Cycle News

ROUNDS 5-6 / OCTOBER 29-30, 2021 NATIONAL WESTERN COMPLEX / DENVER, CO P56 OFF-ROAD I AMA ENDUROCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP MYOWNRACE 1 COLTON HAAKER 2-2 "I didn't feel amazing on Friday night, but I knew we just needed to grit it out and get the job done," Haaker said. "I made a couple mistakes that cost me the overall win, but we were s ll able to bring home the tle, which was the ul mate goal. This makes it five tles with Husqvarna Motorcycles, eight total with world supers, so I'm just looking to go down as the greatest!" A er Saturday, Haaker said, "I felt like I was riding really well, but it was not going the way I would have liked, so we salvaged what we could. That's EnduroCross, it's hard to stay perfect and clean, and if it wasn't so unpredictable, the sport wouldn't be that fun to watch. I put it together in the last race and secured the win, which was a nice way to end the season." 2 CODY WEBB 1-1 "To win two races back-to-back like this incredible," said Cody Webb. "Last night meant so much to prove that I could do it and tonight proved the consistency. I didn't enjoy the track as much but fitness- wise, I rode be er tonight because I was be er at controlling my pace and breath- ing. It was a great way to end the season." AARON TOPS JUNIOR TRIALS The new Junior Trials class, limited to riders 12 to 17 years old was a great battle between three riders. Thirteen- year-old Murphy Aaron took the win on a GasGas. He was followed closely by Riley Bender, who was riding an Electric Motion and Jack Williford rounded out the podium and AMA Grand Championship results on a GasGas. Aaron is the son of 10- time National Trials Champion Geoff Aaron, who also has a couple of EnduroCross wins to his credit. VET ROUND-UP Yamaha-mounted Keith Wineland, a Colorado native, a former top Trials rider and a past EnduroCross Pro po- dium finisher, won the Vet 35+ class both Friday and Saturday nights. Joey Hamilton and Hawaii's Ryan Gou- veia traded second and third on the podium both nights. Craig Thompson won the Vet 35+ Championship over David Stirm. Ryan Gouveia finished the season third overall. NEWCOMER Thorn Devlin, who is backed by Beta USA for GNCC XC2 and National Enduro racing, competed in his first- ever EnduroCross on Friday and just missed the cut for the 16-rider field. He was a quick learner though as he came back to qualify for Saturday night's three motos and finished 14th overall. THE STREAK New Jersey's Wally Palmer raced the first EnduroCross in Las Vegas back in 2004 and has raced every year since then. He originally planned to miss the 2021 season due to a wrist injury but "Wild Wally" decided to come out for the last three rounds of the series. He failed to qualify for the top 16 riders at rounds four and five but put it into the show for the final round in Denver. Briefly... back to fourth at the finish. Ty Cul- lins looked to be on his way to his first-ever moto win until a crash al- lowed Webb to get by him. Cullins still held on for second in the moto and Max Gerston finished third. Abbott, Apolle and Webb started moto two at the front despite starting on the second row. Webb had a good battle with Abbott for a few laps before he was able to open a small gap and take the win. Abbott had to battle with Haaker and then a crash dropped Abbott back to sixth. Gerston had another third- place moto finish. Third overall on Friday went to German rider Tim Apolle who raced the series for Beta USA. His consis- tent 4-6-5 scores beat out several riders that had mixed moto results. Cooper Abbott (KTM) finished fourth overall on Friday with 5-8-4 finishes. LeBlond nearly had his first En- duroCross overall podium finish but a last-lap tangle with Abbott in the final moto dropped him from fourth to eight and his 8-2-8 results put him in fifth. Saturday Night Highlights Haaker led early in moto one, but three crashes dropped him

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