VOL. 53 ISSUE 24 JUNE 21, 2016 P41
who was making just his second
ride on a KTM sponsored by
Solid Performance Racing. The
New Jersey rider kicked off the
event with a win in test one and
then settled into a battle with
Grant Baylor for the final step of
the podium. Despite a tip-over
in test six, Groemm held on to
edge the younger Baylor brother
by 11 seconds for third.
"Grant and I were about five
seconds apart going into that
final test and I actually went
down at one point, but I just
tried to stay calm and push and
I was able to hold him off at the
finish," said Groemm. "This was
a pretty tough event with the
heat and the way the sand kind
of whooped up. It was one of the
toughest enduros we've had this
year."
Grant Baylor held on for
fourth, and the N-FAB/AmPro
Yamaha rider was not happy at
losing out on a podium in the
final test.
"Things started out good, but
it started going downhill pretty
fast," said Grant. "The fourth
test is where things started to go
wrong. Not sure what happened,
but I was crashing left and right
and just couldn't get it together."
Drew Higgins claimed his
best-ever national finish with
fifth. The Maxxis/RPM Racing
KTM rider is an up-and-coming
rookie who is slowly working his
way into the top-five.
Expert-AA rider Nathan Fer-
derer also turned in a personal-
best performance, putting his
Larson's Cycles Yamaha into
sixth overall and first in the
Rekluse-sponsored AA-Expert
division. KTM-mounted Jake
Froman finished second in the
Rekluse Expert-AA division
behind Ferderer while N-FAB/
AmPro Yamaha's Ryan Belue
was third.
Colorado's Ian Blythe put his
KTM into seventh after battling
with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
Factory Racing's Josh Strang
and AirGroup Racing's Nick Fah-
ringer for most of the day. Blythe
beat out Strang and Fahringer
by 22 seconds, while the Husky
duo finished tied on total time.
Strang wound up with eighth
while Fahringer settled for ninth.
In the Women's A/B class,
FMF/KTM's Kacy Martinez
dominated the class, finishing
seven-and-a-half minutes ahead
of former Women's champ
Shawn Davidson (KTM), with
Maxxis/RPM Racing KTM's
Rachel Gutish finishing third,
another two minutes back. CN
1. Russell Bobbitt (KTM)
2. Steward Baylor (KTM)
3. Jesse Groemm (KTM)
4. Grant Baylor (Yam)
5. Drew Higgins (KTM)
6. Nathan Ferderer (Yam)
7. Ian Blythe (KTM)
8. Josh Strang (Hus)
9. Nick Fahringer (Hus)
10. Tim Nienow (Hon)
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
NPEG
Despite suffering
mechanical problems,
Steward Baylor held on to
finish second.
Jesse Groemm,
back riding a
KTM, got on the
podium in third.
