Greensboro, GA (June 7, 2020) – After breaking his leg just before the opening round of the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series in Februrary, FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Josh Toth recovered enough during the four-month layoff to come away with an impressive victory at round two of the series, the Cherokee National Enduro, in Greensboro, Georgia, in his debut National Enduro race of the season.
After a nearly four-month layoff, the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series resumed action in Georgia under beautiful conditions, with excellent trail, and abiding by “social distancing” and other preventative guidelines.
Toth kicked off the event by winning the first four tests of the six-test, 70-mile race, and finished off the event with 46 seconds to spare over runner-up Grant Baylor on a FactoryONE Sherco.
Toth skipped the series altogether in 2019, so the Cherokee marked his first Enduro in over a year-and-a-half.
Toth felt good about performing so well after returning from injury.
“It’s been a long road coming back from breaking my leg twice, and these are hard to come by, so I definitely cherish it,” said Toth.
Toth had few problems during the first four tests, but things got tougher in the final two.
“The fifth test I laid it over a couple times,” said Toth. “I kind of got the bike caught in some saplings. I ended up losing that test. But then going into the last test it was so tight. I just had a little mistake. I don’t know really what happened. Sent me into a big tree and wadded up. I had a big crash. The track was so tight and physical. At the end I couldn’t catch my breath. Once you stopped, the heat hit you so hard. I was really gasping for air and struggling to finish that last test. But luckily, I had a cushion and was able to get the win.”
Baylor got off to a slow start to the day, and trailed Toth by a minute-and-a-half heading into the final test, but cut into that gap considerably with a clean and fast ride to finish off the day.
“I spent the first few tests trying to find my flow early on,” said Baylor. “I made some adjustments to the bike about mid-race and it seemed to benefit and make the bike better. There towards the end of the race I started to improve my times a little bit. I actually ended up winning the last test there by a good chunk, but it wasn’t enough to get the job done. Just need to keep it consistent. We’re only two rounds into this thing, so keep it consistent and keep it on the box. That’s all we can do.”
The surprise performance of the day went to Ryder Lafferty, who put his XC Gear/Enduro Engineering Husqvarna into third overall.
“It was pretty good,” said Lafferty. “It started out, I didn’t feel the greatest. Just struggled a little bit with the bike, just the front end kind of felt a little twitchy. Then we put on a different front tire. We went to the new Washougal 3 and it really helped out a lot. From there on out, it felt like I was pretty solid and I had some good times. Kind of battled my way back up to make up some ground on Grant. So I felt good.”
FMF/KTM’s Ben Kelley finished fourth in his first race since having shoulder surgery.
“Overall it was a good day,” said Kelley. “I’m overcoming a shoulder injury and I just got on the bike about two weeks ago, so it’s twelve weeks off and then two weeks of riding. I felt good and had fun. It’s good to get back racing, that’s for sure. Just happy to get the first one out of the way and test the shoulder. All was good. I had one good crash on it in the last test and it all feels okay. Just looking forward to keeping it going for the rest of the season.”
Fifth went to Gnarly Routes KTM’s Russell Bobbitt, who has spent most of his time recently, adventure riding.
“It was such a good Cherokee,” said Bobbitt. “The trails were perfect, perfect dirt. I rode my 300 today, pretty much my favorite kind of bike. So it was great. No crashes all day. The last test I think was brand-new and actually really tight. The dirt was actually like fertilizer. It was like dark brown. So that was really like a true, old-school kind of enduro testI think I got second in there and I think I got third in the second test. For riding a dual sport in the Rockies, leading up to this… I’m pretty stoked for the fifth on the day.”
Thorn Devlin finished a solid sixth overall, one-minute-eighteen seconds ahead of his Beta USA teammate Cody Barnes. Barnes also won the NE Pro2 division, coming from behind to nip eight overall finisher and second NE Pro 2 rider Craig DeLong on the Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna by 20 seconds.
Rounding out the top 10 were Phoenix Honda’s Jonathon Johnson in ninth and KTM-mounted Vincent Smith.
In the Women’s Elite class, MacKenzie Tricker took the overall win on her MEPMX/Fly Racing/Grizzly Peak/Travelers Rest Speedway/KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker took the win by 34 seconds over Sherco’s Brooke Cosner, with Beta USA’s Rachel Gutish finishing third, another 27 seconds back.
The Kenda AMA National Enduro Series returns to action on July 28 in Cross Fork, Pennsylvania, for the Rattlesnake National Enduro. For more information go to www.nationalenduro.com.
OVERALL RESULTS
1. Josh Toth (KTM)
2. Grant Baylor (Shr)
3. Ryder Lafferty (Hsq)
4. Ben Kelley (KTM)
5. Russell Bobbitt (KTM)
6. Thorn Devlin (Bet)
7. Cody Barnes (Bet)
8. Craig DeLong (Hsq)
9. Jonathon Johnson (Hon)
10. Vincent Smith (KTM)
