VOLUME 56 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 P51
time I was behind going into the
final test, and each time I came
back and won. I know Grant had
some problems in that last test,
but I just went for it. I went into
that test, and I was like, you know
what? It's time to go."
Steward extended his lead in
the series standings to 36 points
with just three rounds remaining.
Grant can only hope for a minor
disaster on Steward's part or a
small miracle for him to have a
shot at his first title.
"The racing was tight all day;
we went back and forth a couple
of times throughout the day," said
Grant. "Then, in the last test,
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. I had about
a 23-second lead going into test
and ended up throwing that away
and losing the position to Stew-
ard. He rode really well in that last
test and rode really well all day."
Evan Smith claimed his fourth
podium of the season with a solid
third-place finish. The Husqvar-
na/Max Motorsports/FXR rider
was fourth fastest in the opening
test after a crash, but then he
finished third in the remaining five
tests.
"I had a pretty good crash may-
be half a mile in off the start. Kind
of scraped me up," said Smith.
"That reminded me how cautious
I need to be at this place; it kind
of set the tone for the rest of the
day. The first four tests suited me
pretty well. Every one of them I
came within ten seconds or so of
the win. So, I was able to keep
it tight. Then the last two tests
were pretty rocky and gnarly.
The Baylor boys always ride that
stuff really well. Going into the
last one, I knew there wasn't a
chance that I was going to catch
Stew, so I just played it safe and
made sure I rode to the end and
finished it out."
Thorn Devlin turned in an
inspired performance in the first
test, finishing third, just seven
seconds off the winning time.
The GasGas North America rider
kept his head in the game the
Grant Baylor took
second overall but
now has a lot of
work to do if he
wants to catch his
brother Steward in
the championship.
