If the previous round in Georgia was any indicator, Liqui Moly Beta’s Cody Barnes was nearing a breakthrough, and this weekend in South Carolina, he delivered. Still adjusting to a new brand and team, Barnes had shown flashes of speed by winning the final two tests at the Mac Daddy’s XC Sprint, round two of the series, last month. At round three of the U.S. Sprint Enduro Series, March 21-22, he put together his most complete performance yet, earning his second career overall U.S. Sprint Enduro victory at the Rodgers Farm Sprint Enduro in Ninety-Six, South Carolina.
Photos by Jade Barnes
Barnes wasted no time asserting himself on Saturday, opening the day with a win in the first Cross test, edging out 2024 U.S. Sprint Enduro Champion FMF KTM Factory Rider Johnny Girroir by 1.1 seconds. Girroir’s challenge, however, would come to an early end, as a lingering illness forced him to withdraw during the third test.
From there, Barnes controlled the pace, winning four of the six tests on the day. Despite a slip in the second Cross test and a late-race issue in the final Enduro test, Barnes kept his composure and consistency to secure Saturday’s win by 10.7 seconds over Husqvarna’s Toby Cleveland, highlighting both his speed and resilience under pressure. Cleveland took the remaining two test wins for second overall and first in the Pro 2 division.
“I tagged the tree in that last Enduro test and messed up my front brake, so I rode the last mile without front brakes,” said Barnes. “It was a bummer, but I still was able to salvage the test, though it would have been a really good time if I hadn’t made a mistake.”
Round-two winner FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Grant Davis had an unusually quiet day on Saturday, finishing third overall without securing a test win. KTM USA Orange Brigade’s Cooper Jones put in a strong performance to place second in the Pro 2 class and fourth overall, narrowly beating Gavin Simon (Husqvarna), who completed the Pro 2 podium in third and claimed fifth overall.
In the Pro-Am ranks, Husqvarna-mounted Colton Shields led with an impressive sixth overall finish and was the top Pro-Am rider, while Cole Whitmer (GasGas) closely followed with second in the class and seventh overall.
Cleveland came out strong on Sunday, posting the fastest time in the opening test to take an early overall lead and dominate the Pro 2 division. Davis was close behind, less than a second back, while another Pro 2 competitor, Gavin Simon, settled into third. Barnes faced a tough start to the day, recording the fourth-fastest time in the test, with Jones rounding out the top five.
Cleveland kept up his momentum with a win in test two, widening his lead at the front. Barnes minimized the damage with a strong second-place finish, just one second behind Cleveland. Davis stayed close in third, crossing the line 1.5 seconds later, keeping the fight for the top positions close.
Barnes got back in the groove with a close win in test three, topping Cleveland by just a tenth of a second. Davis was third, 1.6 seconds behind Davis.
Davis claimed his first test win of the weekend in test five, while Barnes was two-tenths of a second behind. Cleveland was third, 2.5 seconds behind Barnes.
Barnes finished the weekend in dramatic fashion, edging out Cleveland again by just a tenth of a second in the final Enduro test. Despite Cleveland’s late charge, his 2.3-second advantage on the day was enough to secure Sunday’s win and the Pro 2 class overall victory. When the dust settled, Barnes’ 10.7-second cushion from Saturday proved decisive, earning him the overall victory by 7.3 seconds over Cleveland and marking a significant milestone in his career. Davis capped off a consistent weekend by finishing third overall for the day and the event.
“It was a good weekend,” said Barnes. “I had a crash today on the first Cross test and kind of threw away some seconds and wasn’t able to quite get the gap closed back to Toby. But yeah, overall, it was a good weekend.”
Toby Cleveland came close to winning the overall from the Pro 2 class.
“I just had an absolute blast with the track,” said Cleveland. “I was very comfortable all weekend, and I really wanted to battle it out all the way to the end for the overall on the weekend, but I ended up second. So super happy and hopefully I can do this in Maryland.”
Grant Davis took over the points standings with his third overall finish.
“Yeah, I pretty much just got smoked,” said Davis. “I couldn’t figure it out. I just didn’t have the speed this weekend, but I got the points lead now, so that’s the only thing that came out of this week, and that was good.”
Cooper Jones came out on top of a tight battle with Gavin Simon for fourth overall and second in the Pro 2 division.
Simon was fifth overall and third in the Pro 2 division.
Sixth overall and fourth in the Pro 2 division went to RaceCraft Husqvarna’s Brody Johnson, with first Pro-Am rider Cole Whitmer seventh overall on a GasGas. Whitmer also won the $1000 GasGas contingency check from the KTM group.
Colton Shields (Husqvarna), Will Sievenpiper (Kawasaki) and Brayden Baisley (Yamaha) finished out the top 10 overall.
In the Pro Women’s Division, FMF KTM’s Brandy Richards earned a clear overall victory after finishing ahead of Danielle McDonald (Yamaha) by 29 seconds on Saturday and by 1:22 seconds on Sunday.
“I like this wide-open grasstrack, and I even did better than I expected in the woods,” said Richards. “The Cross test is one of my favorites. It’s just a traditional grasstrack. It’s tricky because you have to memorize pretty much every corner, so that was tricky. But I absolutely love that stuff, putting it all together, and I also have fun in the woods. It was challenging.”
Yamaha-mounted Lillie Sheets finished third overall, with Emma Smith completing the weekend in fourth on a GasGas.
The top Amateur for the weekend with an overall win in the 240 A division was Braiden Baisley.
Baisley also won the FMF $150 Top Amateur prize.CN
2026 U.S. Sprint Enduro Round 3 Results
OVERALL (Top 10)
- Cody Barnes (Bet)
- Toby Cleveland (Hus)
- Grant Davis (KTM)
- Cooper Jones (KTM)
- Gavin Simon (Hus)
- Brody Johnson (Hus)
- Cole Whitmer (GG)
- Colton Shields (Hus)
- Will Sievenpiper (Kaw)
- Brayden Baisley (Yam)
Click here to read the 2026 U.S. Sprint Enduro Round 3 Results in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
