US Hard Enduro: Electric James Flynn at Lightning Strikes Hard Enduro
IRC Beta’s James Flynn took the checkers at the US Hard Enduro (USHE) Lightning Strikes Hard Enduro this past weekend at Lightning Raceway in Tippecanoe, Ohio.
With the main US Hard Enduro, plus East and West series, already completed, the North American scene moved onto the Fall Series last weekend in Tippecanoe, Ohio.
After success with the inaugural Lightning Strikes Hard Enduro last fall as part of the USHE’s Fall Series, promoter and hard enduro racer, Rieju USA’s Quinn Wentzel wanted to one-up himself and did just that this last weekend with the second running of the Lightning Strikes Hard Enduro.
This year’s event had a few changes which had a huge impact on racers tackling the eight-mile course, with amateurs racing on Saturday and the Pro classes racing the same course with some challenging sections added in on Sunday, allowing for fewer lappers and fewer bottlenecks each day.
With a lack of rain in the area leading up to race weekend, the track was dry and fast, with rocks having ample traction.
Saturday’s amateur racing saw Julio Jimenez run away with the lead. The Team Fogueo rider was first to reach the initial checkpoint, and was able to keep pace, slowly extending his lead to an impressive 15 minutes by the end of the four-hour time limit. Justin Hawes was on his rear tire until the end of the first lap, where Wyatt Holdgrafer overtook him.
Holdgrafer held pace until the end of lap three, where the leaderboard shuffled and saw a new podium emerge. Geiner Cordero, who had been battling throughout the top ten for the majority of the race, was able to make a final push on lap five, making the pass on Holdgrafer for second place, with Holdgrafer rounding out the overall top three.
Pro Prologue
After amateur racing was finished, a Pro Prologue was held on a shortened course to determine start order for Sunday’s Pro race. Six laps were on the agenda, with some nice cash prizes for incentive, and riders could be seen flying through the creeks and the EnduroCross track. James Flynn had a solid start, getting in front of the pack and keeping pace just ahead of Logan Bolopue.
Flynn was able to set the fastest lap time at only 3:30. Rieju USA’s Hayden Mosa rounded out the Prologue podium, with 3 Seas Recreation’s Mark Fortner and Clinton County Motorsports’ Nick Fahringer closing out the top five.
Just three finishers complete the 24 time checks
The stage was set for Sunday’s Pro race. Eight miles of track were laid out in the Ohio woods with eight additional Pro splits for added difficulty. Flynn was fastest off the start, taking the holeshot with Bolopue hot on his heels. Bolopue would push Flynn all race, getting within seven seconds of the Beta rider in lap three, but Flynn had found the flow and extended his lead throughout the rest of the six laps, finishing a full 10 minutes in front.
“I got the lead at the beginning and just tried to ride my race the whole time,” said Flynn. “After a couple laps, I started to figure the course out a little bit more. I kept trying to tell myself that I wasn’t tired and to keep going no matter what. A couple lap riders were in my way, but it gave me an opportunity to scope out new lines, so I was pretty happy about that.”
“The course was dry and dusty, but super fun; perfect mixture of fast stuff and hard stuff,” said second placed Bolopue. “We ended up having some lap traffic, and had to take some lines we didn’t take on the first lap. I tried something and didn’t make it, so I lost a little bit of time [on Flynn]. Near the last half of the race, I just started to run out of gas [laughs].”
Third place was a battle between Nick Fahringer and Hayden Mosa. Mosa found himself behind a lap rider as he set up for a hillclimg; Fahringer took advantage of the situation and was able to push past both riders, muscle his way up the hill and run away with third place and the final of just three riders to complete the 24 time checks.
Mosa was able to get back on pace, but unfortunately had made some decisions on his tire setup that didn’t quite work in his favor. Shortly after getting passed by Fahringer, Mosa realized the mousse in his rear tire had completely disintegrated. He was able to keep a hold of fourth place to the checkers.
“I’m not much of a morning person, but once we got past noon, I was ready to roll,” joked Fahringer. “I had a mid-pack start, then worked my way into second. We got to the bottom of a hillclimb section, and I got too deep into a bad line and lost three spots. A good technical section later, I made two passes, then in one of the new Pro hills, I passed Hayden in a bottleneck. I could tell he was not happy, but I made a clean pass and just rolled with it.”
Rounding out the top five was Champion Brick’s Tobin Miller, who’s finish was a career best in the USHE series.
Results – Pro
- James Flynn (BET)
- Logan Bolopue (SHR)
- Nick Fahringer (SHR)
- Hayden Mosa (RJU)
- Tobin Miller (KTM)
- Mark Fortner (BET)
- Ronald Vena (KTM)
- Tom Truxell (HON)
- Chase Confer (HSQ)
- Mason George (RJU)
Results – Amateur (overall)
- Julio Jiménez (KTM)
- Geiner Cordero (BET)
- Wyatt Holdgrafer (KTM)
- Michael Gardner (KTM)
- Justin Hawes (KTM)
- Gage Hill (KTM)
- Jose Julian Hernandez Rios (GG)
- Cory King (SHR)
- Taylour Grossmann (KTM)
- Jake Campbell (KTM)
For full results: http://www.moto-tally.com/USHE/Results.aspx
The USHE East Hard Enduro series will continue October 12 with the Mad Moose Hard Enduro in Marquette, MI.
More information: www.ushardenduro.com
Words and photo credit: Stephanie Vetterly | On The Pegs
