2023 Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge Results

Cycle News Staff | June 5, 2023

Team NAP/XC Gear Elite successfully defended their number-one plate at this year’s running of the Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge in Plantersville, Alabama, June 3-4. The Team of Andrew Clark (Sherco 250), Jimmy Hawkins (GasGas 300) Steve Nicholas III (KTM), Ensign Payne (Yamaha 250), Trent Whisenant (Rieju) and Colby Yarbrough (Husqvarna 250) completed 37 laps in a time of 24:00:21 to claim the victory. The XC Gear Elite team got off to an early lead and held it for the entire race.

Andrew Clark at 2023 Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge — **Andrew Clark helped lead the Team NAP/XC Gear Elite to victory at the Perry Mt. 24-Hour Challenge in Alabama.**

Story and Photos by Kenneth King

“We got off to an early lead and did two laps each,” Clark said. “We really didn’t have any issues till nighttime. Jimmy had his throttle housing come loose on his second lap and he managed to make it to the pits and we fixed it. A few light bar mounts came loose and other than that the race went pretty smooth.”

This year the organizers changed things up with a longer 13.5-mile course. There were 109 teams and over 400 riders and the longer course kept it from getting too chewed up. As usual for June in Alabama, it was hot, in the low 90s and lack of rain made dust a challenge.

In the number-two spot was Team MyPowersports.com Elite. Riders Shawn Clark, Korbin Dinkel, Scott Gawler Jr., Josh Duffey, Dylan Rash and Blake Yahraus finished 37 laps a bit over 21 minutes behind the number-one team. The team made the decision to ride one bike, a 2023 GasGas MC 350.

“Doing this race on one bike was challenging,” Clark said. “I had a big get off on the first lap. All the other teams could just switch riders and bikes, we had to fix the bike first. Fortunately, we didn’t have any major issues, just stuff while in the pits. Really a good day. At night we had to do some light swaps. These guys were switching whole light assemblies in like 15 seconds. The engineering that went into the lights before we got here really paid off.”

Matt Basher at 2023 Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge — **Matt Basher went at it alone and came away with the Ironman-class win.**

Finishing third was Team Suzuki Yamaha of Dalton Elite. The team consisted of Brody Faulkner, Deke Faulkner, David Greer, Jonathan Green, Keith Holtzclaw and Ty Kelley. They rode 35 laps in a time of 24:04:20.

“Things went pretty good, we started out kind of slow, maybe eighth overall and stayed in eighth for the first 12 hours,” Faulkner said. “During the night, we had two riders crash pretty good and they only did one lap each, which slowed us down. Around 3:00 AM we started making up time and inched our way into the top five. By daylight we had moved into third and held it until the finish.”

The tight racing of the day was between Suzuki Yamaha of Dalton Elite and NAP/XC Gear 30+. The 30+ team finished in fourth overall and first 30+ with 35 laps, about two minutes behind the third-place team. The NAP/XC Gear 30+ team consisted of Sammy Dorris, Jacob Patterson, Jason Thomas, Dustin Simpson and Trevor Ezell.

“Jason got us into a big lead off the start and we moved into second overall,” Dorris said. “We stayed second and third for most of the race but come nighttime we had a few mishaps. We tried to chase down third, but they got us by a few minutes. It was a good race.”

Rounding out the top five was Team MyPowersports.com Expert with riders Tommy Hill, Joey Medina, Kyle Parson, Luke Parsons and JP Wilson. Finishing 34 laps they also won the Expert class. They rode one bike, a GasGas 350.

“We had a bit of adversity during the race, and the guys had to put in some tough laps,” Medina said. “Riding one bike created some issues. We had a few light issues, but nothing big. Our entire team worked hard and we couldn’t have had a better group of guys.”

It’s worth noting that NAP/XC gear and MyPowersports.com had two teams each in the top five.

Sammy Dorris at 2023 Perry Mountain 24-Hour Challenge — **Sammy Dorris was a member of the winning 30+ team.**

In the ironman class, Matt Brasher, on a 501 Husqvarna, followed up his win last year with one this year. He finished 23 laps to take the win.

“The race went pretty good,” Brasher said. “I started out trying not to push too hard and moved out front trying to avoid the dust. The longer course made me change things up a bit. I did four sets of four laps, then dropped it down to two sets of three then one lap.”

Leon Fox, of Team Foxin’ Around, also finished 23 laps for second place.

Caroline Kent, of Team the Tortoise and the Hare Scramble, won the Ironwoman class with 12 laps. And Team Speed off-road consisting of Caleb Foster and Mathew Keener won the duo class with 25 laps completed.