was probably the toughest part of the race. Any
time you got off-line it just took so much energy to
get back on-line that it sucked all the energy right
out of you."
Baylor came out on top of a race-long battle with
Ashburn to grab the runner-up slot. After passing
back and forth for most of the race, Baylor finally
took control of second place for good when Ash-
burn made a mistake on the hill called Stairway to
Heaven.
"Jordan got hung up on the big hill and I was
able to get by him, although there wasn't much
room to squeeze by," said Baylor. "This is probably
the toughest race I've ever done—it was brutal. It
was gnarly and hot and humid and in some places
you were riding along the tops of
bluffs and you just couldn't afford
to make a mistake."
Ashburn was happy to take the
final step of the podium, consid-
ering he didn't get off to the best
of starts.
"I was fifth or sixth heading into the woods and
then I hit a rock and it threw me into a tree, so I
was probably last among the Pros heading into the
first lap," said Ashburn. "I was able to make a few
passes and I finally got in behind Grant. He had a
good gap on me but I was able to catch him in the
tougher stuff and finally got by him. Me and Grant
swapped back and forth on the second lap, but
then I messed up the hill and he got around me for
second."
Ashburn's Beta USA teammate Nick Davis
passed Groemm on the final lap to secure fourth.
Despite letting Davis by on the final lap, Gro-
emm still managed to round out the top five.
Last year's Tough Like RORR winner, Ben Kel-
ley, suffered an unfortunate mishap on the open-
ing lap when he bent a front brake rotor and had
to ride the first lap without a front brake. The Trail
Jesters KTM rider swapped out his front wheel be-
tween laps and was able to salvage sixth overall.
Seventh went to local ace Jarrett Mohn on a
KTM, while Ohio's Nick Fahringer brought his
Sherco in for eighth.
SRT Racing Cory Buttrick and fellow KTM rider
Stephen Edmondson rounded out the top 10.
Shan Moore
1. Josh Toth (Yam) 2:43:22
2. Grant Baylor (Hus) 2:47:40
3. Jordan Ashburn (Bet) 2:47:48
4. Nick Davis (Bet) 2:55:22
5. Jesse Groemm (KTM) 2:56:22
6. Ben Kelley (KTM) 3:00:21
7. Jarrett Mohn (KTM) 3:15:18
8. Nick Fahringer (Shr) 3:21:24
9. Cory Buttrick (KTM) 3:24:57
10. Stephen Edmondson (KTM) 3:31:43
VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P37
Josh Toth added
the Tough Like
RORR race in
Pennsylvania to
his growing list of
accomplishments
this year.
