VOLUME 56 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 22, 2019 P35
track, but I was still able to click
off the test win," said Grant.
"From then on, me and Steward
were pretty close, and he kept
me on my toes. This place has
never been the best track for
me, so I'm definitely happy to
come away with the win."
Coming into the race with
a 31-point lead in the series
standings, Steward had hoped
to wrap up the title chase a race
early, and he could have done
so by finishing ahead of Grant.
But Grant didn't pull any punch-
es and raced as if the title was
his to win.
"I should have wrapped it up
today; I had every opportunity,"
said Steward. "I made a lot of
mistakes throughout the day and
made some bad decisions on
setup in test three. Then I broke
my thumb in test four. In the last
test, I got turned around a mile
or so from the finish and lost a
good 15 seconds which is what
I needed to clinch the champi-
onship. It was a very frustrating
day, to say the least."
Husqvarna/Max Motorsports/
FXR's Evan Smith finished on
the third step of the podium for
the fifth time this year. Smith
won test four and was consis-
tently in the top five for the rest
of the day.
Beta USA's Mike Witkowski
turned in his best performance
of the season. He led the race
after the first two tests, having
won the grass track test that
started the event.
Ron Commo edged out Na-
than Federer by two seconds to
Steward Baylor will
have to wait for the
last round to wrap
up the title.
