Steward Baylor Wins Alligator
National Enduro
A
fter Russell Bobbitt pulled a
surprise win last month at the
opening round of the Kenda AMA
National Enduro Series in South
Carolina, all eyes were focused
on round two, Alligator National
Enduro, in Ormond Beach,
Florida, March 24, to see if light-
ning could strike twice. However,
six tests and nearly 60 miles of
racing in the unforgiving Florida
sand set the record straight, as
defending champ Steward Baylor
claimed a familiar spot at the cen-
ter of the podium.
Bobbitt, though, proved his
round-one win was not as surpris-
ing as it seemed at the time by
taking a solid second ahead of
one of this year's breakout per-
formers, Evan Smith.
Muscles cramped and backs
ached as anyone who had not
been lucky enough to spend the
last few weeks at Speed Week
acclimating to the weather felt
the wrath of Florida's relatively
high temperatures and deceiving
humidity. Over 500 riders took
to the sandy trails for this year's
event.
Baylor dominated from the
get-go, as the Tely Energy
Racing-backed KTM rider won
the opening test by 15 seconds
over Smith. At the end of the day,
Baylor had won all six tests on his
way to a 1:23-second margin of
victory over Bobbitt on his Gnarly
Routes-backed KTM.
"I only made a couple mistakes
all day," said Baylor. "I felt like I
got better as the day went on. We
made some changes there going
into the last few tests. I knew the
IN
THE
WIND
P42
Steward Baylor won
every test en route to
the Alligator Enduro
win in Florida.
PHOTOS: SHAN MOORE
