Steward Baylor Jr. Wins Lead Belt National Enduro

Steward Baylor Jr. grabbed his second win of the season with an impressive overall performance at this weekend’s Lead Belt Nationwide Enduro in Park Hills, Missouri – round seven of the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series Powered by FMF. The SRT Racing-backed Baylor won four of the 6 tests, claiming the win by 43-seconds over his brother, Grant, while series point leader Thad DuVall finished third, another no time back.

With the win, Steward carved 9 points out of DuVall’s lead in the series standings. With just two rounds remaining the South Carolina driver now sits second, just seven points out of first.

“We started off the first test with a win and that obtained me off on the right foot, ” said Baylor. “After two tests, I think me, Grant plus Thad were within three secs of each other, so I knew it had been going to be a fight today. Right after test three I had to make upward some time on Grant, but I got the test win in the last three exams and that gave me just the edge I needed. ”

Grant Baylor kept the lead after three medical tests, having won tests two and 3, but the KR4 Arrive-n-Ride rider struggled in the fourth test which resulted in a meltdown in test 5.

“It was really right racing early in the day and am felt like I was flowing really well with all the bike and I ended up winning lab tests two and three, but there after I kind of went downhill, ” said Grant. “In test 4 I caught up to Russell Bobbitt but I struggled with the dust and couldn’t get close enough to pass him. Then in the 5th test I just kind of fell aside, even though I managed to get second. To top it off, I put away any chance I had in the win in the last test when I took place. I came around this corner plus a vine wrapped around my front side wheel and I had to get off the bike to get it loose. If not for a few mistakes I might have been at the top step. ”

Points leader DuVall completed an amazing performance, finishing third lower than two weeks after tearing a ligament in his left wrist, which compelled him to drop out of this year’s Global Six Days Enduro in Italy.

“I flew home early from France and I got about five various opinions on what was wrong along with my wrist, ” said DuVall. “It was severe, but maybe not as severe as we thought. At first these people thought I needed surgery, but it turned out I didn’t need it, that was good. So I rode this weekend with a brace and salvaged the things i could. ”

DuVall was second-fastest in tests two, four and six, and came away with 3rd for the day, earning the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing off-roader twenty one valuable championship points.

“It was hard, ” added DuVall. “I seen in the last test I had to use 4 fingers to pull in the clutch. Since I probably wasn’t even supposed to be riding today, I guess third place is something to be happy about. ”

Grabbing his best finish of the year with a fourth was Ethics Acquisitions-backed KTM rider Evan Jones, who finished fifth at the final round and has been steadily enhancing as the year progresses.

“Today went well; I felt like I rode pretty much and I think I put in some constant times, ” said Smith. “I had a few falls and modified a few things on the bike however for the most part I kept it moving forward and I’m happy with our ride. It was pretty sketchy available and it was tough just keeping it on two wheels. ”

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Stock Racing’s Josh Strang was fifth, edging SRT Racing KTM’s Cory Buttrick by six seconds.

Seventh went to Trail Jesters KTM Racing’s Ben Kelley, who was making a rare national enduro appearance. Kelley got away to a slow start, finishing thirteenth in test one, but obtained stronger as the day wore on.

8th went to Solid Performance KTM’s Jesse Groemm, who topped AirGroup Racing/Enduro Engineering Husqvarna’s Thorn Devlin by just two seconds for the position. Along with ninth, Devlin also won the particular Rekluse Expert/AA division, wrapping up the particular series title in the process.

Rounding out the very best 10 was FMF KTM Factory Racing Team’s Russell Bobbitt.

Finishing second within the Rekluse Expert/AA division behind Devlin was KTM-mounted Logan Lowrey, who was also 13th overall. Meanwhile, AirGroup Racing/Enduro Engineering Husqvarna’s Tyler Vore was third in the Expert AA class and 15th overall.

“It seems good to wrap up the name, ” said Devlin. “It has been so dry out there and I understood if I went in tight I would be sliding all over the place so I tried to ride loose and it paid off. ”

Devlin is undefeated for the year in the Expert AA class, with seven straight wins.

Also wrapping up a title was Tayla Jones, who clinched the Women’s Elite championship on her KR4 Arrive-n-Ride Husqvarna with a ruling win in Missouri. Jones was also undefeated on the year with 6 wins. Second place went to Taylor swift Bonecutter on her Bonecutter Beta, whilst Yamaha-mounted Jennifer Sheppard was 3rd.

“I’m pretty stoked to wrap up the title, ” said Jones. “Last week I wrapped up the GNCC title, so it was great to add this one. It was a bit dry out presently there so I just tried to stay straight and not make too many mistakes, but We ended up having a good day. ”

The particular Open A class was won by Sam Mattingly, while the 250 A class was won simply by fellow Yamaha rider James California king.

The 2017 Kenda AMA National Enduro Series resumes action on October 15th for the Zink Ranch National Enduro, round eight of the collection in Sand Springs, Oklahona. To find out more on the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series check out www.nationalenduro.com.

RESULTS

OVERALL

1. Steward Baylor (KTM)




2. Grant Baylor (Hsq)




3. Thad DuVall (Hsq)




4. Evan Smith (KTM)




5. Josh Fluss (Hsq)




6. Cory Buttrick (KTM)




7. Ben Kelley (KTM)




8. Jesse Groemm (KTM)




9. Thorn Devlin (Hsq)




10. Russell Bobbitt (KTM)