Enduro Engineering's Josh
Toth narrowly missed out on
what would have been his sev-
enth-straight win of the year. Just
3.396 seconds behind Baylor Jr.,
Toth didn't give up the win easily.
He landed fourth through four of
the tests, while taking third in two
other tests throughout the day.
"[The race didn't go] as well
as I'd hoped, but it wasn't a bad
ride," Toth said. "The terrain was
so unforgiving out there. A lot of
big, loose chunky rocks floating
around. They can catch you off
guard. And with the dust being
so bad, it was tricky just to get
through clean and safe. I had a
couple of little spills and close
calls and just tried to be safe
and make it through and not do
anything stupid. Looking back,
hindsight is 20/20, where I could
have picked up three seconds."
Max Motorsports Husqvarna-
mounted Evan Smith took the
third spot on the podium, but it
wasn't without fighting through
pain all day. He rolled his ankle
before the race and had to battle
through that discomfort.
"I stepped out of the van this
morning before getting dressed
and rolled my ankle," Smith said.
"Thought I broke my ankle and
was about to go home before
the race started. My ankle is very
swollen in my boot right now. I
couldn't take my foot off the peg
all day."
Jonathan Johnson of South
Carolina dominated the NE Pro2
podium, taking the win by more
than 57 seconds aboard his
Beta. He got off to a strong start,
taking third through the initial
test. From there, he continued to
set a fast pace, clinching second
in test two. He kept the mo
-
mentum rolling for the final four
tests, taking the win in all four.
After a shoulder injury at the
prior round, which ended Grant
Davis' race day, he was moti-
vated to redeem himself at this
round. The KTM-mounted rider
started the day by grabbing NE
Pro2 test wins in the first two
sections. He slipped a bit to
take fifth and fourth through the
next two tests but battled hard
to score second and third in the
final two tests. His second-place
finish on the day awarded him
his seventh podium finish of
the season. The points leader is
WIND
IN THE
P64
Jonathan Johnson
topped the NE Pro 2
division in fourth overall.
