The Donner Hard Enduro, round five of the AMA West Hard Enduro Championship, presented by Bullet Proof Designs, took place at the iconic Donner Ski Ranch in Norden, California, June 12-14. This three-day race was part of Brian Garrahan’s Donner Challenge, which featured AMA D36 Hare Scrambles and Motoclimb races, in addition to the hard enduro. This was the sixth year Garrahan has hosted a hard enduro at this special venue, a favorite in the country.
Story by Matt Musgrove
The Donner Ski Ranch sits at an elevation of 7100 feet and overlooks the Sierra Nevada mountains and the town of Truckee. The course is highly diverse, winding through old pine forests, long rock gardens, downed timber, loose lava rock, long ski-run hillclimbs and granite slabs. Past Donner winners Trystan Hart and Cody Webb were absent this weekend due to a long week at the Erzbergrodeo, leaving the door open for a new winner.
The format differed from past years, with the B/C classes racing on Friday and the Pro/A classes on Saturday. The top 25 B-class racers advanced to Saturday’s A race. Also new this year, the Pro class qualified for an improved row position in the AMA D36 California Motoclimb Series Pro Stock class, which put them up against some of the top Motoclimb athletes in the nation. Rocky Mountain ATV Yamaha’s Riley Bender finished as the top USHE finisher and placed fifth overall, followed by IRC Beta’s James Flynn and Champion Brick Racing’s Braxton Hintze.
The B/C race kicked off in the early afternoon, with racers leaving their rows by class, two minutes apart. Brian Garrahan switched up the course this year by running it backward and offering splits for the B and C classes, allowing racers at different levels to have an improved experience. Since this race was split from the Pro and A classes, there was less traffic on course than in years past, which reduced bottlenecks and let amateur racers move further along the course than they ever have. The race ended at 4.5 hours, which was more than enough given the altitude and heat of the day. The top 25 B-class racers qualified to continue racing on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, the main race kicked off, with Three Ring Cycle’s Danny Lewis leading the charge with a holeshot. Dust was a problem throughout the weekend, so holding the lead and avoiding it on the first lap was critical. Braxton Hintze quickly overtook after the first checkpoint, as James Flynn was charging after a navigational error. A new Pro split for this year was called “Petey’s Hill,” a hill on the front side of the mountain that had been used the day prior at the Donner Motoclimb, where Petey Krunich was the only person to make it over this very steep and technical line. The Hard Enduro Pros raced up it on their first lap, with some taking nearly 15-25 minutes to crest the top, and it was potentially the crux of the entire race.
Hintze approached the hill first and made it to the halfway point, starting to tick-tack his way to the top by traversing far left. Flynn followed, staying more in the center of the hill but still behind and moving slowly. About 150 feet from the top, Flynn gunned it straight and didn’t let off the throttle, passing Hintze on an incredibly steep and loose section of the hill. He made it through the top flags, gaining a few-minute lead to the end of the first lap. Following about 10 minutes behind were Danny Lewis and Maverik Thaxton, who both made good runs up Petey’s Hill after the lead pack.
On lap two, Flynn and Hintze battled wheel-to-wheel, swapping positions more than a dozen times as they tried to clean the technical granite slabs. Toward the end of lap two, Flynn pulled away, extending his lead over Hintze, and held it to the finish, completing the three laps in just over 3.5 hours. This was James Flynn’s first AMA West Hard Enduro Regional Championship race win. Hintze finished 17 minutes behind, while Lewis finished third, just before the 4.5-hour cutoff. There were only three finishers in the race, which was widely regarded as the toughest Donner Hard Enduro yet.
In the A class, MojoMotosport’s Cole Clarkson held a strong lead throughout the race and finished as the top Amateur of the weekend, two laps and a couple of additional checkpoints ahead. In the B class, where racers had an additional day of racing, Grayson Ingoldby won after a hard-fought battle on A course splits.CN
2026 AMA West Hard Enduro Round 5 Results
PRO OVERALL
- James Flynn (Bet)
- Braxton Hintze (KTM)
- Daniel Lewis (Bet)
- Maverik Thaxton (KTM)
- Joseph Nemeth (Hus)
- Nick Poohachoff (Bet)
- Kristjan Thordarson (GG)
- Riley Bender (Yam)
- Anson Maloney (KTM)
Allnutt Wins Donner MotoClimb
The Donner Motoclimb took place during Brian Garrahan’s Donner Challenge on the weekend of June 13-14 in Northern California. It was the third round of the AMA District 36 California Motoclimb series, featuring Pros, Amateurs and Youths competing on two adjacent hills at the Donner Ski Ranch.
The hills were rough, dry, dusty and steep, proving a challenge for all the racers.
Joseph Allnutt secured the overall victory by winning the Pro Stock and Open Unlimited classes aboard his KTM 890 in the Open Knobby division.
A new/old hill was lined out that was last used over 25 years ago. Petey Krunich was the only one to go over the main line and win his class aboard his KTM 1290 on methanol.CN
Click here to read the 2026 Donner Hard Enduro in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
