Cody Webb wins 6th King of the Motos Hard Enduro
Cody Webb has goosebumps as he claims a hard fought 2024 King of the Motos win, US Hard Enduro round one, after a race-long battle with Trystan Hart and Ryder Leblond.
It was all smiles at FactoryONE Sherco this weekend at the King of the Motos as a vintage Cody Webb swept proceedings in the premier class claiming the win as the 2024 US Hard Enduro season got underway at the epic King of the Hammers off-road festival.
The 2024 edition of the KOH would have the riders compete in a single, but longer format Saturday qualifier followed by a three-lap Sunday main event.
Friday rain would make for epic conditions rather than the usual high desert dust and it helped riders tackle a massive rocky vertical ascent in Saturday’s qualifier.
Cody Webb would blast out to the holeshot to head a lead group of including Trystan Hart, Ryder Leblond, Will Riorden, Colton Haaker and Cooper Abbott all setting a very high pace from the green flag.
As the riders crested the final hill on lap one, it was four riders with Webb, Hart, Leblond, and Riorden. As they entered the pit, the FactoryONE Sherco team sent Webb out without refuelling, a tactical move which gave him a gap he would never relinquish. Cody went on to finish P1 followed by Hart and Leblond.
Holeshot king Cody
Late afternoon rain on Saturday again kept conditions perfect for the Sunday finale where riders would have their gate pick based on Saturday’s result. Webb rocketed to a second holeshot as the riders climbed “Chocolate Thunder” opening hill.
Webb would lead the top riders into the fuel stop each time, but to the surprise of everyone, he would make a 180 turn and head back out on the course without stopping. The strategy would pay off giving Webb an almost one-minute lead for the third and final loop. While a shorter last lap, it would be the most challenging for the riders.
Cooper Abbott would come to the final fuel stop in p6, almost a minute and a half down to Colton Haaker. In a bold move, FactoryONE president Ron Sallman waived Abbott to keep going. This move also paid off as he was able to reel in Haaker shortly thereafter.
An elated Webb punched the air with his fist taking the win with the same one-minute gap over Trystan Hart and then Ryder Leblond.
“I had goosebumps the last little bit,” said Webb. “I was feeling so strong all weekend and our pit strategy paid off. The conditions were awesome and I feel like Justin did a great job with the race course this year. I am honestly just so stoked on this win. Trystan and Ryder were riding so great. We would yoyo back and forth but today was my day. I am so happy to be back on top.”
“Honestly I was a bit surprised,” said Webb. “I haven’t hole-shotted the weekend ever. I was pretty stoked on that,” continued the ecstatic Webb. “With a three-loop format, I felt like we all knew that we were going to ride together for the first lap or two and then feel it out from there. Yesterday we chose not to fuel because we saw that we were getting amazing fuel mileage thanks to the SmartCarb on my bike. With that, we thought we might be able to skip the last fuel stop which could play into our hands.” concluded Webb.
“I definitely was trying to get that top spot here,” Said Hart, “but Cody was really feeling it all weekend, so a big congratulations to him. We had an epic battle today, for two and a half hours we were all together, which is maybe a first in US Hard Enduro history. It was a pretty sick battle for us and the spectators – a big thank you to all involved!”
Louise Forsley made her return to racing. She put in a dominant performance sweeping the weekend as well. In the A class, it was supported rider Riley Bender taking the win.
Thanks for words/race report help to Bryan Kraham.
Photo Credit: Jenny Keller
