Shan Moore | January 15, 2023
We catch up with the man called Grizzly, the 2022 AMA National Enduro Champion Grant Baylor.
They don’t call Grant Baylor “Grizzly” for nothing.
Words and Photography by Shan Moore
Grant Baylor was deer hunting in Missouri on the Saturday morning of the Oklahoma Enduro. The next day, he wrapped up the 2022 AMA National Enduro Championship with one round remaining on the schedule. Obviously, the South Carolina native knows how to juggle relaxation with work and still stay focused on the task at hand.
Nicknamed Grizzly, as much for his appearance as for his riding style, Grant claimed his second National Enduro title in the last three years, while his brother, Steward, has won every other year since 2017, which means between the two, they have accounted for the last six National Enduro titles in a row. That’s quite a domination for one family.
The Baylor brothers, Grant and Steward, have dominated the U.S. National Enduro scene for the last six years, with Grant nabbing his second title in 2022.
In 2022, Grant beat the factory teams riding as a privateer with the help of Rev Motorsports GasGas and co-owners Chad Sweitzer and Craig Hol. Up to that point, it had been a turbulent couple of years.
“In 2021, we thought we were sponsored by [brewing company] Yuengling,” said Baylor. “But then we roll into the first round of the season, and Yuengling calls up and goes, ‘We don’t sponsor anybody as far as motorsports events go,’” said Baylor. “It turns out, Yuengling is against any racing events. So, that kind of caused a little bit of drama and stress at the beginning of the year. Apparently, somebody reached out to us and sent us a deal that was supposed to be with Yuengling. It was a full-on, legit-looking contract they had forged. [Someone] had it fake notarized and all the signatures were forged. For me, at the end of the day, I still just had to go ride my dirt bike. So, this year [2022], basically without much outside help, Chad and Craig stepped up and made good on their commitment, and we were able to win the AMA National Enduro title.”
But 2022 didn’t get off to such a great start for Grant, either.
“At the first National Enduro round in Sumter, I finished eighth,” said Grant. “I just had caught Covid for the first time, three weeks before the race, and it just kept me off the bike leading up to the race. I wasn’t able to ride; I wasn’t able to train like I wanted. Then when the time came for the race, I rode a little bit on the Thursday before the race. Then I tried to save myself for the race, but I just didn’t feel very good. I wasn’t expecting a great result, so I just salvaged what I could. After that, I regrouped.”
After a couple of runner-up finishes, Baylor went on a run that saw him win five of the next six rounds.
“I went over to Six Days one year and it just kind of clicked for me. I was watching those Euro guys, and I’m like, man, I got to figure it out.”
“I started out slow and wasn’t really ready at the first race, but then the second race in Virginia, I finished second there behind [2021 GNCC champ] Ben Kelley,” said Baylor. “He kind of smoked me that day. I beat him at one test but that was it. Then at round three, I finished second again. Then after that, I went on a roll, winning five of six.”
Of the six rounds, round five, the Rattlesnake Enduro, had Baylor a bit, well, snakebit.
“I think the Rattlesnake messed with my head because I had crashed there in the past,” said Baylor. “I’ve had three pretty big wrecks there. One time I dislocated my shoulder and knocked myself out. Then last year I separated my shoulder, and it took me out for the rest of the season. Then this year I wrecked a couple times really hard, and it sort of took me down and hurt me. I ended up just playing it safe for the rest of the day and I rode it in for fourth.”
Injuries have slowed Grant’s progress the last few years, but everything stayed together in ’22.
Enduro Engineering/XC Gear/ Husqvarna’s Ryder Lafferty had been Baylor’s main competition up to that point, but he, too, had a bad race, and finished sixth.
“That was like a turning point for me,” said Baylor. “I saw that Ryder had been consistent on the podium up until then. I knew that was my time to capitalize and make a point and put myself back up there in the front. I knew I needed to be up there in the front. I’ve always been up in the front in enduros for the last four or five years here. It’s more just a mindset thing. I had to get myself in the right mindset and just believe in my ability to do it and make it happen. So, I really just pushed hard that second half of the season once I saw that door opening for the championship.”
Even though Baylor was on a roll, it was still tough sledding.
“I had a really good couple of rounds there; the guys were always close,” said Baylor. “Even though I won those four in a row, I think Georgia I won by a good margin, but other than that, the other races I was just a few seconds ahead of those guys for the overall. So, those guys were really pushing it. I was giving it my all, as well.”
Grant clinched the title at the Oklahoma round.
“Going into Oklahoma, I knew I had a shot to wrap it up. So, that was my goal, to wrap it up a round early. I was super happy to achieve that goal. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get it done that day because of the level everybody was riding. Going into the final test, I had the lead by I think a second and a half over Josh Toth, and I ended up winning by just under a second. It was super close.
