Sean Finley | April 13, 2022
The defending champion Trystan Hart kicked off the 2022 U.S. Hard Enduro series with a big win at the Grinding Stone Hard Enduro.
Watch the video recap from Sky Pixel Media.
Photography By Sean Finley
The Grinding Stone Hard Enduro burst onto the Hard Enduro racing scene in 2021 with the inaugural event providing some spectacular terrain and exciting racing. The huge rock formations mixed with soft sand again and loose rocks challenged the top pro and amateur riders for the second annual edition.
FMF KTM Factory Racing-backed Trystan Hart tamed the terrain better than anybody else. He completed five laps on the approximately 13-mile course in a total time of 4:10:52. Ryder LeBlond finished second on his Delullo Racing-backed Husqvarna and Cooper Abbott rounded out the podium in his first race for the FactoryOne Sherco team.
Hart blasted out to the lead off the start with LeBlond, Beta USA-backed Tim Apolle and Abbott in hot pursuit. David Knight, the former Erzberg Rodeo winner and U.S. EnduroCross and GNCC Champion from the Isle of Man was battling Hart for the $500 holeshot award but ended up getting tangled with James Flynn and found himself on the ground in the sandy first corner.
Hart, who is the defending AMA Extreme Enduro Champion, had a clear course and he quickly opened a small gap on the field and ended the first lap comfortably out front. His next four laps proved to be far more challenging as the amateur riders compete at the same time on mostly the same course with only a few pro-only sections. This meant that Hart was forced to take less than ideal lines or wait behind bottlenecks that formed in many of the challenging sections.
Despite the difficult course, lapped riders and relatively warm temperatures in the mid-80’s, Hart proved unstoppable and lapped all the way up to fourth overall.
Hart said, “I underestimated Jim Flynn (the promoter) a bit. I thought the track was going to be easier when I walked the course yesterday. But after one lap, all the dust got on the rocks, and it got really hard. There were some downhills that I was pushing my bike down. He did a good job with the course; it was really good. I kind of wish Cody [Webb] would have been here, kind of wish, but kind of don’t because it would have been a lot harder for both of us, but it would have been fun to ride together. I got a good gap on the first lap, so I wasn’t just navigating while everybody else followed me.”
The battle for second place was intense between LeBlond and Abbott with the two within sight of each other for the first three laps. LeBlond finally managed to open a small gap on Abbott to secure second and finished a little over 43 minutes behind Hart with a total time of 4:53:19.
LeBlond said, “That was gnarly, the track was brutal scary out there. It started out a little slow for me. For the first three laps, I don’t think I cleaned one thing, and I think I slid down every hard section. I was getting frustrated, but the fourth lap I turned it around. I think that was when I was finally ahead of Cooper. Trystan was a little far ahead but that gives me something to work on for the rest of the season.”
Abbott finished 15 minutes behind LeBlond to take the final podium spot and was the last of just three riders to complete five laps.
Abbott said, “Pretty good battle with Ryder for the first three laps, and then I made a couple of big mistakes and lost him and kind of lost my flow a little bit. Overall, I am super happy to get my first career extreme race podium, and it was my first race with the FactoryOne Sherco team, so I am really happy with it and will work to improve on that for the next round.”
The battle for fourth overall was another good one with Knight recovering from his first-turn crash to move through the pack and hook up with RPM KTM rider Will Riordan, who is less than half his age, for a couple of laps of tight racing. Riordan eventually damaged his radiator and dropped out of contention, which allowed Knight to comfortably take fourth position.
Knight said he had never competed on the type of terrain found in Page but was happy to be battling with the top riders.
“My mind still says I can go as fast as these young guys, but I didn’t quite put it all together on the difficult and fast sections today,” said Knight. “Hart came and lapped me, and I picked it up a bit and managed to unlap myself, but then he went back by in one of the fast sections. I remember when I had days like that, but I still had a great time today.”
The battle for fifth included several riders and Canadian Branden Petrie, who joined the Hard Enduro Outfitters Sherco team for 2022, fought off the others to take the position.
The Women’s pro class included eight riders for the opening round and FactoryOne Sherco rider Louise Forsley, the defending champion, came out on top after completing two laps in four hours and 39 minutes. She finished 33rd overall.
Beta USA rider Morgan Tanke Colón finished second and Kalyn Benaroya rounded out the podium on a Husqvarna. CN
Briefly…
No Cody…
Cody Webb, the 2021 AMA West Extreme Enduro champion and overall series runner up, suffered a broken wrist the weekend before the opening round and will be forced to miss at least a couple rounds while he heals. The FactoryOne Sherco rider won the Page event in 2021.
…Or Colton
Rockstar Husqvarna rider Colton Haaker was also forced to miss the Page event. He drove about halfway down to Arizona from his home in northern Idaho and came down with a stomach illness. He spent some time in a hotel room before heading back home. He is planning to compete in the rest of the series.
Knight Returns
David Knight, a multi-time World Enduro, Erzberg Rodeo, GNCC and AMA EnduroCross Champion is now 43 years old but has never completely stopped racing. He plans to race around the world in select events that will likely include some more U.S. Hard Enduro events, FIM Hard Enduro, beach races, sprint enduros and possibly some GNCC events. “The best years of my career were here in the U.S. and I really enjoyed it. Phill, from Classic Car Club in New York, has given me the opportunity to come over here and race a bit. There was a lot of pressure the first time around as a factory rider so now it is just for me, and I know that I can still do it, but I am getting old so I am not as much as a threat to win, but as long as I can be competitive with some of these guys, I want to keep doing it for fun. Evan, who was Lafferty’s mechanic back in the day is great mechanic and he is working on the bikes so it will be a lot of fun.”
Gerston’s New Gig
Max Gerston, a longtime hard enduro and EnduroCross racer has changed roles for the 2022 AMA Extreme Enduro season. He is serving as the media liaison for the series and spent the day doing trackside commentary in between hopping on his bike and chasing the riders through some of the sections for a video that will be released within a week. He will continue this role for the rest of the series but is planning to race the EnduroCross series later in the year.
OVERALL
- Trystan Hart (KTM)
- Ryder LeBlond (Hus)
- Cooper Abbott (She)
- David Knight (KTM)
- Branden Petrie (She)
- David Garza (Bet)
- Will Riordan (KTM)
- Tim Apolle (Bet)
- Dustin McCarthy (KTM)
- Spenser Wilton (GG)
The U.S. Hard Enduro series heads to Billings, Montana for round two—The Bentonite Brawl—on May 1.