Am-Pro Yamaha’s Liam Draper capped off the 2025 U.S. Sprint Enduro Series by securing the series championship with a third-place finish at the seventh and final round, held in Bristol, Virginia, an event that offered double points. The Harleywood Sprint Enduro featured a mix of conditions: Saturday was hot and humid, while Sunday brought rain and slippery terrain.
Photography by Art Pepin
FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Landers’ Grant Davis won the overall for the weekend, taking the Pro 2 class on Saturday (third for the day behind Draper and Barnes) and then moving up to a 350 XC-F to win the Pro 1 class on Sunday. Phoenix Honda Racing’s Cody Barnes secured second overall for the weekend, while Draper finished third, a minute behind Davis. Draper’s earlier finishes in the series were more than enough to clinch the championship.
In the series standings, the final order was Draper as the champion, with Barnes in second and Davis in third.
Barnes jumped to an early lead ahead of Draper on Saturday, winning three of the first four tests against the Yamaha rider. As the day went on, Draper tightened his lines and got faster, moving within striking distance of overtaking Barnes for Saturday’s win. When Barnes took a header in the final test, the outcome was sealed, and Draper finished with Saturday’s win, 12 seconds ahead of Barnes, with Davis following behind in third, just three seconds back.
“I started off strong with a cross-test win and then kind of was off the ball a little bit on the enduro test,” said Barnes. “That last enduro test, I had a bonehead fall and lost a bunch of time, and me and Liam both gave up a bunch of time to Grant.”
Draper was hoping to come away with another win in this year’s series. “On Saturday, Cody nailed the first cross test, so I knew I would have some work to do,” said Draper. “I was hoping to make up some time, so I went into test two just seconds behind him, and he ended up going down in the last test, which gave me Saturday’s win.”
On Sunday, Davis made the move to the Pro 1 class, hopping on an XC-F. The extra beans were all the youngster needed, as he won three of the six tests, plus Sunday’s overall competition. The young KTM rider won three of the six tests, topping Barnes by 11 seconds on the day. Barnes also won three tests. Draper finished third on the day, another 59 seconds back. Draper needed just a top-five for the day to clinch the title.
“I was struggling on the 250 a little bit on Saturday,” said Davis on Sunday. “But today I got on the 350, my first race on it, and I’m pumped with how I did. Me and Cody were going back and forth all day long for the overall, and I’m happy to come out with the overall. I barely edged him out in the last test for the weekend, so it’s pretty sick to get my first day win and then win the overall.”
Draper did what he needed to do to clinch the title, but he was disappointed in missing out on the day’s and overall win.
“I put myself in kind of a deficit in test one,” said Draper. “Cody put it to me by eight seconds, but I slowly just chipped away at it. We’re matching each other, and I knew it was going to be tough to make it up. I put a good cross test in, and made up four seconds and then two in the enduro test, so I was two seconds down going into the last test. Cody ended up falling right off the start, and he was kind enough to let me by, so I rode it in and won the day by 12 seconds.”
In the combined overall results, Davis took the win by eight seconds over Barnes, and Draper was third, approximately 45 seconds back.
Craig DeLong (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) was fourth overall, and Toby Cleveland was fifth overall and the top Pro 2-class rider for the weekend.
In sixth overall (combined) JoJo Cunningham (Honda) was the top Pro-Am-class rider. Gavin Simon (Pro 2), Collier Martinez (Pro 2), Olin Daniels (250 Amateur) and Henry Symanski (Pro-Am) rounded out the top 10 overall.
In the Women’s Pro Division, Rockstar Energy Factory Racing’s Korie Steede dominated both days of competition, beating Danielle McDonald (Yamaha) and Ellie Winland (Yamaha).
“I knew I had to be on top of things, and I knew Danielle was going to be fast, so I just tried to be smart and hit my marks,” said Steede on Sunday. “I’m pretty sure I won every test today, so that’s a cool day. Honestly, for me, I usually struggle in the beginning of the day and start pretty slow, and this weekend I kind of was on all weekend, so I’m super pumped with it and pumped to grab the championship.” CN
2025 U.S. Sprint Enduro Round 7 Results
OVERALL (Top 10)
- Grant Davis (KTM) 1:21:50.208
- Cody Barnes (Hon) 1:21:58.740
- Liam Draper (Yam) 1:22:45.339
- Craig DeLong (Hus) 1:24:54.653
- Toby Cleveland (Hus) 1:24:56.824
- JoJo Cunningham (Hon) 1:24:58.055
- Gavin Simon (Hus) 1:25:23.010
- Collier Martinez (Kaw) 1:27:37.980
- Olin Daniels (Kaw) 1:28:21.086
- Henry Symanski (TM) 1:28:28.316
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