On The Pegs February 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 2 | Page 61

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 2 - FEBRUARY 2020
61
STEWARD BAYLOR
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During the off-season, Steward Baylor and his brother Grant signed with
FactoryONE Sherco for the 2020 season, however, Stew and Grant didn’t get thier
race bikes until two days before the Sumter race, giving them only one day of
seat time before the race.
“Today was up and down,” said Steward. “We only had one day on these bikes.
We broke them in yesterday. It was a huge learning curve. I think we were a little
bit off. Coming into the first test, right before the race started, I told Grant, ‘We’ve
got to be a few seconds up going into test six.’ With that last section being the A-
only section, it’s a little bit tougher. Three or four seconds tougher, usually. Obvi-
ously I got smoked by twelve seconds (by Ben Kelley) in that test. I knew it was
going to be three or four, so I gave it everything I had all day.
“I had some big crashes. Like I said, we were just a little behind the eight ball.
With everything said and done looking at it with a new bike, new team, products
that I’ve never run before, I think we’re sitting as good as we could be.
“Obviously, I was on KTM for 22 years, ten of which professionally. It’s tough,
but everything was really relatable switching to the Sherco. I felt like I automati-
cally meshed with the bike. From now it’s just fine tuning.
“The biggest thing that I see is organization. This is a whole new team. It’s a big
learning curve for not just myself and Grant, but everybody involved. I know that
the organization is the thing that we’re lacking right now.
“As the season goes on, I think we can show just how good these bikes are.
Obviously a lot of people were wondering what we were going to do. To be
competing with Factory KTM all day long and leading and winning - I think we
won between Grant and I three out of six tests or something like that. Obviously
we can do it.
“I’m just looking forward to the next few rounds and rebound from this one
and hopefully come into the next round a little more prepared.” n