2022 AMA National Enduro Series
Round 8
Matthews, Indiana
October 2, 2022
REV Motorsports GasGas’ Grant Baylor claimed his fourth win of the series and third in a row at this weekend’s Muddobber’s National Enduro, round eight of the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series in Matthews, Indiana.
Grant won three of the six tests en route to a 35-second margin of victory over FMF/KTM’s Josh Toth, and backed it up by finishing second-fastest in the remaining three tests. Before the race, Grant admitted that the Muddobber’s course is one of his all-time favorites, although he didn’t get off to the best of starts.
“I went down once in the first test and came out of there five seconds behind Toth,” said Grant. “Then I went down again crossing a log in the second test and again in the third. I think those were my only tip-overs throughout the day, so after that, I won the rest of the tests and brought it home. I just kept it smooth and tried to keep it on two wheels after those first three tests.”
Grant still had a small slipup in test five, when he over-shot a corner on an off-camber and got stuck. “I had to get off and had to push my bike back up onto the track,” said Grant. “But other than that, it was a really good day for me. I knew it was going to be one of those days where smoother would be faster, instead of trying to go fast, just because of how dry it was, so I just tried to keep it smooth.”
With the win, Grant extended his lead to 34 points ahead of his brother, AmPro Yamaha’s Steward Baylor, in the championship points, giving him more than a full race cushion with just two races remaining in the series (30 points are awarded for a win).
Should Grant hold on and win the title it will make six straight years that one or the other of the Baylor brothers has won the national enduro title. Steward has won it four times, while Grant won the title in 2020.
“I’ve never been in this situation, where I had the chance to wrap it up early,” said Grant. “I think where I’m sitting now, I should just be able to go to this next one in Tulsa and kind of ride it home and hopefully wrap it up. If I do, I do, and if I don’t, I don’t. But that’s kind of how I went about the day as well.”
Josh Toth won the Muddobber’s race in 2021. The FMF/KTM rider came into the race with a lot of confidence and eyeing the $6000 bounty that Enduro Engineering was offering to anyone who could win all six tests. Toth got off to a good start, winning the opening test of the day, but a crash in test two ended all hopes of collecting the bounty.
“Winning the first test felt good, it was a pretty clean test overall,” said Toth. “In test two, though, I just had a couple mistakes and went down twice. That was kind of the story of my day. I rode good and then I just had a couple of freak incidents where it just cost me time. I ended up hitting my head real hard, actually, at the end of test one, on tree we were going under. I just didn’t see it and it hit right on the top of my head. And then I had kind of the same situation in test five. It got lower towards one side of the trail and I got too close to the low side and just had no room for my left handlebar to go, so it just clobbered my hand and pushed my handlebar back into me and looped me out. It was kind of frustrating with a couple freak things like that, but overall it was a good day. I felt good on the bike.”
Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell landed on the podium for the second race in a row, his third-place finish at the Muddobbers giving him back-to-back third-place finishes in the series.
“I knew it was going to be hard pack and slick, so I came up early and rode a lot, so I was prepared and I felt good,” said Russell. “I started off strong and was right in the mix all day.”
Russell made what he called a “stupid” mistake in the fifth test, which he admitted “kind of killed me”. “Even with all that, I wasn’t that far off, so I was happy that I was able to salvage a decent test after making that many mistakes,” said Russell. “Me and Toth were only seven seconds apart there, and then he pulled another seven on me. So, then the last one, I pulled seven back on him, but he still beat me by seven for second place. But Grant was kind of checked out.”
Am Pro Yamaha’s Steward Baylor had a rare off day, admitting the Indiana course was never one of his favorites.
“I just struggled,” said Steward. “Today Grant and Toth were riding well, which they always ride well here. And this is one of those tracks where Russell has done well in the past, as well. My results didn’t show it, but I rode I think the same as I have in the past here. This just hasn’t been one of my strongest tracks.”
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig Delong has been flirting with podium finishes all year and grabbed a runner-up finish two races ago in Ohio. However, a bad choice of tires slowed the Pennsylvania rider in the opening test in Indiana and after swapping tires to start the second test he was consistently around fifth the remainder of the day for fifth overall.
“I didn’t really realize how dry it was, so I kind of stuck with my normal setup for tires, which was a little bit off for how dry the course was,” said DeLong. “I thought it would have been okay, but it was drier than I expected, so I struggled a little bit with the feeling I wanted in the dry, slick, hard pack dirt. Overall, I was a little off the pace in the first test. Then I made a change for the second test, which turned out to be a better choice and I was just kind of in that third, fourth, fifth place area. Overall, I just struggled a little bit with lappers with where I could catch them on the course. It just seems like where I would catch them would just be bad spots. I was a little frustrated because of that, so I kind of had a little bit of anger. I tried to carry that throughout the day and just turn it into good results. I had a couple little tip-overs and that kind of cost me a little bit. Other than that, it was just a good day. I was able to make up some points and we’re still healthy, so that’s always good.”
DuVall was super consistent, with 6-7-7-7-7-7 finishes for the day to finish sixth overall.
“I skipped Michigan just because I wasn’t sure how the hip would be after the first GNCC,” said DuVall. “I think I just need to get more aggressive, I was just riding too comfortable, still kind of nursing the hip a little bit. It’s still not 100 % but It was still a good day. I rode really good, I just didn’t really get out of my comfort zone like I should have to really be challenging those guys.”
Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Jesse Ansley returned to racing after missing most of the year with a injury and came away with a decent seventh overall finish. Meanwhile, Beta USA’s Evan Smith was a second-and-a-half behind Ansley for eighth overall.
Steel City Honda-rider Ben Nelko topped the NE Pro2 class with ninth overall, beating out Kawasaki-mounted Ben Herrera by a single second.
“The day started off kind of iffy,” admitted Nelko. “I got beat by like 15 seconds first test. Then just did a couple changes. I think I won maybe three tests on the day. It was good, though. The dirt was super dry, dusty. So, the field sections were dangerous. You had to slow up way early because you didn’t really know when the turn was coming. But in all in all, it was a good day. Won by a second and extended the points lead a little more.”
Magna1 Racing Husqvarna’s Brody Johnson finished one second behind Herrera for 11th overall and third in the NE Pro 2 division.
Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ryder Lafferty, who led the series standings at one point, got tangled in some barbed wire in test three and took considerable time to get going again, which left him in 12th overall.
Enduro Engineering/Fly Racing KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker won the Women’s Elite class, topping AmPro Yamaha’s Rachel Archer by nearly two minutes.
“I had a really good day,” said Tricker. “I felt good on the bike and I felt confident in the dust so I just was able to make good time.”
GasGas’ Brooke Cosner was third in class, ahead of Beta’s Tayler Bonecutter.
Gavin Sievenpiper (KTM) topped Trevor Maley (KTM) and Mitchell Owenby (Hsq) to win the AA class. Meanwhile, Magna1 Motorsports Husavarna’s Chase Landers took the win in the 250 A division over Jhak Walker (GG) and Zack Toth (KTM).
The Kenda AMA National Enduro Series resumes on October 16th for the Zink Ranch National Enduro, round nine of the series in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. For more information go to www.nationalenduro.com
OVERALL RESULTS
1. Grant Baylor (GG)
2. Josh Toth (KTM)
3. Ricky Russell (GG)
4. Steward Baylor (Yam)
5. Craig DeLong (Hsq)
6. Thad DuVall (Hsq)
7. Jesse Ansley (KTM)
8. Evan Smith (Bet)
9. Ben Nelko (Hon)
10. Ben Herrera (Kaw)
