| January 31, 2023
The 2023 SRT King of the Motos returned as part of the three-week long King of the Hammers event in Johnson Valley. This GPS-based hard enduro event, which first ran in 2012 (but skipped last year) kicked off the 2023 season for both the IRC U.S. Hard Enduro Series, Presented by Klim, and the AMA West Extreme Series, Presented by Beta.
By Matt Musgrove | Photography by Ryan McCasland
A record 175 riders entered this challenging event, which included Youth Lites riders as young as 13 and adults in their 60s. Promoter Justin Leinweiber has promoted this event several times and has been working on these courses for years. This year’s 30-mile course was made up of technical trails that had endless rocks of all sizes embedded in sand, which either went up or down steep desert mountains. In addition to this technical terrain, paying attention to the GPS to stay on course while avoiding constant obstacles seemed to be the most challenging part of the weekend.
Saturday consisted of two races. A one-lap Prologue determined starting position for the afternoon’s qualifier Race 1, which was a 12-mile single-lap race around a mountain range. The Prologue was only about two miles and started all racers one at a time out of the Hammertown short course. Will Riordan of the RPM KTM Racing Team was the fastest around this course by nine seconds, an impressive feat against a stacked field of the best hard enduro athletes in North America.
Race 1 determine the top 75 riders who would qualify for Sunday’s main event. Saturday’s race kicked off with a land-rush start up a rocky hill, creating instant chaos for the multiple rows that were leaving 30 seconds apart. The pace of the front pack, led by Trystan Hart, of the FMF KTM Factory Racing Team, quickly separated from the rest of the field as they rode around the mountain range. Climbing up some very steep switchbacks and then returning down slick rock slabs seemed to be the most challenging sections of this course. Hart kept a 2–3-minute lead over FactoryONE Sherco’s Cody Webb for most of the race, but towards the end, the 2022 USHE Champion, Hart, pulled away and finished first with four minutes to spare over Riordan.
Webb finished in third place two seconds behind Riordan, while FactoryONE Sherco’s Cooper Abbott and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Ryder LeBlond finished within 10 seconds after Webb.
Colton Haaker of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Team and the 2017 King of the Motos winner had a sizable crash that pushed him back to a 10th-place finish.
In the Pro Women’s class, Kylee Sweeten was the only female to make it to the finish line in the three-hour time limit. Over 70 amateurs made it through the finish in time, whereas the rest were scored based on their checkpoint times.
Sunday’s Race 2 was the final race of the weekend and would determine the overall winner. It consisted of two different laps. Rows of 30 racers lined up at the bottom of Chocolate Thunder, with a big crowd of spectators standing above them and a livestream broadcast that was being watched around the world.
Haaker led the first row of racers through Chocolate Thunder, which had changed from previous years yet still showed no easy line through the rock gardens. The following rows began to clog up at the first rock garden and became a traffic jam for the next 20 minutes. Like the previous day, the front pack was led by Hart and Webb, setting a pace that was impossible to match by anyone else.
In the first 11 minutes of the race at Checkpoint 1, Hart and Webb already had a 45-second lead over LeBlond. This course consisted of two very challenging laps around existing King of the Hammers trails and some new trails that Leinweiber marked out. The first lap was shorter, and on the second lap, they raced an additional section that increased in difficulty. This race was designed to give everyone the chance to race in the final, so it provided a great hard enduro experience to both the pros and amateurs.
On the second lap, Webb began to catch up to Hart, staying about a minute behind as they picked their way through lappers. A GPS error led Webb off-course, where he had to return after losing valuable time. Hart won Race 2 in 1 hour and 44 minutes, with Webb finishing in second about 10 minutes behind. LeBlond ended up finishing in third place, five minutes behind Webb, with Riordan and Haaker not far off the pace.
This was Hart’s second consecutive King of the Motos victory, and he continued his dominance in the U.S. coming off a very impressive 2022 season. Nearly 60 racers ended up completing both laps within the six-hour time limit, with many amateurs staying out on the course for the entire duration of the race. In the Pro Women’s class, Kylee Sweeten won the race over Hallie Marks and Bailey Lerwill, as all three made it to the final checkpoint on the second lap.
The 2023 King of the Motos returned as a great success, with a record turnout and courses that were challenging for both Pros and Amateurs. The King of the Hammers scheduled the King of the Motos as its opening event in the three weekends of racing, which was well-received by the hard enduro athletes, teams and fans.
Up next, a limited number of racers will be traveling to the North Shore of Oahu to race the IRC Endurofest in Hawaii in March. CN
FINAL
- Trystan Hart (KTM) 1:44:27
- Cody Webb (She) 1:53:59
- Ryder LeBlond (Hus) 1:59:07
- Will Riordan (KTM) 2:03:08
- Colton Haaker (Hus) 2:04:28
- Cooper Abbott (She) 2:08:09
- Branden Petrie (She) 2:15:26
- James Flynn (GG) 2:20:28
- Dustin McCarthy (KTM) 2:24:03
- Cory Graffunder (KTM) 2:31:16