IN
THE
WIND
P38
SIPES WINS FULL GAS SPRINT ENDURO OPENER
T
he opening round of the 2017
Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro
Series, presented by PRI Power-
sports Insurance, was held at the
MotoVated Sports Complex near
Gaston, South Carolina, Febru-
ary 11-12, and Ryan Sipes made
his return from injury a victorious
one. Sipes, on the Coastal Rac-
ing Husqvarna, who is now fully
recovered from his broken arm
suffered in October, scored the
overall win after a back-and-forth
battle with Steward Baylor (SRT
Racing/KTM), at least that's how
it started.
Sipes and Baylor split the six
tests on Saturday, with Sipes win-
ning all three of the cross tests
and Baylor all three of the enduro
tests, with only four seconds
separating the duo at the end of
the day.
"It was back and forth all day
with Sipes," Baylor said. "It was
tight racing and it's good to see
Sipes back out here and doing
well. It was a tug of war; he would
get me in the cross test, and I
would fight my way back in the
enduro test. These races always
seem to come down to just a few
seconds and that's what makes it
exciting."
After the dust settled on Sat-
urday, Sipes was determined to
step up his game in the enduro
tests the next day. He spent the
remaining daylight hours walking
Sunday's enduro test and the
homework seemed to pay off.
On Sunday, Sipes won all six
tests and ended up sealing the
overall victory with 32 seconds
to spare over Baylor, who was
second in all the tests except for
the second-to-last test in which
he crashed.
It was a hard crash for Baylor,
but he managed to recover and
finish out the day with another
Ryan Sipes
got back to his
winning ways.
He topped the
opening round of
the Full Gas Sprint
Enduro Series in
South Carolina.a
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
SHAN
MOORE
