U.S. Sprint Enduro Championship Formed
Cycle News Staff | January 13, 2021
It appears that racers of the former Full Gas Sprint Enduro (FGSE) Series will have a place to compete in 2021 after all. The U.S. Sprint Enduro Championship has been created, according to Billy Schlag, founder of Trail Pros/Sprint Cross Country Series (SXCS).
The newly formed U.S. Sprint Enduro Championship will pick up where the Full Gas Sprint Enduro Championship left off.
Schlag explained how the U.S. Sprint Enduro Series came about:
“I received a call from [the AMA’s] Erek Kudla asking if we, SXCS would be interested in hosting one of the 2021 ISDE Qualifiers,” said Schlag. “I didn’t hesitate for the opportunity! I quickly made some phone calls—one of which was to the great folks at Moree’s Sportsman Preserve in Society Hill, South Carolina and set the wheels in motion with my team. Before the phone calls were even completed the announcement came out from Jason Hooper that the Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series would no longer exist; however, he was open to offers. I made a decision to give it a go and came up with two scenarios—number one, to purchase FGSE or number two, to start a new series and call it U.S. Sprint Enduro. I quickly contacted Hooper for details and in the meantime, I contacted landowners, racers and sponsors telling them all along that we were going to have a Sprint Enduro Series, we just weren’t sure if it would be FGSE or U.S. Sprint Enduro. I made Jason an offer, as it was a series that I, myself, had run since its beginnings in 2014. Time was running out. Racers needed a series and we would have a little over two months to plan. Unfortunately, Jason and I could not come to an agreement, and I asked him to be specific and let me know what he wanted for the series; however, he never responded with that figure. I had to make the decision to start up a new AMA-featured sprint enduro series and decided on U.S. Sprint Enduro.”
U.S. Sprint Enduro will be a six-round series in 2021 with its inaugural round to be held at the GTR Complex in Gaston, SC, February 27-28. Kenda Tires will be its official and exclusive tire and will be the U.S. Sprint Enduro’s title sponsor.
“I have also had many conversations with some of the top manufactures who have committed to be at our races along with their top racers,” said Schlag. “As you can imagine things are moving very quickly and we are working hard to get all the details out to the racers and fans. A new website is being created which will have everything you will need to know to get ready to race with U.S. Sprint Enduro Series in 2021.”
