JOSH TOTH TAKES MUDDOBBER NATIONAL ENDURO


Story and photos by Shan Moore

Josh Toth: “I had a great day today at the enduro! I managed to sweep all six tests and win by a good margin, so I’m stoked with my ride. I rode smooth all day and really enjoyed the trails, it made for a fun day!”

FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Josh Toth returned to the center of the AMA National Enduro Pro1 podium with a flawless performance at Sunday’s Muddobbers National. He was joined on the box by teammate Ben Kelley, who came out on top of an intense second-place battle with Steward Baylor, Craig DeLong and Trevor Bollinger.

Ben Kelley: “I had a close battle for the second place spot going all day with three other guys. I rode really well but I had four crashes throughout the day that had me a little frustrated, but I’m happy to not lose too much time in my crashes and still pull off second.”

Steward Baylor came into the race with a 39-point lead in the series standings, and with just three rounds remaining, including the Muddobber, could be excused for looking at the big picture and riding a safe race.

“I talked to the team before I came up here and Randy (Hawkins) was pretty adamant that we just needed to cruise and make sure that we don’t make any mistakes,”said Baylor. “I felt like I was doing that, and then I had a really big mistake in test three, which put me off a cliff and I lost enough time that Craig (DeLong) was in sight of me. I rode really well to finish that test out. You obviously want to win, but today was the day where were all fighting for second and we were all really close.”

Craig DeLong jumped right into it, securing a third-place finish in the opening test. He swapped back and forth between second and fifth for the remainder of the day, which put him in the running for a podium position.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong has been on a hot streak lately and finished fourth overall to back up the third-place finish he had at the previous round. His teammate Trevor Bollinger is another rider making big strides in the national enduro series. Bollinger was just 11 seconds off his teammate DeLong for fifth. Despite losing his rear brakes in the sixth test, Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell turned in a solid sixth overall finish.

Trevor Bollinger “It was tight racing all day from second to fifth and it’s pretty frustrating to be on the losing side of this one. After two hours of racing, I ended up 17 seconds out of second, ultimately getting fifth.”

Former Supercross/Motocross ace Broc Hepler is showing interest in the Enduro series and rode a Husqvarna to seventh overall, which was also good enough to win the NE Pro 2 class. The Pennsylvania rider battled for most of the race with Trail Jesters Racing/KTM’s Jesse Ansley for the class win and ended up edging Ansley at the finish by eighth seconds.

Jesse Ansley, who won the first six NE Pro 2 races of the year, was disappointed at having his win streak broken, but his ninth-place finish was good enough to wrap up the NE Pro 2 Championship with two races remaining on the schedule.

With just two rounds remaining, Stew Baylor leads the series standings with 181 points, followed by Josh Toth with 150 and Ben Kelley with 146.

Enduro Engineering/Fly Racing KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker topped the Women’s Elite class after winning three of the five tests. Kawasaki-mounted Rachel Gutish won two tests to finish second, 27 seconds behind Tricker.

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Josh Toth (KTM)

2. Ben Kelley (KTM)

3. Steward Baylor (Yam)

4. Craig DeLong (Hsq)

5. Trevor Bollinger (Hsq)

6. Ricky Russell (GG)

7. Broc Hepler (Hsq)

8. Thorn Devlin (Bet)

9. Jesse Ansley (KTM)

10. Tanner Whipple (Kaw)

JOSH TOTH TAKES MUDDOBBER NATIONAL ENDURO

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