GIRROIR WINS HARLEYWOOD SPRINT ENDURO, TOTH TAKES THE TITLE

Story and Photos by Shan Moore
Girroir’s overall win was his second in a row since returning from injury.

 

Coastal Racing GasGas’ Johnny Girroir won the battle, taking the overall two-day win for the weekend at the Harleywood Sprint Enduro in Harleywood, Virginia, but it was FMF/KTM’s Josh Toth who won the war, edging out AmPro Yamaha’s Layne Michael for the 2022 US Sprint Enduro championship in a title fight that went down to the wire.

 

Josh Toth: “Man, it’s such a relief. It was stressful coming into this weekend. I had such a bad round the last one and put myself in the hole when I had the points lead. Coming into this weekend down, I knew I needed to beat Layne both days. Like I said, it is stressful but I knew what I needed to do. Just a huge relief, really. “

 

Toth and Michael spent the first seven rounds of the series taking turns exchanging the point lead, with each rider dealing with multiple injuries throughout the season. Coming into the eighth and final round in Virginia, Michael held a slight seven-point lead over Toth. Girroir had split wins with Michael at the previous round but took the overall despite missing most of the season with a broken pelvis, but still had the potential to be a spoiler in the title fight. Toth came out swinging on Saturday, winning all three enduro tests and topped Girroir by 16 seconds for the win. Tely Energy Racing’s Liam Draper had one of his best days of the season with a third on Saturday, dropping Michael to fourth by 28 seconds.

 

Layne Michael put up a valiant fight all year, dealing with a shoulder injury for much of the season.

 

On Sunday, it was Girroir’s turn to shine, as he won five of the six tests for Sunday’s win. The Massachusetts rider also made up the 16 seconds he had given up the day before to Toth, beating out the KTM rider by three-tenths of a second to claim the overall win for the weekend. Toth finished second for the day, which was more than enough to claim the championship title ahead of Michael, who was fourth again behind Draper for the day. Phoenix Honda Racing’s Cody Barnes’ fifth overall gave him the overall win in the Pro 2 class completing a sweep if all eight overall victories in the division, although RPM Racing’s Angus Riordan beat Barnes out for the day win on Sunday.

 

Sebastian Taverne of Chile was seventh overall and first in the Pro-Am class.

 

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Tayla Jones won the Women’s Pro overall, topping 10 of the 12 tests, and she also finished 10th overall. It was her second Women’s Pro title in a row.

 

OVERALL RESULTS

  1. Johnny Girroir (GG)
  2. Josh Toth (KTM)
  3. Liam Draper (KTM)
  4. Layne Michael (Yam)
  5. Cody Barnes (Hon)
  6. Angus Riordan (KTM)
  7. Sebastian Taverne (Hon)
  8. Neil Enman (GG)
  9. Drew Callaway (KTM)
  10. Tayla Jones (Hsq)
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