Steward Baylor swept the Bluegrass Cross-Country OMA National in Kentucky. Photography by Mark Kariya
Steward Baylor kept his win streak intact by taking the overall for the third time in the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) Nationals, but his victory at the Bluegrass Cross-Country National—round three of the eight-race series—was the first time he’s gone 1-1 in the two motos.
As has quickly become the norm in the OMAs, the pair of relatively short 45-minute motos promoted close, intense racing, especially at the front. Promoter Bill Gusse used much existing trail at the Russell Creek Motorsports Park, but he also got to provide those in the afternoon races with several miles of virgin trail cut specially for the Bluegrass.
In the first moto, Bryan Vaughn got off the line the quickest, but OMA first-timer Ricky Russell got out of the first turn in the lead to nab the $100 FMF Holeshot Award aboard his Raines Riding University/Atlas Yamaha/FMF YZ250FX.
Russell, however, was unable to hold off the more experienced Jordan Ashburn and Baylor, those two proceeding to make the race for first exclusively theirs. Everrev KTM/Kenda/Fly 250 XC-mounted Baylor managed to keep Ashburn at bay, finishing six seconds ahead of the AmPro/FMF Yamaha YZ450F rider who fell a couple times. Russell ended up third, five seconds behind Ashburn, after thinking they’d go three laps and waving Ashburn past following a run-in with a tree on the second lap.
Knowing that the shorter the race, the more important the start, Ashburn got the holeshot in the second moto but couldn’t shake Baylor, who trailed by seven seconds as they completed the first lap.
But that difference doesn’t reflect how heated their battle was. “Everybody was mixing it up,” Baylor said. “It was a really good time from start to finish; there was never a dull moment, that’s for sure!”
Though he ran second, Baylor was confident: “The thing about the OMAs is, it’s hard to pass [due to the shorter motos], but it’s even harder to lead.”
And Baylor had a place picked out a few miles from the finish, a line he’d been saving in case he needed it.
“Stew kind of stalked me out the first lap, had a pretty good line picked out and zipped right by me,” Ashburn admitted. Ashburn tried to retaliate but ran out of time, though he wasn’t too disappointed: “It was good, close racing—good CLEAN close racing—and I just had a really good time.”
The final order read Baylor (1-1), Ashburn (2-2), Russell (3-3), Chris Douglas (4-4) and Jimmy Jarrett (5-5).
