VOL. 56 ISSUE 17 APRIL 30, 2019 P39
riders had to complete one test be-
fore going on to the next one. Each
test had to be ridden three times per
day.
Baker and Argubright found them-
selves relatively evenly matched on
Saturday in the five-mile test, but
the eight-mile test was all Baker and
his Six Five-O Racing/Mitas Tires/
Fasthouse-sponsored XC 300.
"I remember last year [at the AMA
West Hare Scramble round] being
super-comfortable with the hills,
knowing that there's not any rocks in
the dirt so you can go off the main
line a little bit and hold it wide open
through the grass and not have to
worry about crashing [from] hitting a
rock," Baker said. "I blew a couple
corners [on Saturday], but other
than that, really, didn't make any
mistakes except I smashed my ra-
diator up, and I had to change it out
on the second test of the first day."
Baker thought his weekend was
over early on Sunday when his bike
began running poorly and died in
the first test. Though it finally re-
started, both Argubright and Knight
sped past, and Baker limped it into
the finish. From there he headed
straight to his pit where he finally
discovered the aluminum connect-
ing tip at the top of the spark plug
was no longer attached. "I've never
seen that happen!" he said. "I put
a new spark plug in, and it ran fine.
I lost probably 30 seconds on that
(Left) J.T. Baker
rebounded after a
somewhat disappointing
first round to dominate the
longer test on Saturday
in Idaho. He took the
overall win. PHOTO: MARK
KARIYA (Right) A few
mistakes hampered Jacob
Argubright on Saturday,
but he eliminated them on
Sunday, going 2-1 for the
weekend and holding on
to the series points lead.
(Below) While no one
felt the need to change
tires, changing air filters,
however, was another
story. Third-place finisher
Josh Knight gets his
handled here.
