Sean Finley | March 25, 2021
Cody Webb came out on top of the 2021 Grinding Stone Enduro results. The Inaugural Grinding Stone Enduro, in Page, Arizona, kicked off the 2021 Kenda AMA West Extreme Championship. The new event was won by a familiar face as FactoryOne Sherco-backed Cody Webb outlasted the competition, grueling terrain and bottlenecks in the four-hour race. The FMF KTM Factory Racing duo of Trystan Hart and Taylor Robert put up a strong challenge to Webb but Hart came up just short at the finish. Robert who changed his focus to extreme off-road events for 2021, held on for the final podium spot.
Check out the video highlights from Enduro Wurx.
Cody Webb topped the inaugural Grinding Stone Hard Enduro. The Sherco rider had to battle the tough obstacles and make his own lines past the amateur riders that blocked many of the tough sections of the course during the four-hour race.
The Amphitheater OHV area in Page, Arizona, includes a mix of massive rock formations, soft sand and loose rock similar to what Moab, Utah, is famous for. While this type of terrain is awesome for trail riding, it is not often used for race events. The rock provides amazing traction, but the tradeoff is that it is brutal to crash on for both the rider and bike. In the end, most of the riders loved the venue and event.
Husqvarna support rider Danny Lewis led the pro riders off the start followed closely by RPM KTM rider Cooper Abbott, Robert and Webb. Robert quickly took over the lead and Rockstar Husqvarna rider Colton Haaker moved up to battle Robert for the point position. The rocky terrain was difficult to place course markings on, so the lead riders had some difficulty finding the correct route during the first 16-mile loop. Robert completed the first loop in just under one hour with Webb, Haaker and Hart close behind him. Abbott was not far back in fifth, and he was followed by his RPM KTM teammate, Will Riordan, Max Gerston, Ryder Leblond, Noah Kepple and Mitch Carvolth.
FMF KTM’s Trystan Hart put on a strong charge on the final lap to chase down Webb but couldn’t get close enough to make a pass. The Canadian loved the unique terrain in Page, Arizona.
During the second loop, the leading pro riders had to contend with massive bottlenecks as the amateur riders were clogging up the main lines while they tried to complete their first loop. This is where Webb flexed his muscles by making new, seemingly impossible lines around the blocked main lines. Robert and Hart battled back and forth among themselves, mostly within seconds of Webb for the second and third loops. Haaker lost touch with the top three riders when he looped out on a massive rock face trying to make his way around a group of amateur riders.
Taylor Robert has won major off-road races throughout the world and is looking forward to focusing on Extreme Enduro events in 2021. He led the first lap of the event but couldn’t quite maintain the pace of Webb and Hart on the decisive final lap.
Webb led into the fourth and final loop with a small gap over the KTM duo of Hart and Robert. Despite the bottlenecks in all the tough sections, both Webb and Hart put in their fastest laps of the race as they pushed each other to the limit. With the difficult obstacles, the winner was in question all the way to the finish line but Webb managed to hold on, just 39 seconds ahead of Hart after just under four hours of racing. Robert was unable to match the two leaders on that final lap but was a strong third, just four minutes and 47 seconds back.
Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker recovered from a tough crash on the second lap to finish fourth. His bike was twisted up but he kept pushing to finish all four laps.
Haaker held onto a fourth-place finish despite his big crash that did a lot of damage to his bike on lap two. He finished 14 minutes and 36 seconds behind Webb. Abbott was the last final rider to finish four laps during the four-and-a-half-hour time limit.
Cooper Abbott rode a strong race to keep pace with Webb, Hart and Robert. The RPM KTM rider had a strong 2020 EnduroCross season and is moving up the ranks in the extreme events now as well.
At time of publishing, the remainder of the top 10 results were unofficial, but it appears DeLullo Racing Husqvarna rider Ryder Leblond finished sixth, just a couple minutes short of completing four laps within the time limit.
RPM KTM Rider Will Riordan looks to have taken seventh followed by Max Gerston in eighth aboard his new GasGas. Beta rider David Garza finished ninth while Husqvarna support rider Noah Kepple rounded out the unofficial top 10.
“The first lap, Colton and Taylor just took off and I was following Trystan and just reminded myself that we have four hours, and I want to have something left for the end,” Webb said. “I pretty much made everything the first try except for a couple of times. And that last lap, I knew that Trystan was going to push it, so I rode really hard. I got stuck behind some lapped riders a few times and Trystan got right on me, so it was tough all the way to the finish.”
“It was pretty crazy; I didn’t think that many things could happen in one race,” Hart said. “Me and Taylor hit each other and crashed about five times, I pushed hard and just couldn’t get Cody, so congrats to him.
“This place is pretty cool. I hope it stays [on the AMA Extreme Championship calendar] as it’s really unique and fun to ride on. And good job to the amateur riders for just attempting this. We had to bang into some of those lappers, so sorry for that, but good job to those guys for giving it a shot.”
“I got off to a good start and Colton and I started banging bars a bit,” Robert said. “I pretty much led that whole first lap and it was difficult, as I would blow a turn and those guys would catch back up to me,” Robert said. “Cody put in a blistering pace and he is really good in the lappers and seems to put his bike in places that I don’t think a bike should even be able to go to get by those guys. It is cool to do this series and looking forward to more of these extreme races.”
Ryder Leblond is still a teenager and the Pennsylvanian is one of the best up and coming extreme off-road racers in the US backed that up with a sixth place finish in Arizona. He has support from the Husqvarna backed Delullo racing team for 2021.
Australian Will Riordan is another teenager that is eager to move up the ranks of the US Extreme Enduro results. He finished seventh in Arizona.
2021 Grinding Stone Enduro Results (Unofficial)
- Cody Webb (Shr)
- Trystan Hart (KTM)
- Taylor Robert (KTM)
- Colton Haaker (Hus)
- Cooper Abbott (KTM)
- Ryder LeBlond (Hus)
- Will Riordan (KTM)
- Max Gerston (GG)
- David Garza (Bet)
- Noah Kepple (Hus)
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