Cycle News Staff | October 26, 2020
The 2020 AMA EnduroCross series kicked off at Glen Helen Raceway, in San Bernardino, California, October 23-24, with round one taking place on Friday and round two on Saturday. Each afternoon event included three motos of racing for the pro class and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker kicked off the season with two big wins. The defending champion took 1-3-1 moto scores on Friday and followed that up with 3-1-1 finishes on Saturday.
Colton Haaker won both rounds of the 2020 EnduroCross opener doubleheader at Glen Helen Raceway. Photo: Jack Jaxson.
Cody Webb made his EnduroCross debut on the FactoryOne Sherco SEF 300 and finished second overall on Friday with 2-2-2 moto finishes and third overall on Sunday with a 2-2-3 score. The finishes combined for second overall in the points at the end of the weekend. Webb had planned to race a two-stroke but chose to switch to the 300 four-stroke just a couple of weeks before the event, so he was still improving the bike through the weekend.
Trystan Hart, the rider that took over Webb’s spot on the FMF KTM Factory Racing team, finished fourth on Friday after posting 3-8-3 moto finishes and came back strong with a second on Saturday with 1-4-2 moto results. Hart set the fastest hot-lap time on both Friday and Saturday and combined that with a Saturday moto win to show that he is ready to challenge Haaker and Webb for overall wins.
Cooper Abbott, the son of multi-time off-road champion Destry Abbott, had a breakout weekend by taking a moto win combined with two fourth places finishes earning third overall on Friday. The RPM KTM team rider followed that up with a fifth-place finish on Saturday (4-5-7) to come away fourth in the championship.
SRT Off-Road-backed Cory Graffunder had a good start to the series with a fifth overall on Friday via 5-4-5 moto finishes. The EnduroCross veteran improved to fourth overall on Saturday with 5-3-5 moto scores to show that he is fit and ready to compete at the front of the pack.
Noah Kepple, Husqvarna, came away from the weekend sixth in points after finishing sixth on Friday (7-6-6) and seventh on Saturday (8-8-6).
Beta rider Benjamin Herrera came away from the weekend with seventh overall in points with eighth- and sixth-place finishes.
Four riders tied on points for eighth after the two days of racing. Pennsylvanian teenager Ryder LeBlond had 12th- and eighth-place finishes on his KTM in his first two EnduroCross races. Anthony Johnson, another teenager racing his first pro season had 11th- and ninth-place finishes riding a KTM. And yet another teenager, Will Riordan took 10th-place finishes on both days riding a KTM. Ty Cullins was the other rider that comes out of the first two rounds tied eighth in points. The TM rider had finished ninth on Friday and 11th on Saturday.
After round one, Haaker was happy to get back to racing. “First of all, I am grateful to everybody that made this season happen. After a long time off and a hand injury, I felt like I was ready and riding really well but with so few races this year, I wasn’t sure if I was really ready. So, it is great to really get it done.”
And after a second win on Saturday, Haaker said, “I had a huge crash in practice because my holeshot device didn’t release, then I crashed during the hot lap but managed a fifth-place still. The first race was going good but I got taken out trying to lap Wally Palmer, so I dropped back to third. The second race was much better as I worked my way into the lead and did my thing to the end. And then the holeshot in the final moto helped me get the win. The red plate is heavy and defending the title is heavy, but I am happy to get off to a great start to the season.”
As for Webb, who, like Haaker, is aiming for a fourth AMA EnduroCross championship, he said, “It felt good to be back. I missed all of last year, so I was nervous coming into this series with a new bike, and we also planned to race the two-stroke and just decided to switch to the Sherco 300 four-stroke a few weeks ago. The team and the bike performed really well, and I think I can improve from here.”
Hart was impressive in his first race as a member of the FMF KTM Factory Racing team. “I pulled away from Colton in moto one and that is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. It is great to know that I have the pace to race with Colton and Cody for the wins. I knew in that final moto that a win would give me the overall and I pushed hard for it but came up just a little short. We have two more rounds next week and I am looking forward to it.”
In the Women’s class, defending champion Shelby Turner won both Friday and Saturday’s races on her KTM. Beta’s Morgan Tanke and Sherco’s Louise Forsley traded second and third-place finishes on Friday and Saturday.
Rounds three and four will take place at Glen Helen Raceway again this Thursday and Friday and rounds six and seven will be November 6-7 in Idaho. CN
2020 AMA EnduroCross Championship
Rounds 1 & 2
Glen Helen Raceway
Devore, California
RESULTS (October 23-24, 2020)
Round 1 (Friday, Top 10)
| 1. |
Colton Haaker |
(Hus) |
1-3-1 |
| 2. |
Cody Webb |
(She) |
2-2-2 |
| 3. |
Cooper Abbott |
(KTM) |
4-1-4 |
| 4. |
Trystan Hart |
(KTM) |
3-8-3 |
| 5. |
Cory Graffunder |
(Yam) |
5-4-5 |
| 6. |
Noah Kepple |
(Hus) |
7-6-6 |
| 7. |
Max Gerston |
(Bet) |
6-9-7 |
| 8. |
Benjamin Herrera |
(Bet) |
8-7-8 |
| 9. |
Ty Cullins |
(TM) |
12-5-10 |
| 10. |
William Riordan |
(KTM) |
9-10-9 |
Round 2 (Saturday, Top 10)
| 1. |
Colton Haaker |
(Hus) |
3-1-1 |
| 2. |
Trystan Hart |
(KTM) |
1-4-2 |
| 3. |
Cody Webb |
(She) |
2-2-3 |
| 4. |
Cory Graffunder |
(Yam) |
5-3-5, |
| 5. |
Cooper Abbott |
(KTM) |
4-5-7 |
| 6. |
Benjamin Herrera |
(Bet) |
7-6-4 |
| 7. |
Noah Kepple |
(Hus) |
8-8-6 |
| 8. |
Ryder LeBlond |
(KTM) |
6-7-10 |
| 9. |
Anthony Johnson |
(KTM) |
10-9-8 |
| 10. |
William Riordan |
(KTM) |
9-10-11 |
