Steward Baylor Jr Steals the Little Raccoon National Enduro Win in the Final Test

Round 7 of the 2023 Magna 1 AMA National Enduro Series presented by Moose Racing met in Southern Ohio of the 49th Annual Little Raccoon National Enduro. Wellston, Ohio has been dry most of the year and this created dusty conditions for the 70 mile enduro. Tight, flowing, technical single track was on the agenda in the hills of the coal mine country.

Coming out firing for the day was Monster Energy Babbitts Racing Kawasaki rider Grant Baylor winning both the first two tests for the day, despite having a big crash in test 2. Grant Baylor fell a little off the pace in test 3 allowing Coastal GasGas rider Ryder Lafferty to grab the test 3 win. Ryder Lafferty also was able to put in the fastest time for the 5th test ultimately landing him in the 3rd spot on the overall podium. “I have been dealing with some sickness this year and feel like I am finally on the upward trend and getting back to where I was before” Said Ryder. “It was some tight tests that we had today and I felt good, it felt like home.

Grant Baylor also was able to win test 4 and was carrying the lead into the final test of the day. “It was kind of a bummer to lead all day and give it up on the last test of the day.” Said Grant. “I had a branch across my goggles in the start of the last test and then biffed it and ended up in the dirt. Not a good way to start the last test, just tried to cruise it out to finish the day. All in all it was a good day with the points and I have a chance to wrap up the championship at the next round in Indiana.” Grant now holds a 37 point lead over second place Josh Toth and can mathematically wrap up the 2023 Championship a round early.

Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Tely Energy KTM rider Steward Baylor Jr seemed to be consistent all long but wasn’t able to grab a test win until the last test of the day in typical Stu fashion throws down the fastest time of the field to sneak past his competitors and take the overall win on the day. “I was not the fastest guy until the last test, but I knew I had to make up 12 or 14 seconds on Grant in the last test. I knew I was going into the last section down like that and I’ve done that a lot of times I have won a lot of my championships and races because of that last test” said Steward. “everyone talks about in Enduros that slower is faster, but when you gotta make up time like that there is no slower, its straight sending it. I knew if I went down and he got me at least I knew I was giving it everything I had.” Towards the end of the last test there was some technical ups and downs with some ledges and Steward hit some of those flat out and blind, as in never seeing the trail before. “I sent some things at the end of that last one and if I had seen them before I probably wouldn’t have hit them as hard. That’s the cool thing about Enduros and I think in those I got pretty lucky” said Steward. 

Steward won the day over Grant by just 9 seconds. Ryder Lafferty was another 16 seconds back in third place. Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna rider Craig Delon was 4th overall. Redbull Factory KTM rider Ben Kelley was 5th overall, Enduro Engineering GasGas rider Josh Toth was 6th overall. AM-Pro Yamaha rider Ricky Russell was 7th overall and Rockstar Energy Factory Husqvarna rider Trevor Bollinger was 8th overall, all from the NE Pro1 class.

9th overall and 1st in the NE Pro2 class was AM-Pro Yamaha rider Liam Draper. Liam has won every other race this season trading wins with GasGas rider Thorn Devlin. “It was a good day, I was a little worried how dusty it was going to be, but it was actually pretty good. I felt good all day and was a little bummed to see I lost the last test by 1 second to not have the clean sweep on the day” said Draper. Liam won each of the first 5 tests in the NE Pro2 class before getting edged out on the final test by Thorn Devlin who finished 4th in the class for the day.

Returning to the NE Pro2 podium was Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Tely Energy KTM rider Nathaniel ‘Bubz’ Tasha. Bubz said “I felt like I was riding good at the beginning of the day but my times were not that good. Then at the end of the day I didn’t feel as good but the times were good. Maybe I need to turn it back 5% or so to go faster.” Bubz was 2nd in the NE Pro 2 class and 11th overall behind Factory Beta rider Evan Smith from the NE Pro1 class in 10th overall.

12th overall and 3rd in the NE Pro2 class was Reiner Pump GasGas rider Hunter Bush. “after getting my first podium in Pennsylvania it was a big confidence boost for me. I have been working hard since then to make sure I get up here once again” said Bush.

Winning the Womens Elite overall for the 2023 Little Raccoon National Enduro was Enduro Engineering GasGas rider Mackenzie Tricker. Mackenzie won 3 of the 5 tests to win by just over 1 minute. “I started off pretty good, I usually start off pretty slow but today was good. Then I won a few tests until test 4 where I had a pretty good crash and busted my lip and I thought I threw it away” said Tricker. In the end she still was able to edge out Over and Out GasGas rider Rachel Gutish in second and GasGas rider Brooke Cosner in third.

The top AA rider for the Ohio round was GasGas rider Jhak Walker. Overall A rider was Zack Toh on a KTM. Overall B rider was James Jenkins on a Beta and Overall C rider was Luke Praksti on a KTM.

The National Enduro Series continues on October 1st for the Muddobbers National Enduro at the Cumberland Covered Bridge in Matthews, IN.

Overall Top 10

1)      Steward Baylor Jr- KTM

2)      Grant Baylor- Kaw

3)      Ryder Lafferty- Gas

4)      Craig Delong- Hus

5)      Ben Kelley- KTM

6)      Josh Toth- Gas

7)      Ricky Russell- Yam

8)      Trevor Bollinger- Hus

9)      Liam Draper- Yam

10)  Evan Smith- Bet