On The Pegs July 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 7 | Page 51

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 7 - July 2020 51 After breaking his leg just before the opening round of the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series in February, FMF/KTM Factory Racing’s Josh Toth recovered enough during the four-month layoff to come away with an impressive victory at round two of the series, the Cherokee National Enduro, in Greensboro, Georgia, in his debut National Enduro race of the season. After a nearly four-month layoff, the Kenda AMA National Enduro Series resumed action in Georgia under beautiful conditions, with excellent trail, and abiding by “social distancing” and other preventative guidelines. Toth kicked off the event by winning the first four tests of the six-test, 70-mile race, and finished off the event with 46 seconds to spare over runner-up Grant Baylor on a FactoryONE Sherco. Toth skipped the series altogether in 2019, so the Cherokee marked his first Enduro in over a year-and-a-half. Toth felt good about performing so well after returning from injury. “It’s been a long road coming back from breaking my leg twice, and these are hard to come by, so I definitely cherish it,” said Toth. Toth had few problems during the first four tests, but things got tougher in the final two. “The fifth test I laid it over a couple times,” said Toth. “I kind of got the bike caught in some saplings. I ended up losing that test. But then going into the last test it was so tight. I just had a little mistake. I don’t know really what happened. Sent me into a big tree and wadded up. I had a big crash. The track was so tight and physical. At the end I couldn’t catch my breath. Once you stopped, the heat hit you so hard. I was really gasping for air and struggling to finish that last test. But luckily, I had a cushion and was able to get the win.” Baylor got off to a slow start to the day, and trailed Toth by a minute-and-a-half heading into the final test, but cut into that gap considerably with a clean and fast ride to finish off the day. “I spent the first few tests trying to find my flow early on,” said Baylor. “I made some adjustments to the bike about mid-race and it seemed to benefit and make the bike better. There towards the end of the race I started to improve my times a little bit. I actually ended up winning the last test there by a good chunk, but it wasn’t enough to get the job done. Just need to keep it consistent. We’re only two rounds into this thing, so keep it consistent and keep it on the box. That’s all we can do.” The surprise performance of the day went to Ryder Lafferty, who put his XC Gear/Enduro Engineering Husqvarna into third overall.