On The Pegs January 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 1 | Page 68
On The Pegs
Steward Baylor took on an ambitious schedule
in 2017, riding the Kenda AMA National Enduro
Series, the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series
and the Grand National Cross Country Series.
And despite falling sick mid-way into the year
with the Epstein-Barr Virus, the South Carolina
rider still managed to win two titles: the National
Enduro title and the Sprint Enduro title, though
they both came down to the final round.
Steward is no stranger to riding through sick-
ness and injury, and once rode a national enduro
three days after having surgery to staple a bro-
ken collarbone. On The Pegs spoke with the KTM
rider and got the scoop on how he managed this
year’s season.
You won the opening round of the national
enduro series in South Carolina. Do you feel like
you came into this year better prepared than you
have in the past?
I’ve won the opening round down there in Sumter
quite a few times. That was always one of my favorite
tracks, the race that I ride the best. I didn’t want to
say that that race really sets the tone for the season
because I’ve done it before, so it wasn’t necessar-
ily at that point that I thought that I could do it. But
after the GNCC win, I knew for a fact that I was better
prepared than I had ever been coming into a season.
Obviously the consistency in the first part of the year,
at least until I got sick, it definitely showed that I was
where I needed to be. Obviously the sickness defi-
nitely took me back down quite a bit. I still haven’t
100% rebounded from that, but that’s part of it.
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