August 2020 -- Vol 4 -- Issue 8 August 2020 | 页面 83

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 8 - August 2020 83
FactoryONE Sherco’s Grant Baylor came from way down the order to edge FMF/
KTM’s Josh Toth by the narrowest of margins to claim the victory at the Rattlesnake
National Enduro in Cross Fork, Pennsylvania, round three of the 2020 Kenda
AMA National Enduro Series.
Toth led the race at the midway point of the six-test event, but went into the
final test tied with Baylor, after Baylor made an intense comeback during the later
stages of the race.
Baylor turned in a very quick time in the final test, while Toth crashed, allowing
Baylor to take the win by just over five seconds.
“I didn’t start out the best,” said Baylor. “But I wasn’t too far off. In the first test
I think I was five seconds off the pace and it was mostly grass track. I just had
arm pump a little bit and wasn’t riding myself. After that, I went onto test two
and three and just was off the pace a little bit. I made a couple little changes to
the bike, made some suspension changes then swapped the tire. Put a different
compound tire on the back tire. I think my tests picked up about thirty seconds
per test. So, I went from losing by about fifteen seconds to winning by fifteen
seconds. It was just enough to edge Josh out there at the end. I edged him out
by about five and a half seconds for the overall, which is awesome and moves me
into the points lead for the championship, which is a first for me.”
Baylor was obviously happy with the win.
“In test five I had a really good run,” added Baylor. “Toth had me by 26 seconds
going into test five. I brought it down to just half a second going into the last test.
So I had the pressure on him going into that last test. I actually ended up falling
over in that last test and making a few mistakes. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get
him, but it was just enough to get the job done.”
The Rattlesnake Enduro marked the second race in a row where Toth lost the
lead in the final moments of the race.
“I started off just really consistent, staying top three in each test,” said Toth. “But
it was tricky with how dry it was in spots, and then also it was kind of wet, slick
with the black dirt. It was a really tricky track to find traction. It seemed to be really
tight this year. But overall it was super tight racing between a handful of us.
It came down to the last test between me and Grant. We were tied going into it. I
felt like I rode really good, but I ended up having one crash at the end and probably
would have been enough or really close. Either way, I put it all out there on
the last test and Grant was laying it down too, so props to him.”
Andrew DeLong, who won the 2014 AMA National Enduro Championship, put
his Phoenix Honda Racing into third overall, which was amazing, having not raced