Redmond, OR – Round two of the AMA EnduroCross season saw a pair of podiums, and some pileups, for team FactoryONE Sherco. Cody Webb was able to secure a P2 finish with moto scores of 3-4-1. Louise Forsley also took home P2 honors in the women’s pro main. Cooper Abbott was the victim of a first turn pileup in moto two, which ended his bid for a podium after a strong moto one.
Cody Webb got the night started off right by setting a blistering pace in the hot lap qualifiers with a time :56.653. He was the only rider to go sub :57 seconds on the much longer track than round one. He was fourth off the line in the hot lap qualifier, which meant he had anxiously wait as rider after rider tried to knock him out of the “hot seat,” but alas, no one was able to do it giving him the first gate pick.
“I knew I had the pace, I just wanted to put round one behind me and focus on a good qualifying lap to set myself up for success,” said Cody Webb. “I was forced to qualify into the night show this morning, so I got a bit more track time. That helped but my SEF 300 Factory was dialed in thanks to Cody R (Richelderfer).” Cooper Abbott would finish P5 in the qualifier setting himself up for a row one start for moto number one.
Cooper Abbott would rocket out to the gate in moto one, just missing the Moose Racing hole-shot by the slightest of margins behind points leader Taddy Blazusiak. The five time champion would go down in the first turn however, allowing Abbott to take the early lead. Right off his rear wheel were the likes of Colton Haaker, Cody Webb and Ryder Leblond. Cooper would battle with this set of riders for a few laps, eventually settling for a fourth place in the moto. Cody Webb managed to get around his teammate about mid moto putting him in a P3 position where he would finish the moto. Both riders were setting themselves up for a good night.
As is customary in EnduroCross, the gate order would be reversed with the bottom eight riders lining up on row one. As the gate dropped and the riders got away, Cory Graffunder would get out of shape causing chaos coming into the first turn. He and Nick Thompson were fighting for space which caused Graffunder to crash in front of Thompson, which unfortunely caused him to veer directly into the path of Cooper Abbott, who was charging hard from the back row, almost sending him into the stands. Abbott was now P16 but by the end of lap one, he would move up to P13 and continue to move forward. Cody Webb was stuck behind riders from row one, but was making calculated passes. He would hit the timing stripe in P5 after one full lap. Jonny Walker would make his way into p1 with Webb, Blazusiak, and Ryder Leblond battling for the other moto podium spots. Webb would finish P4 giving him seven points in the Olympic scoring system. He would be tied for P3 overall with Colton Haaker coming into the final moto.
The final EX Pro moto of the night would have fans on the edge of their seats. Ryder Leblond would take the hole-shot with Jonny Walker, Colton Haaker and Cody Webb in tow. With Haaker and Webb being tied for the final podium spot, it would come down to a head to head result between the pair. Abbott meanwhile, had to settle for a back row start due to his misfortune in the second race.
LeBlond would continue to lead midway through lap one when Haaker would make a pass on Jonny Walker in the rock garden. This wasn’t great news for Webb who was just off their rear wheel in p4 but his luck changed when Walker stuffed his front end into the side of Haaker, sending him to the ground for a moment. This allowed Webb to get around Haaker. He now had his sights on Walker and LeBlond. A bobble in the matrix by Walker on lap 3 allowed Webb to move into P2, but Haaker was lurking on his rear wheel. As the riders approached the next corner, it was Haaker who returned pleasantries to Walker with an aggressive move. This caused the duo to lose all momentum as they returned the rock garden. LeBlond and Webb were now able to put in a small gap on the pair behind. Webb would push and push to try and get past LeBlond, but the running order would remain the same until the last half lap when lapped riders would play a factor.
As the leading pair entered the “cement corner” after the first rock garden, lapper Blake Gutzeit, got in the way of LeBlond allowing Webb to make the pass into P1 where he would finish the last half lap for the moto win.
“I honestly feel bad for Ryder (LeBlond) as that would have been his first EX moto win, but that is racing,” said Webb. “The racing was intense so I am really happy with the result. The night started off well with the hot lap win and I think I showed I can run the pace that is needed to win. I am already looking forward to round three in Denver,” concluded Webb.
“The first turn melee in moto two ended my chances of having a great night,” exclaimed Cooper Abbott. “Moto one showed that I had the pace but what can you do? That second moto finish had me on row two for the last race and that isn’t where you want to be with the world class talent we have racing this series. I am ready for Denver,” concluded Abbott.
In The EX Pro Women’s race, FactoryONE Sherco’s Louise Forsley would finish P2 which was enough to keep her points lead in the overall championship. The rock garden seemed to be the differentiator in the race for the top three women. Louise and Rachel Gutish would battle for the first two laps, before the rocks would be the undoing of Gutish. The three stayed in this running order for the remainder of the race. Seventeen year old Insider Enduro Sherco’s Hallie Marks would finish P4.
About FactoryONE Sherco: FactoryONE Sherco is a multi-time United States AMA championship observed trials team and multi-discipline Championship enduro team led by some of the top riders in the business. The Enduro team is led By Cody Webb who is a multi-time champion that competes in Extreme Off-Road, EnduroCross and FIM SuperEnduro. He is also the 2010 AMA Mototrials Champion. The Trials team is led by 13x AMA Champion Pat Smage (Smah-gee) on the men’s side; and 6x AMA Champion Louise Forsley (fours-lee) on the Women’s side. The trials team consists of four professional riders and two development riders.
