Riding the new Beta two-stroke, Cody Webb earned his first major off-road race win at the second annual King of the Motos in Lucerne, California, on Sunday. The 2009 AMA Trials Champion, who has become a top EnduroCross racer, battled with Britain’s Graham Jarvis for over four hours before a failed rear moose forced Jarvis to slow with less than 20 miles to go in the 180-mile endurance test.
Cody Webb won the second annual King of the Motos in front of a large crowd. Photography By: Scott Hoffman
Despite a field filled with talent, Webb and Jarvis opened a gap of five minutes early in the race and then exchanged the lead several times.
“I may be a former U.S. Trials champion, but Graham [Jarvis] was one of the top Trials riders at the World Championship level and he used those skills to pass me several times on the technical sections,” said Webb. “But I was a little more comfortable on the high-speed sections so we were really evenly matched at this event.”
This year’s race attracted a large field of extreme off-road racers. Photography By: Scott Hoffman
“I felt it [the back tire] getting a bit of a wobble at the beginning of the second [80 mile] loop and maybe I should have slowed a little to conserve it, but Cody was right there so I couldn’t back off,” Jarvis said.
Graham Jarvis battled with Webb for the win, but a “flat” moose allowed Webb to get away at the end.
In the end, Jarvis lost over 20 minutes to Webb as he nursed his bike to the finish with the tire barely staying on the rim. Webb too had his rear moose coming apart and slowed in order to get to the finish for his first major “Big Bike” win.
Husqvarna’s Cory Graffunder was about eight minutes behind Webb and Jarvis at the end of the first loop, but a broken chain guide took him out of contention early on lap two. Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert took over third and held it to the finish.
“I rode the whole day by myself,” Robert said at the finish. “I saw Cory had ripped his chain guide off and I think he was the only rider I passed all day”.
Taylor Robert had a pretty lonely ride to third in his first attempt at an Extreme Enduro. Photography By: Scott Hoffman
Destry Abbott finished fourth about one hour behind Webb and was pretty proud of the effort. “I was a lot more prepared this year and it felt like it was easier even though we did twice the distance.”
Destry Abbott rode a relatively trouble free race to finish fourth.
2013 King of the Motos Results (Unofficial)
1. Cody Webb Beta
2. Graham Jarvis Husaberg
3. Taylor Robert Kawasaki
4. Destry Abbott Kawasaki
5. Brian Roper KTM
6. Eric Bailey
7. Jack Field Gas Gas
8. Eric Rhoten KTM
9. Don Boespflug
10. Max Gerston Beta
11; Richard Landcaster
Check out video highlights courtesy of King of the Motos:
