On The Pegs October 2019 -Volume 4 - Issue 10 | Page 52

On The Pegs Grant came into the Missouri round having won the previous 14 tests in a row, dating back to the final two tests of the Cherokee Enduro. After winning the first two tests of the Lead Belt Enduro, Grant looked poised to continue his domination. “The racing was tight all day; we went back and forth a couple times through- out the day,” said Grant. “Then in the last test it got really rocky and gnarly. Right off the start we went down the river, through the waterfall section. As soon as I hit the biggest drop, my bike decided to just flame out and die right there on the face of it. So I dropped off about six foot straight down into the water. That was how I started my last test, and that’s about how it went for the rest of the last test there. I ended up throwing away my… I had about a 23-second lead go- ing into test, and ended up throwing that away and losing the position to Steward. He rode really well in that last test and rode really well all day. He was just right there on my heels all day.” Evan Smith finished almost two min- utes behind Grant for third, however, the Husqvarna/Max Motorsports/FXR rider has consistently been the “next best” performer after the Baylor brothers all year. Smith rounded out the podium despite starting off the event with a big crash. “I had a pretty good crash maybe half a mile in off the start. Kind of scraped me 52