“If I would have fell over one time in that last test, I could have gone from first to fourth. That was a lot of pressure because that was either I win the championship that day or I have to bring it home at the last one. You never know what can happen. I can go all year without any issues and then the last race, have a bike issue or something, just a freak accident. You never know. So, I really wanted to get it done in Oklahoma. That last test, I just went out and pushed the hardest I had pushed all day. I kind of tried to play it safe most of the day, just because of the championship. I knew it was make-it-or-break-it kind of deal. I ended up winning the day over my brother by less than a second. It was tight, and a stressful day for sure. But I was super happy to get it done.”
Baylor has grown up basically in the shadow of his brother, Steward, but he attributes his successes to his older sibling, and this year, he overshadowed Steward, who was injured for most of the year. Grant and Steward have raced against each other at the elite level now for years. You would think there would be some, well, difficult moments between the two brothers, but Grant says racing each other hasn’t been a problem.
“I wouldn’t say it’s tough—riding against my brother,” said Baylor. “I always like to see him do well. If I’m not winning, I’d like to see him winning. That’s what it’s been the last five or six years. It’s awesome to be able to share that with Steward. I would really like to see what would happen if both of us were healthy for a full season, because the last four- or five-years seasons, we’ve both been hurt, either one or the other. So, it would be awesome to see what it would turn out to be if we were both in the full series, 100 percent healthy every round. I would like to see how that plays out because I know his past year, if he wouldn’t have missed those last two rounds, he probably would have been on the podium. So, you add those points in and he would have only been 10 or 15 points behind me at the end of the year. Every year we’ve been super close. If you take away the races I missed when I was injured, it puts me right there within 10 points of him in the championship. So, I think it would be really interesting to see if that can happen next year. Then these other guys are obviously stepping it up. Craig DeLong especially. He and Ricky Russell and Josh Toth really stepped it up this year. So, next year is going to be a tough year, a challenging year with all the guys going really well. I’m looking forward to it.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s tough—riding against my brother. I always like to see him do well. If I’m not winning, I’d like to see him winning.”
Do the Baylor brothers have a secret as to why they have dominated the series for the past six years? Grant chalks it up to experience and their upbringing on motorcycles.
“I really don’t know what the key is,” said Baylor. “I grew up always riding in tight trails like that. I grew up training a lot on an S-track, which is what we called it. We had a track that ran down a power line that went roughly a minute down and a minute back. So, straight down the power line and straight back, just S-turns back and forth. Every corner was a little different. Some were tighter. Some swept more and some had deeper ruts. It was good practice to learn almost every turn you would see in a race.
“Most racers know that races are won in the corners. That’s where you make up your time. So, if you can go fast around a corner, you’re going to be the fastest guy on the track. My dad always had us on the S-turn track since I was about 10 or 11 years old. I did that all the way up through my XC2 career, although I haven’t been on that track the last four years now or so. I think that track did help a lot with those tight turns and just having your balance and just being one with the bike. That’s what it’s all about. Just making everything connect. Never losing time. You don’t ever want to lose time in the enduros. That’s my view on it, I guess. Just always keep everything going forward. I feel like that track had me prepared for anything in any moment.”
Grant says races are won in the corners, so he grew up practicing—you guessed it—cornering.
Having his brother to push him obviously helps a lot, too.
“We’ve always pushed each other,” said Baylor. “I always want to do better than he does, and I’m sure he wants to do better than I do. We also grew up racing in the South here, it just seems like the local series has tighter trails compared to the other local series I’ve run up North. Maybe that helped as well, with the features all being cut by hand. I grew up riding a lot of trails like that. “
Despite all the injuries, Baylor doesn’t think he takes any more chances than any other rider.
“I’ve been racing for 22 years, and out of the 22 years I’ve been racing, I’ve broken one bone,” said Baylor. “I’ve dislocated both my shoulders, though. The issue with me is I was riding with a dislocated shoulder injury, and I wasn’t getting it fixed for the first two years; 2016 and 2017, I rode with my shoulder just popping out at random points. I would fall down, and it would pop out, or it would pop out while I was sleeping. Just anytime.”
In 2019, Baylor broke his hand about halfway through the season but still rode in Indiana. “It was super muddy that day,” said Baylor. “We threw a Rekluse on the bike and kind of thought I would just kind of hold on and not clutch it for the day and round it out. Turns out, my mechanic put the wrong bolts in the clutch there and ended up chewing a hole through the outer clutch cover and locking my engine up. I think it was after three or four tests. But I was running in the top five overall. We’ve always kind of ridden with injuries. That was my experience dealing with the injuries. After that, I’ve been healthy. I just had some struggles with the team in 2020 and 2021. I still was able to win the championship in 2020, but it’s just been a struggle the last few years.”
Grant won the 2022 National Enduro Championship riding a privateer GasGas. This year, he’s got factory backing from Kawasaki.
