Cycle News Staff | October 24, 2022
The 2022 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship Series visited Prescott Valley, Arizona for round four, October 22. For the second race in a row, Trystan Hart took the overall win after three action-packed motos. The Red Bull KTM rider had a score of 3-4-1 across the three motos. FactoryOne Sherco rider, Cody Webb finished second overall with 2-6-2 moto finishes. Rounding out the overall podium was Beta rider, Jonny Walker, with 4-1-7 finishes.
To kick the fourth round off, Walker set the fastest hot-lap to set the starting order for the first of the three motos with a time of 37.285. Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker had the second-fastest time of 38.225. FactoryOne Sherco rider Cooper Abbott came in with the third-fastest hot lap with a 38.711. The fourth-fastest time belonged Webb at 39.201. GasGas Factory rider Taddy Blazusiak rounded out the top five hot-lap times with a 39.342. Hart, the overall winner for the night, finished in sixth with a time of 40.079.
Walker started off moto one strong with the Moose Holeshot and an early lead, ahead of Abbott and Haaker. Abbott was right on Walker’s heels for the first few laps, and he made a pass for the lead on the fourth lap with Haaker following him through to move into second. Haaker, the defending series champion, passed Abbott on the fifth lap for the lead and held the spot for the moto-one win. Webb moved up to finish second ahead of Hart in third. Walker finished fourth and Abbott was fifth.
The second moto inverts the 16 riders’ finish positions from race one for gate picks, so the top eight riders start on the second row. Veteran racer, Justin Soule, took advantage of the front row start and took the holeshot in moto two narrowly ahead of Josh Roper and Cory Graffunder. Graffunder took over the lead for the early part of the first lap, but Blazusiak made quick work of things to take over the lead by the end of the first lap. Walker passed Graffunder to take over the second-place position by lap three, followed by Haaker taking over the third-place spot. Hart was also moving up and was into fourth place by the fourth lap. Walker pressured Blazusiak for the next few laps, looking for his opportunity to pass for the lead. On the seventh lap, Walker made quick work of the matrix to take the lead in the following tire obstacle, which paved the way for Haaker to pass Blazusiak, as well. They finished in that order for the top three with Hart coming through for fourth and Abbott rounded out the top five.
In the third and final moto, a multi-rider crash in the first turn that included Haaker, Walker and Blazusiak shook up the results. Hart snuck through the carnage for the lead, and he was followed closely by Sherco teammates Webb and Abbott, who battled back and forth for second position and kept the pressure on Hart for most of the moto. Hart held on for the win, which gave him the overall. Webb and Abbott rounded out the top three in the moto. Blazusiak worked his way up to finish fourth in the moto and Ryder LeBlond rounded out the top five. Walker was able to salvage a seventh in the final moto to finish third overall while Haaker had a last-lap crash that dropped him back to ninth in the moto and fourth overall.
Abbott finished fifth overall with 5-5-3 moto finishes. Blazusiak was sixth overall ahead of Beta rider Tim Apolle in seventh. Will Riordan came in eighth overall on a KTM ahead of Max Gerston (GasGas) in ninth. Nick Thompson (KTM) came in tenth overall.
Hart said, “I was super sick coming into this race, so for the last two weeks I haven’t ridden much, and practice was a challenge. I got third in moto one and fourth in moto two, but I just didn’t feel good. Everything was on the line and just for me to get a podium was actually going to be quite hard. There was a lot of drama in the last race [with other riders], but I had a drama-free race out front and also got the overall.”
Hart now leads the championship by 15 points over Blazusiak and Walker, who are tied for second. Webb is 16 points back in fourth and Haaker is currently fifth, 32 points behind Hart.
In the Women’s Pro class, four-time Women’s EnduroCross Champion Shelby Turner raced her KTM to the win ahead of Sherco rider Louise Forsley and GasGas rider Rachel Gutish. CN
OVERALL RESULTS
- Trystan Hart (KTM) 3-4-1
- Cody Webb (She) 2-6-2
- Jonny Walker (Bet) 4-1-7
- Colton Haaker (Hus) 1-2-9
- Cooper Abbott (She) 5-5-3
- Taddy Blazusiak (GG) 6-3-4
- Tim Apolle (Bet) 7-8-6
- Will Riordan (KTM) 9-7-10
- Max Gerston (GG) 8-9-11
- Nick Thompson (KTM) 12-10-8
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