UNION, S.C. – The FMF KTM Factory Racing Team battled through the opening round of the 2021 AMA Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series on Sunday making the best of a tough start to the season. Teammates Ben Kelley and Josh Toth came into Round 1 on the mend from previous injuries but that didn’t stop them from bringing the intensity for three grueling hours to finish fifth and eighth, respectively, in the XC1 Open Pro class.

Kelley, who took a big hit to the knee two weeks ago at the AMA National Enduro Series opener, came into the weekend with some ongoing knee issues but he set the pain aside as he lined up for the first XC1 Open Pro race of the season. He put himself into a favorable second-place start, mixing it up early on before establishing himself out front by the end of the first lap. He led the first three laps before getting stuck in a mud hole later on lap three, where he lost the lead and about 45 seconds of valuable time as the crew helped him get unstuck. Dropping to seventh, Kelley had his work cut out for him but he slowly chipped away to bring himself back into podium contention during the final hour of racing. While running third, Kelley was plagued by a series of issues late in the race, including multiple crashes and mishaps with lapped riders, and his podium chances slipped away as he salvaged a top-five finish at Round 1.

Ben Kelley: “I was able to battle up front and lead some laps early on but on the third lap, I kind of got balled up with some lappers and took a bad line that got me stuck for almost a minute. I put my head down and charged back as best I could but I had a few more incidents that kept me off the podium. I rode really good and the bike was really good, I just had too many mistakes to stay up front.”