still managed to work back up
into third. The moto finished
with Haaker taking another win,
followed by Webb, Hart and
Riordan. After some bad luck,
Walker could only muster a sev-
enth, setting up a winner-take-all
scenario in the final moto.
Cooper Abbott squeezed
through the first turn in the final
moto to grab the early lead, fol-
lowed by the rest of the contend-
ers, Hart, Haaker and Walker.
At the finish, only 2 seconds
separated the top four riders:
Hart in first, Abbott in second,
Webb in third, and Walker in
fourth. A sixth-place finish for
Haaker in the final moto cost
him the overall victory, collect-
ing second on the night behind
Hart, who used a 2-3-1- to claim
the overall for the weekend. It
was enough for Hart to clinch
his first AMA EnduroCross title,
adding to his 2023 AMA U.S.
Hard Enduro Championship he
earned in June.
"I needed a little help as far as
points to win the title," said Hart.
"But after the first two motos
it got a little complicated and I
was trying to figure in my head."
After a slow start to the sea
-
son, Hart felt almost certain he
was out of contention for the title.
"Honestly, at the start of the
year, I got two fifths and winning
a championship wasn't even
really in the equation," said Hart.
"Then I really picked my socks
up and got two wins and a sec-
ond. Then coming here, it was
still not easy because I needed
someone in between me and
Jonny. So, it was not going to be
easy. But the whole night didn't
go the way I thought. I thought
I was going to do a little more
winning. The first one I lost on
the last lap because of a lapper.
VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P61
Hart (84) leads Colton
Haaker (10) and
Cooper Abbott (12)
into the first turn.
Haaker was in a good
position to take the
overall after winning
the first two of the
three feature races, but
things didn't work out for
him. He went 1-1-6 for
second overall and third
in the championship.
