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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2012
Contact: KTM NORTH AMERICA
38429 Innovation Court
Murrieta, CA 92563
Tel: 951-600-8007 x:4119
Fax: 951-677-2307
clacurelle@ktmnorthamerica.com
www.ktm.com
www.husaberg.com
Steward Baylor Takes
First Career National Enduro Win
Charlie Mullins Finishes 3rd
Sumter, SC – The 17 year-old, Steward Baylor,
continues to impress off-road fans with his fast-speed
and technical abilities on his KTM motorcycle at such
a young age. Today he stepped up his game again when
he took his first-ever pro career AMA National Enduro
Series win.
Baylor has been setting records throughout his teenage
years in the GNCC Series and he was most recently crowned
the GNCC XC2 Lites Champion in 2011. He took the past
two and half months that made up the off-season and
trained hard to come out to the opening round of the
AMA National Enduro Series in Sumter, SC and make himself
and his Ride PG/KTM Team a threat for the championship.
The Georgia native was impressive from the start to
the end of the race. He took three of the six special
test wins in order to claim his first victory. He was
strong in each section only making a mistake in the
fourth test where he hit his head on a tree branch that
he wasn’t able to duck under. Luckily, he was okay
and came back to finish second fastest in the fifth
special test and first in the final test.
"It feels great to come out to the first round
and get the win," remarked Baylor. "I have
been training really hard over the past year to increase
my sprint speed and I think it shows today. I’d
like to thank my team and my family for their help to
get me to this level in my racing."
Joining Baylor on the podium was 8-time National Enduro
Champion Mike Lafferty finishing in the runner-up position
and fellow KTM rider Charlie Mullins who put his FMF/KTM
on the final podium step.
Mullins, who finished second overall in the 2011 championship,
struggled at the beginning of the race but came on very
strong in the second half taking a section win in the
fourth test. His second half charge was just strong
enough to knock his teammate Cory Buttrick off the podium.
Buttrick put in a great race just finishing 12 seconds
off of Mullins in the overall times.
The final member of the Factory FMF/KTM Team and the
reigning National Enduro Champion, Russell Bobbitt,
had a rough start to the season. Bobbitt, who was injured
in mid-November, has only been back on the bike for
three weeks and suffered from a lack of endurance in
the longer tests.
"I broke my wrist in November and it is still
really sore when I ride for a long distance," stated
Bobbitt. "There were a few long tests today and
it was hard for me to maintain the race pace. I have
a few weeks before the second round and I think that
will really help me build up my endurance to be competitive
for a podium position from here on out."
Factory FMF/KTM Team Manager, Antti Kallonen, was very
excited with the outcome today, "We are excited
for Steward to get his first win. He has been riding
very strong over the past year. We are also excited
that our FMF/KTM riders Charlie and Cory were battling
for the podium throughout the day. We know Russell suffered
some endurance problems but he always bounces back and
we will help him over the remainder of the season to
get back to race speed. Overall it was a great start
to the weekend for our KTM riders."
Next Round: Greensboro, GA – February 19, 2012
Overall Results –
1) Steward Baylor – KTM
2) Mike Lafferty – HSB
3) Charlie Mullins – KTM
4) Cory Buttrick – KTM
5) Brad Bakken – YAM
6) Russell Bobbitt – KTM
7) Jordan Ashburn – YAM
8) Andrew Delong – HSQ
9) Jason Raines – YAM
10) Jesse Groehm – KTM
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