01.11.2020
Round 8 - AMA National Enduro Series - November 1, 2020
STANTON, Ala. – The FMF KTM Factory Racing Team made the best of a challenging day at Sunday’s Gobbler Getter National Enduro where Ben Kelley finished just off the podium in fourth and his teammate, Josh Toth, managed sixth overall after a day chalked full of adversity at the penultimate round of the 2020 AMA National Enduro Championship.
Kelley, who made a switch to the KTM 350 XC-F for this weekend, eased his way into the day with a fifth-place finish in the opening test. He became more comfortable as the day went on and he captured three-straight fourth-place finishes riding only seconds behind the podium battle. He made a few mistakes to finish sixth in test-five but he put on a great charge in the final test to finish third in the section, only one-second away from the second-place spot. In the end, Kelley’s consistency earned him fourth overall on the day where he sits fourth overall in the championship standings with one round remaining.
Ben Kelley: “I had a pretty solid ride today to finish fourth, not too far off the podium. Jumping back on the 350 for this weekend felt a little awkward at the beginning but I found my flow throughout the day and really enjoyed the bike and trails.”
Toth, who underwent surgery to repair an injured ring finger prior to the last round, put forth a great effort on Sunday despite experiencing a string of bad luck throughout the day. He started off the day with a fourth-place finish in test one and he followed it up with another top-five in the second test. However, he got turned around on the third test and lost substantial time trying to find his way back on-track, ultimately finishing seventh in the class and 13th overall in that test. He re-grouped for the next section and had a good pace going until the mud hole section, where he made a last-second decision to change lines to avoid a slower rider ahead but instead he got caught in a sink hole and it stopped him in his tracks. Forced to get off the bike and pull himself out of the trench, Toth mustered up the energy to salvage a sixth-place finish in test four. From there, he spent the rest of his day fighting back from a big deficit, ultimately salvaging sixth overall in the end.
Josh Toth: “This was not the day I was looking for leading into the weekend. Test three was rough, I got lost and had riders coming at me head-on. A trail got burnt in kind of around a downed tree and I missed an arrow so I was with a pack of riders searching for the trail and unfortunately, I lost a huge chunk of time getting back, finding the trail and dodging the other riders. All-in-all, I felt like I rode better this weekend but the results didn’t show that. I’m looking forward to bouncing back in Texas.”
Round 8 (finale): Caprock Canyon National – November 15 – Turkey, Texas
NE Pro1 Results
1. Steward Baylor Jr., YAM, 2:19:39.374
2. Grant Baylor, SHR, +01:01.125
3. Thad DuVall, HQV, +54.571
OTHER KTM
4. Ben Kelley, KTM
6. Josh Toth, KTM
Overall National Championship Standings
1. Grant Baylor, 188 points (2 wins)
2. Steward Baylor Jr., 167 (1 win)
3. Josh Toth, 163 (3 wins)
4. Ben Kelley, 152 (1 win)