Cycle News Staff | February 10, 2020
Cody Webb came out on top of the 2020 King of the Motos results in his Sherco debut.
Cody Webb came out on top of the 2020 King of the Motos Results in his debut ride for the FactoryOne Sherco team. Photo Mary Rinell
After getting left off the King of the Hammers schedule last year, the King of the Motos (KOM) portion of the popular week-long four-wheel King of the Hammers competition returned in 2020 as the opening round of the Sherco AMA West Extreme Championship, February 9, in Lucerne Valley, California. Also, returning was Cody Webb who has been out of action for nearly a year while recuperating from a knee injury, and his return coincided with his first outing as a member of the new Factory One Sherco Team. The former KTM rider, made his Sherco debut a successful one by capturing the overall win at the Progressive Insurance King of the Motos. It was Webb’s fifth win at the KOM.
King of the Motos creator Jimmy Lewis participated in this year’s KOM race, handing Justin Leineweber the responsibility of organizing the race, which was made up of three different loops this year.
The 2020 King of the Motos used the traditional land rush start straight up the side of a rocky mountain. Photo: Mary Rinell
Not surprisingly, Leineweber kept the iconic and highly anticipated land-rush start to kick off the race, the bronze loop, followed by the silver, and eventually the gold. Only four riders would enter the gold loop, but none of them finished within the allotted time frame.
It first appeared that RedBull Factory KTM rider Manuel Lettenbichler would take the win, but a GPS error on his part led him off-course during the gold loop where he would miss the step-up waterfall section, called the Backdoor. The error resulted in an hour penalty, dropping him back to fourth position.
However, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Team rider Colton Haaker would make the exact same error shortly after, giving him the same penalty and moving Manuel up to his final third-place position. This opened the door for Webb to take the crown.
RPM Racing’s Trystan Hart took second. “You got to follow the course,” Hart said. “It happened to Cody three years ago. It sucks for Manni but it happens.”
There were three other classes: Amateur, local District 37, and a new Women’s class.
Sherco Factory One rider Louise Forsley ended up taking the Women’s-class victory. Forsley competed aboard a Sherco 125 SE two-stroke and was crowned Queen of the Motos after all was said and done.
The top Amateur rider was Rodrigo Lopes who completed the bronze loop and half of the silver lap before timing out. He raced an impressive six hours and 31 minutes with no penalties.
Round two of the Sherco AMA West Extreme Championship is the Kenda RevLimiter Extreme Enduro in Bridgeport Texas, March 28-29.
Mary Rinell
The 2020 King of the Motos Podium. Cody Webb (center), Trystan Hart (right) and Manual Lettenbichler. Photo Mary Rinell
2020 King of the Motos Results (Tentative)
PRO
- Cody Webb (She)
- Trystan Hart (KTM)
- Manual Lettenbichler (KTM)
- Colton Haaker (Hus)
- David Kamo (KTM)
AMATEUR
- Rodrigo Lopes
- Chris Riesner
- Kevin Scheftel
District 37
- Fred Parr
- Tom Walker
- Jeff Delaney
WOMEN
- Louise Forsley (She)
- Dayne Toney
Click here for the full results on the Ultra 4 Racing Website.
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