Johnson Valley, CA – Round one of the AMA Hard Enduro kicked off this weekend at the famous King of the Motos at the Johnson Valley OHV park in the high desert of California. FactoryONE Sherco riders Cody Webb and Cooper Abbott had great results with Cody finishing p2 and Cooper finishing p6.
The King of the Motos event got started early Saturday morning with a two-mile prologue race that would seed riders for that afternoon’s longer 12-mile event for the final seedings for the main race on Sunday. The prologue saw the pros going off one at a time in 30-second intervals on a first come first served basis. Cody Webb would come across the prologue finishing second fastest with a time of 4:33 for the two miles. Cooper Abbott would finish not too far behind in sixth with a time of 4:42.
The King of the Motos is a GPS-based race with limited course markings, this would come into play throughout the weekend.
The second race of the day would be a mass start with the top 30 riders on the front row fighting for the best line possible as massive rocks, deep sand, and steep inclines faced the riders right from the flag drop. At the crest of the first hill, it was Cody in p2 and Cooper in p4. By the time the athletes entered “Back Door”, Cody had moved into p1 with Cooper right behind in p2. It wasn’t long-lived however as Cody smashed into a rock on the jump down, causing him to lose three positions, and almost his race entirely as he crushed his header pipe flat as a pancake. He would manage to fight back throughout the race, coming across the line in p2 behind Trystan Hart. After crossing the line and talking with his technician, Cody Richelderfer, he noticed he missed the final GPS checkpoint and had to go back on course to avoid a 30-minute penalty. Surprisingly, he would only lose one position, finishing p3. Cooper Abbott rode a very solid second race finishing p4.
A very chilly morning greeted the riders for the main event. “Chocolate Thunder” would be the starting point for the two-loop race. Loop one would be a 12-mile course and loop two would have an added 1.5 mile section. As the flag dropped, Cody Webb had a good jump and was in p2 behind Trystan Hart going over the crest of Chocolate Thunder. Cooper got pinched behind stuck riders and found himself in about 15th position at the midway point of the climb and moved into 10th over the crest. Cody and Trystan would go back and forth for the top spot for the entirety of loop one. Trystan would hit the pits 18-seconds ahead of Cody. Cooper Abbott would come in with a group of three battling for the final podium spot with Colton Haaker and Will Riordan.
Loop two would see a few navigation errors and some physical mistakes from Webb which would allow Hart to pull away. Cody would cross the finish line in p2 day which is a solid result on his return to hard enduro after missing all of 2022 with an injury. Cooper Abbott would finish a very respectable p6.
“There were some good positives to take away from the race this weekend,” Said Cody Webb. “We had a great first lap going back and forth for the lead. I lost some time in the pits uploading the GPS coordinates for loop two. With that, I put in a big push and made up some ground, but two big mistakes near the finish cost me dearly. The course was much improved this year. The final gnarly canyon was probably the most fun track I have ever ridden. I am looking forward to getting back out there for Grinding Stone next month.” concluded Webb.
“Not a bad result for the first race of the year, but not where I want to be,” Said Cooper Abbott. “I had a great first day and was in the mix for the short prologue as well as the longer afternoon race. I had some great battles with Colton (Haaker) and Will (Riordan) in the main event. I know I have more in me and I will be fighting hard to defend my first hard enduro podium at the next round in my home state of AZ. Before that, it is back to Europe for SuperEnduro.” Concluded Abbott.
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.
