SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Trystan Hart took his first GEICO AMA EnduroCross overall win during round three at Glen Helen Raceway on Thursday.
The recently signed FMF KTM Factory Racing rider held off Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker in a last lap tussle to take the third moto and the overall win. FactoryOne Sherco’s Cody Webb entered the final moto tied with Hart and Haaker, but ultimately finished third in the moto and overall.
Haaker set the bar with the fastest hot lap time to earn the first gate pick for the first of three motos. Webb was second and Hart third. RPM KTM’s Cooper Abbott was fourth and TM Racing backed Ty Cullins rounded out the top five.
Haaker edged out Hart for the holeshot in moto one but Hart managed to take over the lead in the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Rock garden. Hart led for a lap and a half before Haaker pushed his way into the lead, which he held to the finish with Hart keeping him honest. Webb worked his way up to third early in the race but could not close in on Haaker or Hart. Abbott had another solid finish with a fourth and Beta’s Max Gerston rounded out the top five.
The 16 riders are inverted for race two with the top eight riders starting on the second row. Noah Kepple took the lead to start the race with Wally Palmer and Anthony Johnson on his heels. Haaker and Webb quickly worked there way through the pack to get to second and third midway through the second lap behind Kepple. Webb then passed both Haaker and Kepple to take the lead before Haaker worked his way past both riders to take over the lead.
Haaker appeared to be on the way to the moto win but with just over a lap remaining, he collided with a lapped riders bike and dropped to third. Hart had worked up to Webb’s tail and the two battled to the finish line with Webb taking the win and Haaker recovering for third. Kepple held on for fourth and Abbott finished fifth.
Webb, Hart and Haaker entered the third and final moto tied on points, making for a thrilling final. Abbott blasted to the holeshot with Webb in second and Haaker went down in the first turn and got going in the last position. Webb passed Abbott at the end of lap one with Hart following him through. Hart made a pass on Webb on lap four and opened a comfortable margin.
With one lap to go, Haaker had worked his way into second and with a blistering push combined with Hart backing off, he closed in and made an aggressive pass exiting the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC rock garden. Hart responded by passing Haaker back at the end of the next straight in the triple K rail section and narrowly held him off for the rest of the lap. The moto win earned Hart the overall ahead of Haaker and Webb. Abbott finished fifth in the moto for fourth overall while Gerston finished fourth in the final moto for fifth overall.
Hart was happy about taking his first win, but was more focused on the championship.
“It is pretty crazy to take my first win, but I am not overly excited because I am more focused on the championship and I have a bit of a deficit to overcome still,” said Hart. “So we will be back tomorrow to try to gain back more points.”
Haaker had a good day and maintained the points lead.
“The first moto was perfect pretty much,” Haaker said. “The second moto was going good until a lapped rider whiskey throttled right in front of me and took me out. That final moto, I was a little further outside than I wanted to be because of the third gate pick and I just lost the front coming into the first turn. So I just wanted to see how far I could move up and ended up making a pass for the lead on the last lap. Then a little mistake let Trystan get back by me. It was close but I still salvaged second.”
Webb had a strong third overall result, but felt he was missing the intensity to get the wins.
“It wasn’t exactly the result that I hoped for,” Webb said. “That first moto, I hung onto their coattails but couldn’t really challenge for the top two spots. In the second moto, I worked my way to the front but then Colton managed to get by me and he had the moto until he got taken down. I held the insides everywhere to keep Trystan behind me and it was good to get our first moto win. I did all I could in that final moto but I rode a little tight. It was definitely a more technical track today but I realized I have been training for longer Extreme races in the woods and I am missing some of the intensity needed for EnduroCross. We will come back tomorrow and try to improve.”