Hart Wins a Tough Battle of the Goats
T
he Battle of the Goats in
Taylorsville, North Carolina,
came back swinging, April 22-23,
after skipping last year. And cel-
ebrating the return of the Goats
the most was overall winner
Trystan Hart on the FMF KTM.
The 17-mile racecourse fea-
tured steep hill climbs, relent-
less rock gardens, off-camber
roots, and ultra-slick creeks. The
race was the first round of the
AMA East Hard Enduro Series,
Presented by IRC Tire, and the
third round of the IRC U.S. Hard
Enduro Premier Championship,
Presented by Klim.
The race was made up of two
qualifiers on Saturday and a six-
hour main race on Sunday. The
first qualifier on Saturday fea-
tured mostly amateur classes,
while the second qualifier had
expert/amateur classes and the
pro division. The hard enduro
gods were looking over the
Brushy Mountain Motorsports
Park on Saturday, dumping about
a half inch of rain before the first
qualifier, making the course at
least twice as hard with hills and
rocks covered in slick mud.
For Sunday's main, the weath
-
er was nice, but the trails were
still very wet from the rain the
day before. For the main, Trystan
Hart (FMF KTM) took the hole
-
shot on a stacked first row, fol-
lowed by at least 40 more rows
of Pro and Amateur racers.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
Factory Racing's Ryder LeBlond
and Sherco's Cody Webb were
right there. A unique part of the
Battle of the Goats main race
is that on the second lap, the
course splits off to an added
difficult section that adds time to
their lap. On the first lap, the Pros
did not have to struggle with any
lappers and the course was a
bit shorter. Hart came around in
one hour and 33 minutes, with
LeBlond six minutes behind
and Webb another five minutes
behind LeBlond.
Webb and LeBlond were bat
-
WIND
IN THE
P50
Trystan Hart led from
start to finish at the
Battle of the Goats Hard
Enduro race in North
Carolina.
