Webb and LeBlond kept things
close enough to pounce on any
mistakes by Hart. Some rain
and hail added to the challenge
and Webb later said it affected
his confidence in taking on the
large rocky hillclimbs. All the
top riders had crashes at some
point during the race, and Hart
had a pretty big one that bent up
his bike at just past the halfway
point. This allowed LeBlond to
briefly take the lead before Webb
passed both riders to take over
at the front. Hart kept it very
close but then missed making a
difficult ledge at the top of the
Eggs Over Easy hillclimb and
that allowed Webb to open a
small gap.
Webb slowly pulled away to
win, completing eight laps in a
total time of two hours, 12 min
-
utes, and 26 seconds. Hart was
nearly two minutes behind at the
finish, and LeBlond was nearly
five minutes back to round out
the podium.
"That was so gnarly!" Webb
said at the finish. "From the
weather to the pace to the track,
the whole thing was rough. I am
so stoked to take back-to-back
wins to extend my points lead a
little. The track was so sketchy,
and it seemed like it was eating
up riders today. I was able to
come away relatively unscathed
outside of bending my bars a
little, but not like some of the
guys today. I rode patiently even
though the pace was high from
the start. I was able to pick the
right lines, and I used a bunch
of my trials skills to navigate the
course. I am so pumped for the
team."
Riordan was the only other
rider to complete eight laps,
and he was nearly 17 minutes
behind the winner. James Flynn
rounded out the top five on his
IRC Development Team Beta.
Husqvarna's Colton Haaker
finished sixth ahead of Sherco
rider Branden Petrie. Beta's Dan
-
iel Lewis finished eighth. Abbott
finished ninth on his Sherco and
Quinn Wentzel rounded out the
top 10 on a Rieju.
Hallie Marks topped the
Women's Pro race, which ended
with Saturday's race two. She
rode her Sherco to victory ahead
of Bailey Lerwill on a GasGas.
They were the only two finishers
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P59
Trystan Hart, the AMA U.S. Hard
Enduro defending champion,
looked like the rider to beat
after winning the two knockout
rounds to get to the main event,
but a big crash damaged his
bike and confidence.
Ryder LeBlond led briefly in
the main event but had to
settle for third place. He was
still happy to be close to the
top two riders at the finish of
a difficult race.
