi Koikeda rounded out the XC1 top ten.

The XC2 Pro Lites Class was perhaps even crazier. KR4 Performance’s Shane Hufford was running the race of his career by leading most of the way after grabbing the $100 DigitalOffroad.com XC2 Holeshot Award. But Raines Riding University/OffRoadViking.com/Yamaha’s Ricky Russell made a run to the front. But the muddy course created a race of survival, and Maxxis/KLIM/DirtWise KTM Race Team’s Rory Mead, who was barely even hanging in the top five early on, steadily worked his way forward and snagged the lead on the next-to-last lap. Like Mullins in XC1, Mead’s patience and tenacity paid off with a win. Ricky Russell was second and Hufford nearly collapsed of exhaustion at the finish, but still took third in the class.

In the two-hour 10 a.m. race, the all-new WXC Women’s Premier class fell to Factory FMF/KTM’s Kacy Martinez, with Mandi Mastin and N-Fab/AmPro Yamaha’s Jessica Patterson rounding out the podium.