In addition to being wicked fast in tight woods, the Baylor brothers are just two of a handful of riders who can ride a 450 in the tight stuff.
“Back in 2014, I was in XC2 and running a 250 two-stroke, and then I would run the following weekend in enduros on the 450,” said Baylor. “That was at that time I was with KTM, and they also had the 350. I had ridden all the bikes and for me at that point, it was down between the 300 two-stroke and the 450. So, obviously I like the power of the 450 when it came down to those two bikes. I had ridden all the bikes and tested them all. I rode the 350 in the tight woods. The 350 feels light in the tight woods. It feels nimble. You can throw it around back and forth underneath of you really easy compared to the 450. But just doing lap times, and the way I felt on the bike, I just felt way more consistent, and my times were more consistent at the time on the big bike. I believe I was just faster all around on the 450. So, I went the way that I felt comfortable. I’ve never looked back since then. I’ve been on the 450 ever since.
“I remember that year in XC2. I didn’t even ride my two-stroke during the week. I’d go home and I’d ride the 450 the whole week, head to the GNCC, rip the two-stroke, and then just felt like I didn’t have anything underneath me. I felt like I was the man on the 450. I could just hold it wide open and throw it around, do whatever I want. Ever since then, I’ve been a 450 guy. I like it in that low power range and kind of lug it and keep the wheels rolling.”
Baylor has adapted his style over the years to be smooth on a 450.
“The way that the whole chassis tightens up,” said Baylor. “The higher you rev the engine, the tighter your chassis gets. I like to just ride that thing super smooth. That way my whole bike is working properly, like it should. The suspension is working and everything. The first two or three years I rode the 450 pretty hard. I used to rev it to the moon and bounce it off the rev-limiter here and there.
But Grant learned a lot when he went to the ISDE and watched the Europeans and saw how smoothy they rode.
“I went over to Six Days one year and it just kind of clicked for me. I was watching those Euro guys, and I’m like, man, I got to figure it out. I got to figure out how to make the course connect and just make everything flow like these guys are making it flow. It’s crazy watching those guys ride. Everything they do is thought out. They always know where they’re going and execute perfectly. I wanted to try and learn that riding technique and just try to smooth it out. I knew at the end of the day, your bike is going to last longer if you’re riding it smoother, and your suspension is going to last longer. It’s not going to break down as fast. Your body is not going to break down as fast from over-riding. So, I made myself kind of smooth it out there. I believe that was 2019 when I really smoothed it out. That was the first year I wicked it up in the enduros. I think I won four of the last five rounds there that year, or something like that. I guess I kind of figured it out.”
For 2023, Baylor has a solid team under him for the first time in two years—a factory team.
“I’ll be on the full-on Babbitts’ Online/Monster Energy/Team Green Kawasaki team,” said Baylor. “We worked out a deal. It’s a two-year deal. I’m going to be running in the National Enduro Series and the GNCC Series. In the GNCCs, I’ll have Josh Strange and Lyndon Snodgrass as teammates. Josh will be XC1 and Lyndon is going to defend in XC2. Then we’ll have JoJo Cunningham in the A class. So, that will be the team. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Grant clinched the 2022 title in Oklahoma.
It’s been a while since Baylor rode a Japanese bike, but he’s looking forward to it.
“It’s definitely a big change going from a KTM to a Japanese bike,” said Baylor. “I would say the Japanese bikes kind of feel more the same as each other than compared to the KTM. Obviously, the Japanese bikes are all on the aluminum frame and then you’ve got the steel chassis on the KTM, Husky, and GasGas. Back in ’16 when I was on the Yamaha, I remember when I first got on the Yamaha it was just comfortable. I don’t know how to explain it. It was just comfortable. The bike was super easy to ride.
“I’ve been on a steel frame my whole life other than those two years. But I think being a bigger guy, I’m around 215, and most of these other guys I’m racing against are under 200 pounds, they’re closer to 180 or so. I’m thinking that a different chassis might help me, being bigger a little bit. It just makes the bike feel more comfortable to me. It doesn’t make you feel so glued to the ground. The steel chassis just feels really dead and kind of sticks to the ground. The aluminum frame has a more-lively feel to it. You can kind of jump from bump to bump. I do feel more comfortable on the aluminum chassis, and I’m happy with the Kawasaki so far. It’s been unbelievable. It’s just crazy fast. It’s the fastest bike I’ve ever ridden. I don’t know if that’s the best thing or not for the woods, but it’s super-fast. Being a bigger guy, it pulls me right out of the corner, no issues. Gets right up on top of the bumps and going like a rocket.
“With the team now, I’m comfortable. We’re sticking on the same tires I was on this [2022] year. Also, I get to stick with JDP Suspension. Those two things right there are huge. Switching the whole brand, manufacturer of the bike is a big jump, but to stick with the suspension and Dunlop tires, that makes it a lot easier.” CN
