Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1489777
INTERVIEW I 2022 AMA NATIONAL ENDURO CHAMPION GRANT BAYLOR P76 test, I just went out and pushed the hardest I had pushed all day. I kind of tried to play it safe most of the day, just because of the cham - pionship. I knew it was make-it-or- break-it kind of deal. I ended up winning the day over my brother by less than a second. It was tight, and a stressful day for sure. But I was super happy to get it done." Baylor has grown up basi - cally in the shadow of his brother, Steward, but he attributes his successes to his older sibling, and this year, he overshadowed Steward, who was injured for most of the year. Grant and Steward have raced against each other at the elite level now for years. You would think there would be some, well, difficult moments between the two brothers, but Grant says racing each other hasn't been a problem. "I wouldn't say it's tough—rid - ing against my brother," said Baylor. "I always like to see him do well. If I'm not winning, I'd like to see him winning. That's what it's been the last five or six years. It's awesome to be able to share that with Steward. I would really like to see what would happen if both of us were healthy for a full season, because the last four- or five- years seasons, we've both been hurt, either one or the other. So, it would be awesome to see what it would turn out to be if we were both in the full series, 100 percent healthy every round. I would like to see how that plays out because I know this past year, if he wouldn't have missed those last two rounds, he probably would have been on the podium. So, you add those points in and he would have only been 10 or 15 points behind me at the end of the year. Every year we've been super close. If you take away the races I missed when I was injured, it puts me right there within 10 points of him in the championship. So, I think it would be really interesting to see if that can happen next year. Then these other guys are obviously stepping it up. Craig DeLong especially. He and Ricky Russell and Josh Toth really stepped it up this year. So, Grant says races are won in the corners, so he grew up practicing—you guessed it—cornering.