sistent, but it was a lot of work
riding three series this year. The
Sprint series an incredible series
and it takes a lot of different skill
sets to win in this type of racing,
which is why I like it. I don't think
anyone has won multiple titles
in the same year except Kailub
Russell, and he won a GNCC
title and a National Enduro title
in the same year, so I'm super
excited to be able to do this.
"Jordan and I had a heck of a
battle at almost every race this
year. He would win one day and
I would win the other. It's tough
lining up every race knowing
you're going to have to give it
absolutely everything you've got
and it still comes down to the
wire, but that's what makes it
fun. I'm looking forward to com-
ing back and riding this series
again next year, it's gonna be a
lot of fun."
Sipes, who is a former profes-
sional supercross racer, kicked
off Saturday's event with a big
win in the cross test, beating
JCR Honda's Trevor Bollinger
by four seconds and Baylor by
nearly 14 seconds.
Integrity Acquisitions-backed
KTM rider Evan Smith won the
second test—an enduro test—
beating Baylor's SRT Racing
teammate Cory Buttrick by a
little over a second, while Baylor
was now starting to get up to
speed, finishing three seconds
off of Smith's time.
Sipes wound up winning
all three of the Cross tests on
Saturday, while Baylor came
on strong at the end of the day,
winning two of the three enduro
tests, with the third one going to
Smith.
Sipes won Saturday's round
with a time of 36:12.051, edg-
ing out Baylor by 6.4 seconds,
and giving the Husqvarna rider
a slight cushion in the fight for
the overall results heading into
Sunday.
Smith was third on Saturday
with a time of 36:21.188, while
Ashburn (36:31.424) and But-
trick (36:32.232) rounded out
Saturday's top five.
On Sunday, Sipes once again
dominated the cross tests, win-
ning all three of them, however,
Baylor managed to stay a little
closer to Sipes' times, mak-
ing the battle for the win a tight
one. Baylor managed to win an
enduro test, while Sipes finished
second, fourth and third in the
three enduro tests. In the end,
Sipes took the overall victory by
24 seconds over Baylor, with
Smith finishing less then three
seconds back in third.
Buttrick finished off the week-
end in fourth overall, edging out
Ashburn by less than a second.
"I knew I had to beat Steward
in order to win the champion-
ship and we just came up a little
short," said Ashburn. "My times
in the cross test were good and
I was finishing ahead of him, but
I had a couple of bad enduro
tests and that was the bottom
line."
FMF KTM Factory Racing's
Russell Bobbitt rode a steady
race to finish sixth, while Trail
Jesters KTM Racing's made the
drive from Connecticut to finish
seventh.
Anthony Frederico finished
out the weekend in eighth.
Meanwhile, Bollinger crashed in
the cross test on Saturday and
injured his hand and shoulder,
VOL. 54 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 14, 2017 P37
Steward Baylor wrapped up
the 2017 Kenda Full Gas Sprint
Enduro Championship.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
DARIN
CHAPMAN
