2021 John Zink Ranch National Enduro Highlight Video
Josh Toth has been on a roll for the past few races in the 2021 AMA National Enduro Series. The FMF/KTM rider claimed his fourth win of the series at this weekend’s John Zink Ranch National Enduro, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, topping AmPro Yamaha’s Steward Baylor by 12.6 seconds after six tests and 57 miles of racing.
With the win, Toth prevented Baylor from clinching the 2021 series championship one race early, the Yamaha rider needing only to finish ahead of Toth to seal up the title.
Toth made sure that didn’t happen.
“I just grabbed another gear and put a little gap on Stew,” said Toth. “I really like this series. I really like the start-to-finish format and I see myself now as an enduro rider. I think I should have been doing this a while ago, but I’m glad I’m picking it up now. If it wasn’t for drowning out my bike in Ohio, I think it would be a four or five-race streak. But it is what it is.”
Baylor jumped out to the early lead after winning the opening test by two seconds over Toth. The Yamaha rider extended his lead with another win by a single second in test two.
Toth took control of the race with a couple of strong rides, building a lead that would stand at 32 seconds heading into test five. Toth would hold onto the lead until the finish despite a late charge by Baylor who narrowed the gap to 12 seconds in the end.
Toth took the win despite winning only two tests compared to four test wins by Baylor.
I started off kind of slow, just too cautious,” said Toth. “This course, you have to really stay on the track because there’s rocks all in the grass hidden, so I was kind of cautious with that. It kind of cost me a little bit in the beginning. I was in second the first two tests behind Stew, but after that, I kind of got a feel for the lay of the land.”
Baylor heads into the final round in Alabama with a 26-point lead over Toth in the standings.
“I know the way he rode the last race he was going to be tough to beat,” said Baylor. “I feel like he took a little bit to get going today, and I felt the pace that I was riding was good. We made a tire change for tests three and four, but it just didn’t work out. So, lost a little bit of time there, but we switched back to what was working. The last couple I put the hammer down, but Josh had a good enough advantage that I just couldn’t chip away at it.”
Coastal Racing GasGas’ Ricky Russell had one of his best days yet and was sitting in third place after four tests but suffered a mechanical issue and was not able to continue.
“We felt pretty solid all day, improving with each test and just moved into P-3 when a freak accident that was out of our control happened,” said Russell.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Trevor Bollinger took up the slack and moved into third in test five and remained there until the finish.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming here; I never raced this far out west, besides California,” said Bollinger. “There’s a lot of rocks and they’re dark and the trees got a lot of shadows. It took a little bit to get used to, but I did good in the first test, so that gave me some confidence moving forward.”
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Craig DeLong rounded out the top five.
Former pro motocrosser Broc Hepler (Husqvarna) took the first test to get warmed up and then won the final five tests to claim the win in the NE Pro 2 division over series champion Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Jesse Ansley.
“I lost the first test and I’m like, man, it’s pretty rocky,” said Hepler. “I got to pick it up and learn how to ride the rocks. Then I guess in two and three I did pretty well, so I just got more comfortable from there.”
Hepler was sixth in the overall standings, while Ansley was seventh.
Eighth overall and first in the AA division was KTM-mounted Nathan Rector, while Logan Kittock (Honda) was ninth overall and second in the AA class.
Mike McGinnis (KTM) rounded out the top 10 overall and was third in the NE Pro2 class.
Enduro Engineering/Fly Racing KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker topped the Women’s Elite class after a good battle with Kawasaki rider Rachel Gutish.
Tricker won two of the five tests, compared to three test wins for Gutish.
“It was pretty close between me and Rachel all day,” said Tricker. “Test four I really tried to send it and I was able to make up a pretty good lead. Honestly, the day was awesome.”
Jennifer Shephard (Yamaha) rounded out the Women’s Elite top three. CN
2021 John Zink Ranch National Enduro Results
- Josh Toth (KTM)
- Steward Baylor (Yam)
- Trevor Bollinger (Hus)
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Craig DeLong (Hus)
- Broc Hepler (Hus)
- Jesse Ansley (KTM)
- Nathan Rector (KTM)
- Logan Kittock (Hon)
- Mike McGinnis (KTM)
Complete results for all classes: https://www.livelaps.com/livelaps/scores/15182
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