US Hard Enduro: Two from two for the “goat” Cody Webb at Grinding Stone Hard Enduro
Sherco USA’s Cody Webb makes it two wins from two rounds of the 2024 US Hard Enduro series with victory at the Grinding Stone Hard Enduro ahead of FMF KTM’s defending champion, Trystan Hart.
The Grinding Stone hard enduro has a reputation. Dramatic sand stone rock outcrops makes for awesome scenery and incredible hill climbs – but it also means bikes get a hard time as the “do or die” sections cause bent bars and busted pipes, levers, footrests, subframes, fenders…the list goes on.
Check out the scrape marks down the rocks as the “goat” lives up to his name…
The Northern Arizona town of Page is normally warm and dry but for the 2024 edition of the Grinding Stone heavy rains soaked the course on Friday, although that made riding conditions perfect for the Saturday morning qualifier race.
It was a bumper weekend for this second round of the US Hard Enduro series which moved to downtown Page for a street rhythm style race on Saturday evening.
Trystan hart set up his weekend well with the AM qualifier race before the FactoryONE Sherco duo of Cody Webb and Cooper Abbott battled for top honours in the 32 rider shootout in Page, which Webb claimed over his teammate.
Overnight rain and sleet even forced organisers to delay Sunday start to reset the course marking. The morning race whittled the field from 125 to just 25 for the grand finale. The weather once again added a layer to the difficulty as snow and sleet greeted riders at the starting line from where Trystan Hart again went onto take the win.
The two-hour multi-lap main event saw riders get away clean but it wasn’t long after until the course would wreak havoc. Webb, Trystan Hart, Will Riordan, Ryder Leblond, Cooper Abbott and Colton Haaker would lead the freight train on lap one but all took turns to have incidents.
Bent bars were the most popular menu item at the 2024 Grinding Stone, an event which pitches riders onto impressively steep rock climbs and scenery which offer plenty of grip if you get it right, but has dramatic consequences if you get it wrong.
As the riders came through the halfway point, Webb held a one-minute lead over Hart and Leblond and continued to press on, cresting the final climb almost two-minutes ahead of Hart.
“That was so gnarly!” Said Webb. “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.
“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.”
Watch Cody’s GoPro from the main race here: Cody Webb’s Grinding Stone US Hard Enduro 2024 winning ride onboard
Defending champion Trystan Hart won Saturday’s race and the Sunday morning Race 2, but like many riders (including Webb) at this dramatic venue, beat his bike up badly in a crash: “In the final race I was able to rip the holeshot,” says the FMF KTM rider, “but made a pretty big mistake, so lost a minute there and went back to third. I caught back up, got in the lead, and had a two-minute advantage before I made a critical mistake – a pretty big crash – and the bike landed on top of me.
“I bent my bars and triple-clamps, so just salvaged what I could from there – I wasn't even sure if I was going to get second. Back-to-back seconds to start the year, but we will keep pushing and onto the next one!”
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Ryder LeBlond took third-place after improving across the weekend: “The main race went better than the qualifiers,” LeBlond said. “I knew I could pull it together for the final, do what I had to do in the battle, and that's what we did. It was good, I was close to the leaders the whole time and it was a huge improvement on last year.”
Hallie Marks took the Women’s pro class win for FactoryONE Sherco.
2024 Grinding Stone US Hard Enduro results:
Thanks for the words help/event info from Bryan Kraham | Sherco USA
Photo Credit: Jenny Keller + Ryan McCasland
