Hart Makes It
Six at Battle of
the Goats
R
ound five of the AMA National
Hard Enduro Championship,
presented by IRC Tire, returned
to Taylorsville, North Carolina,
for the infamous Battle of the
Goats. The 2026 edition arrived
at Brushy Mountain Motorsports
Park, May 2-3, carrying all the
weight of its reputation, and then
flipped the script.
For years, this stretch of North
Carolina clay has been synony
-
mous with rain, ruts and chaos.
When the skies open, Brushy
transforms into one of the most
unforgiving venues on the Nation-
al Hard Enduro calendar, where
traction disappears, and even the
simplest climbs become hour-
long ordeals. But in 2026, riders
were greeted with something al-
most unfamiliar: dry ground, hero
dirt on the hillsides, and a race
that traded survival for outright
speed, at least on the surface.
Scratch that surface, though,
and Battle of the Goats remained
exactly what it has always been:
a relentless, technical grinder that
rewards precision just as much
as aggression.
The absence of rain didn't
make the race easier; it simply
shifted where the punishment
came from. Instead of wheel-
spinning climbs and axle-deep
mud, riders were forced to
navigate slick rock waterfalls,
dusty creek beds, and high-speed
transfers that punished even the
smallest lapse in focus. The hills
were fast, the dirt was tacky,
WIND
IN THE
P38
but the creeks told a different
story. Without the usual flow
to wash them clean, the rocks
stayed greasy and unpredict-
able, catching riders off guard
and making forward progress
everything.
Course staples like Wentzel's
Waterslide, Chicken Fight, and
the notoriously decisive Lost My
Balls Creek returned to shape
the race once again, sections
that have defined Battle of the
Goats. In a race where condi
-
tions often dictate the outcome,
2026 proved that even a "dry"
Battle of the Goats can bite just
as hard.
The B/C class main on Satur-
day set a brisk pace while still
demanding respect, with dry ter-
rain placing a greater emphasis
on execution over endurance.
Riders faced a 6.5-mile loop
over three laps, where momen-
tum was key, but mistakes in
the wrong places still came with
a heavy cost.
At the front, it was Bentlee
Bredekamp who set the stan
-
dard, taking the overall win with
a composed and efficient ride.
Trystan Hart
won the Battle of
the Goats, AMA
National Hard
Enduro, in North
Carolina.
PHOTOS:
STEPHANIE VETTERLY
