Off-Road: Cody Webb Wins Last Dog Standing

Jean Turner | June 16, 2014
  Cody Webb was the top dog at the Last Dog Standing. Photography by Ron Lawson

Cody Webb claimed the win at the Prairie Dogs’ Last Dog Standing. Photography by Ron Lawson

American Beta’s Cody Webb tackled the worst Glen Helen Raceway had to offer and rode to the overall victory at the 2014 Prairie Dogs Last Dog Standing on Saturday, June 14. It was Webb’s first attempt at the extreme off-road race, where he put his trials skills to good use, and rode a patient race to take the big win. KTM’s Taylor Robert collected second ahead of former Last Dog Standing winner Kyle Redmond, while Cory Graffunder and Kale Elworth rounded out the top-five.

The morning’s prologue got things started for the Pro riders. KTM’s Taylor Robert topped the field ahead of Kyle Redmond, Webb and Colton Haaker. The riders then took to the “LDS 2” course – a daunting nine-mile course winding through several manmade obstacles, including multiple mud pits, the “tubes” and the infamous “high-dive.” The course also included the steepest climbs, descents and gnarliest canyons the Prairie Dogs MC could find. Robert, once again, took the win with Webb in second, followed by Redmond and Graffunder. Haaker ended his day early when he sheered off his shifter and bent the shift shaft on his Honda only minutes into the first lap.

Riders paired off on the staggered start of LDS 3 with Robert and Webb kicking things off. Robert, once again, grabbed the early lead, but yielded to Webb early on the first lap when he made a mistake in the rock garden. It was all Webb needed to get his Beta 300 RR out front, and from there he never looked back. Three laps and two hours later, Webb took the checkers over Robert and Redmond.

“It started out Taylor got ahead of me,” Webb recalled. “I came up on him in the rocks and I knew that was my time to get ahead. It’s too hard to pass in the dust and I figured I’d be fast enough in the rocks. Taylor kind of got hung up so I pushed ahead real hard and got past him there. He high-sided and got messed up with everyone else and that gave me a huge gap right from the beginning and I just maintained that gap for the rest of the race.”

RESULTS

OVERALL

1. Cody Webb (Beta)

2. Taylor Robert (KTM)

3. Kyle Redmond (KTM)

4. Cory Graffunder (KTM)

5. Kale Elworth

Jean Turner | Contributor

A former staffer at Cycle News, Turner continues to contribute to the website and magazine as a columnist and someone we can count on to whip up a few thousand words on an off-road race when needed.