King Of The Motos Kicks Off This Weekend

Cycle News Staff | January 31, 2014
The Third Annual King of the Motos kicks off this weekend in Lucerne Valley  California.

This weekend some of the sport’s best off-road racers will flock to the Johnson Valley OHV Area in Lucerne Valley, California, for the Third Annual King of the Motos (KOM). The event is held in conjunction with the King of the Hammers Rock Crawler event and mixes extremely technical sections with more wide-open desert racing. While it requires some versatility, the riders with strong technical skills could make up for the fast stuff in the difficult sections.

Last year’s winner was former AMA Trials Champion, Beta’s Cody Webb. It was his first victory on a big bike (something other than a trials bike). He and the big Betas ended up being a match made in heaven, as he would go on to add three EnduroCross races and the Tennessee Knockout exptreme off-road race to his race win list later in the 2013 season, elevating him to the status of one of the top Extreme Enduro racers in the country.

Webb returns to defend his KOM title against a powerful list of 40 pro riders, all aiming to dethrone him. And on the top of that list is Graham Jarvis, the Brit who is arguably the best Extreme Enduro rider in the world and winner of the inaugural KOM race in 2012. Unfortunately for Jarvis, the rear foam insert in his tire disintegrated during last year’s race and he was unable to successfully defend his title. And he wants it back.

Veteran Mike Brown will be competing this year, marking his first race as a factory Husqvarna rider. It will also be former WORCS Champion Taylor Robert’s first race on his new factory KTM off-road team.

Adding to the list of champions includes reigning GNCC champ Kailub Russell. It will be his first attempt at the KOM. Other riders to watch include past KOM competitor Kyle Redmond, who has been keeping sharp lately in the FIM World SuperEnduro Championship, JCR Honda’s Colton Haaker, Canada’s Cory Graffunder and the always entertaining Wally Palmer.

2014 KOM Pro Pre Entry List

Cody Webb         

Quinn Wentzel 

Kale Elworthy   

Kyle Redmond  

Joseph Edsman                 

Don Boespflug  

Colton Haaker  

Peter Weiss       

Max Gerston     

Kevin Murphy   

Wallace Palmer                

Jason Matheney               

Taylor Robert    

Brady Elton

Bryan G Nelson                  

Ty Tremaine       

Cory Graffunder                

Randy Duke        

Mitch Carvolth 

Mike Aranda      

Wayne Dickert 

Justin Morgan  

Travis Coy            

Dustin McCarthy              

Kailub Russell  

Kyle Strawn        

Matthew Caraway          

Brad Hendry      

Noah Kepple     

Steve Behunin  

Jordan Brandt  

Jacob Argubright              

Brian Garrahan                 

Branden Lepard                

Rory Sullivan     

Mike Brown

Graham Jarvis