Enduro Engineering GasGas’ Josh Toth got back to his winning ways after topping the Caprock Canyon National Enduro, round two of the 2023 Magna1 Motorsports AMA National Enduro Series presented by Moose Racing in Texas.
Words and Photography by Shan Moore
Toth beat out round-one winner Babbitt’s Online/Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Grant Baylor by over 14 seconds to claim the victory.
Toth won the first three of the six-test, 75-mile enduro, before throttling back in the final three tests, going 2-2-5 to finish out the race on top of the box.
Grant Baylor won the final three tests after going 5-3-4 in the first three. After two rounds, Grant holds a four-point lead over Toth in the series standings (55-51), with Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ryder Lafferty in third with 41.
Toth finished fourth in a hard enduro in Hawaii a week earlier, and he felt it prepared him for the west Texas event.
“That event was a brutal, four hours, and I think it got me in shape for this weekend,” said Toth. “Coming here, it was cold weather here, so it was a pretty easy day compared to Hawaii.”
Grant took an impressive second overall, despite having to deal with riders he was catching on the row in front of him.
“There were a couple of Pro 2 riders on the row in front of me and I kept catching them, and that held me up a bit,” said Grant. “In one test, they were throwing up a big dust cloud and I thought the track went right and it went left.”
Riding his first enduro of the year, AmPro Yamaha’s Ricky Russell put in a strong performance for third, finishing 25 seconds behind Grant.
“It’s good to be back in enduro racing, I really enjoyed it,” said Russell. “I’m from the West Coast and there’s some desert-type terrain out there so I think I was ready for it.”
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong matched the fourth-place finish he turned in at Sumter with another fourth in Texas.
“It was kind of a mediocre day,” said DeLong. “I kind of struggled in the first couple of tests and I came in before test three and made some changes and I felt I was more comfortable going forward. I think me and Ricky were only 14 seconds apart there at the end, so I need to work on being more comfortable from the start.”
Fifth went to Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ryder Lafferty, who suffered in the dust, as well.
Winning the NE Pro2 class and finishing sixth overall was Bonecutter Racing GasGas’ Thorn Devlin.
“I think all my years riding two-strokes and dealing with not having traction helped me cope with the conditions today,” said Devlin. “I ran the Baja 1000 at the end of last year, so I had quite a bit of time riding conditions like these.”
Tely Energy Racing/Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM’s Steward Baylor made the best of a rough day to salvage seventh overall. In test two, Steward had his rear tire roll off the bead two miles before the end of the test.
“Today was pretty rough, and between the last two races I’ve had it’s pretty mentally defeating, giving away all these championship points,” said Steward. “I was keeping tabs on Craig DeLong, who was on the row ahead of me, and I was keeping a good pace, and then I had that tire come off and I just threw it all away.”
Beta USA’s Evan Smith had a good day to finish eighth overall and second in the Pro 2 division, while Tely Energy Racing/Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM’s Nathaniel Tasha was ninth overall and second in the NE Pro 2 class.
AmPro Yamaha’s Liam Draper rounded out the top 10 and third in the NE Pro 2 division.
GasGas’ Rachel Gutish won the Women’s Elite division by 1:21 over Enduro Engineering GasGas’ Mackenzie Tricker. Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Korie Steede was third, just under two seconds behind Tricker.
“I won the last time we were here, so I like this place,” said Gutish. “I don’t normally ride the enduro series, but I came here to get ready for this year’s ISDE and to try and defend my win from two years ago.” CN
2023 Caprock Canyon National Enduro Results
OVERALL
- Josh Toth (GG)
- Grant Baylor (Kaw)
- Ricky Russell (GG)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Ryder Lafferty (GG)
- Thorn Devlin (GG)
- Steward Baylor (KTM)
- Evan Smith (Bet)
- Nathaniel Tasha (KTM)
- Liam Draper (Yam)
Click here to read the 2023 Caprock Canyon National Enduro Race Recap in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
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