Ryder LeBlond takes first-ever US Hard Enduro Premier Championship win at the 2025 Grinding Stone Hard Enduro after a nailbiter finish with Will Riordan and Cody Webb in the knockout-style race, round three of the Bullet Proof Designs US Hard Enduro Series, Presented by IRC Tire.

The Grinding Stone Hard Enduro, hosted by the Rockstars Motorcycle Club in Page Arizona, has become one of the most iconic hard enduro courses in the world the past five years.

Taking place across the highway from Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell, the beautiful natural landscape is the backdrop to some of the most consequential courses of the season.

The steep sandstone mesas feature many high risk, yet high reward lines, but the knockout format allows for the level of difficulty to increase over three different races for both the Amateur and Pro classes.

There was some extra anticipation this year as two-time Grinding Stone winner, FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Trystan Hart, was not racing due to a recent collarbone surgery. 

This left the door open to either a potential new USHE Premier Championship winner, or a new manufacturer to win a US Hard Enduro with two-time winner Cody Webb racing on his Rocky Mountain Yamaha.

Saturday starts the show

On Saturday, Race 1 consisted of all of the racers riding a 12-mile course suited for B-class difficulty, for two laps in a five-hour time limit with multiple checkpoints.

FactoryONE Sherco’s Will Riordan held a fast pace and ended up winning the first race, which not only helped with row position for the next race, but the Rockstars Motorcycle Club added a $1000 cash purse to each qualifier race. Amateurs got their fix in Race 1 with many racing until the 5 hour mark. Jim Flynn, Grinding Stone Race Director, has spent hundreds of hours creating these courses, overcoming challenges of marking a course on sandstone and helping eliminate any bottlenecks to keep the racers moving.

Street showdown

After Race 1, the city of Page closed off Elm Street in their downtown center for a giant endurocross course that Flynn and the Rockstars MC constructed over the past few months.

Over 1000 spectators surrounded the complex street course, which featured double-elimination bracket racing from the top-32 finishers of Race 1.

Side by side battles entertained the crowd throughout the afternoon, as racers were fighting for a $2000 purse and major bragging rights.

In the finals, it consisted of FactoryONE Sherco teammates Cooper Abbott and 17-year-old Braxton Hintze, but it was Abbott who edged out the rookie to claim victory in Downtown Page.

This was the second year of the Street Shootout and has quickly become one of the highlights of the weekend for racers and fans alike.

Knockout Sunday race day

On Sunday morning, the top-150 finishers from Race 1 started Race 2, which consisted of the same course with added difficult sections. If any Amateurs didn’t feel like they raced enough on Saturday, Race 2 made sure to fill that void and pushed their limits at the same time.

Will Riordan was again the winner of this qualifier, gaining a lot of momentum going into Race 3, the final race on Sunday afternoon, where the top-25 racers moved on to race on a 3.5 course with the maximum difficulty.

Maximum difficulty

Race 3 has gained recognition as one of the most intense and technical courses in North America, with infamous sections such as Stairway to Heaven, JX8, High Dive, and Double Bogey, challenging the racers in ways that no other race challenges them with. Huge crowds gathered at these sections, cheering on the top-25 and watching them conquer, or not conquer, some nearly impossible sections.

Riordan’s costly mistake

A few hundred feet from the mass start on top of a small mesa, Will Riordan went down and lost some vital positions for the beginning of the race. Ryder LeBlond pushed ahead to the lead, with Cody Webb and IRC Beta’s James Flynn close behind.

Riordan had to push through the field up to fourth place on lap two, but with such a short course and 22-minute lap times, racers were piling up in certain sections, adding to the already-difficult obstacles on this course.

Riordan pushed his way to second place with his sights on LeBlond, and Webb and Flynn were sitting a bit behind them in third and fourth.

LeBlond held a strong lead until his second to last lap, where he had trouble getting up Stairway to Heaven clean, losing two minutes to Riordan, and things started to get heated as the final hill approached.

The top-four ended up passing everyone in the field, which earned them the right to climb the final hill, Truth or Dare, in front of hundreds of spectators below.

LeBlond it was who arrived first and climbed the hill, and made just enough time to claim the 2025 Grinding Stone Hard Enduro victory.

Riordan was only 45 seconds behind LeBlond to finish in second with Webb 10 minutes behind for a third place and his first podium on the Rocky Mountain Yamaha YZ250X. James Flynn finished in fourth, his best USHE Premier race finish yet. Braxton Hintze rounded out the top-five.

Say what? Post-race rider interviews:

LeBlond’s win was his first US Hard Enduro Premier Championship victory, after several years of dozens of podium finishes. Jim Flynn and the Rockstar Motorcycle Club put on another successful Grinding Stone Hard Enduro, as the racers pushed the limits of what’s possible in this terrain while increasing the fanfare around the event.

Forsley takes Pro Women’s win

Louise Forsley won the Pro Women’s class, finishing in 62nd place overall. Katie Hall-Leah and Addy Albrecht rounded off the Pro Women’s podium.

Niko Piazza was the overall top Amateur racer of the weekend, with Coran Calvert and Declan McCahill rounding off the A podium.

Grinding Stone official results:

The next USHE Premier Championship race will be the Moab Hard Enduro at Area BFE on April 11-12.

For full results: http://www.moto-tally.com/USHE/Results.aspx

Website: www.ushardenduro.com

Photo Credit: Ryan McCasland + Jenny Keller