SAN BERNARDADINO, Calif. — After winning round one of the EnduroCross season on Friday, Colton Haaker capped off a perfect weekend with a second overall win on Saturday night.
The Rockstar Husqvarna rider had 3-1-1 moto scores. FMF KTM Factory Racing backed Trystan Hart finished second overall with 1-4-2 moto scores and Cody Webb rounded out the podium on his FactoryOne Sherco with 2-2-3 finishes.
Hart set the fastest hot lap time for the second day in a row to show his speed. Webb, Cooper Abbott, Noah Kepple, and Haaker rounded out the top five. This sets the starting positions for the first moto so a good result is critical.
Hart took the Fox Holeshot in moto one with Haaker and Webb close behind setting up a good battle among the three title favorites. The three riders remained close for most of the race until Haaker made a mistake with about two laps remaining to allow Hart to escape and Webb to take over second, which he held to the finish. Haaker held on for third and Abbott came out on top of a race-long battle with SRT backed Cory Graffunder for fourth.
In the second moto, the 16 riders take their gate picks in reverse order from the moto one results, putting the top eight finishers on the second row. Wally Palmer capitalized on his front row pick to take the holeshot on his SRT Kawasaki.
Abbott got a great start from row two just behind Palmer and Haaker was not far behind. Webb and Hart were both further back and had to work hard to get to the front. Haaker moved through the field to take the lead from Abbott within a couple of laps and Webb was soon into second. Graffunder worked his way up to third and held that spot to the finish. Hart dropped back to last at one point but was able to work up to fourth with Abbott rounding out the top five.
Haaker took the moto three Fox Holeshot and had Webb and Hart right behind him. Whoever won the moto would get the overall and the pressure was on as all three riders remained in tight formation for several laps. Hart managed to push his way past Webb and closed the gap to Haaker and it appeared that he may make the move for his first overall win.
But Haaker held strong and managed to open a small gap in the final two laps. Hart was second in the moto with Webb third with the two earning second and third overall respectively. Beta’s Benjamin Herrera put in a strong fourth in the final moto, which moved him to sixth overall. Graffunder was fifth for fourth overall and Abbott finished the final moto in seventh for fifth overall.
“I had a huge crash in practice because my holeshot device didn’t release, then I crashed during the hot lap but managed a fifth-place still,” Haaker said. “The first race was going good but I got taken out trying to lap Wally Palmer so I dropped back to third. The second race was much better as I worked my way into the lead and did my thing to the end. And then the holeshot in the final moto helped me get the win. The red plate is heavy and defending the title is heavy but I am happy to get off to a great start to the season.”
Shelby Turner took her second win in a row in the Women’s class. Louise Forsley improved one position from the previous day to finish second on her Sherco and Morgan Tanke finished third on her Beta.
In the Amateur/Intermediate main event, Tyler Smith took the win on his Husqvarna and Joshua Fouth finished second on a Yamaha. Shelby Turner rounded out the podium.
Craig Thompson won the Vet class on his Husqvarna over Ryan Gouveia, the TM rider that took the win on the previous day. Wayne Dickert finished third on his Sherco.