TRYSTAN HART TAKES PRESCOTT ENDUROCROSS WIN

Trystan Hart on Top after Round 4 Win

Cody Webb and Jonny Walker round out the podium

FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Trystan Hart notched his second overall-win of the year in the EX Pro division with 3-4-1 moto finishes. “I was super sick coming into this race, so for the last two weeks I haven’t ridden much, and practice was a challenge. I got third in moto one and fourth in moto two, but I just didn’t feel good. Everything was on the line and just for me to get a podium was actually going to be quite hard. There was a lot of drama in the last race [with other riders], but I had a drama-free race out front and also got the overall.” Photo: Jack Jaxson

The 2022 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship Series visited Prescott Valley, Arizona for Round Four. For the second round in a row, Trystan Hart took the overall win in another weekend of action-packed EX Pro battles. The Red Bull KTM rider had a score of 3-4-1 across the three motos. FactoryOne Sherco rider, Cody Webb finished second overall with 2-6-2 moto finishes. Rounding out the overall podium was Beta Rider, Jonny Walker, with 4-1-7 finishes in the motos.

Jonny Walker leading the pack in EX Pro Moto One in Round Four. Photo: Jack Jaxson

To kick the fourth round off, Walker set the fastest hot-lap time to set the starting order for the first of three motos with a time of 37.285. Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker had the second-fastest time of 38.225. FactoryOne Sherco rider Cooper Abbott had the third fastest hot lap with a 38.711. The fourth fastest hot lap belonged Webb at 39.201. GasGas Factory rider Taddy Blazusiak rounded out the top five fastest hot-lap times with a time of 39.342. Hart, the overall winner for the night, finished in sixth with a hot-lap time of 40.079.

Beta’s Jonny Walker was right in the hunt for overall, but got caught up in first turn crash in the final moto. Photo: Diahann Tanke

Walker started off moto one strong with the Moose Holeshot and an early lead, ahead of Abbott and Haaker. Abbott, with a strong moto one start, was right on Walker’s heels for the first few laps, and he would pass Walker for the lead in the fourth lap with Haaker behind him moving into second. Haaker, the defending series champion, passed Abbott in the fifth lap for the lead and would hold on to that for the moto one win. Webb would finish second ahead of Hart in third. Rounding out the top five was Walker in fourth and Abbott in fifth.

Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker wins the first moto in Round Four. Photo: Jack Jaxson

The second moto inverts the sixteen riders’ finish positions from race one for gate picks, so the top eight riders start on the second row. Veteran racer, Justin Soule, took advantage of the front row start and took the holeshot in moto two narrowly ahead of Josh Roper and Cory Graffunder. Graffunder would take the lead for the early part of the first lap, but Blazusiak would make quick work of things and take over the lead by the end of the first lap. Walker would pass Graffunder and take over the second-place position by lap three, followed by Haaker taking over the third-place spot. Hart was also moving up the ranks and was into fourth place by the fourth lap. Walker was pressing on Blazusiak for the next few laps, looking for his opportunity to pass Blazusiak for the lead. In the seventh lap, Walker makes quick work of the matrix and passes Blazusiak in the tire section, which paved the way for Haaker to pass Blazusiak as well, as he and Walker moved into the first and second spots. They would stay that way through the checkered flag with Walker finishing P1, Haaker P2 and Blazusiak P3. Hart would finish in fourth and Abbott in fifth.

Cody Webb: “*That final moto was intense. I had my teammate Cooper Abbott on my rear wheel the entire time. I am thankful he is my teammate or I could have imagined that being a slightly different race.”* Cody ended up second overall for the night Photo Diahann Tanke

In the final moto, a crazy start and crash would shake things up and pave the way for Hart to secure the overall win. At the first turn of the race, over the tire section, Hart would narrowly escape a multi-racer pileup. Walker, Haaker and Blazusiak got caught up in the pileup and started the race at the back of the pack. Haaker and Walker, both just needing top five finishes to win the overall, would start at a severe disadvantage to achieve that goal. Hart protected that early lead to the finish line and win the third moto ahead of Webb in second and Abbott in third. Walker would make his way up to seventh place by the end of the race and Haaker finished in ninth.

Cooper Abbott: *“Moto one was going so well until it wasn’t.* I had a great start and was able to race hard for the entire moto. Unfortunately, my rear brake pedal got destroyed after some riders had made contact with me. It made it hard to finish but I still managed to hold on to fifth for the moto.” Cooper ended up fifth overall.Photo: Diahann Tanke

Taddy Blazusiak stays in the hunt for the championship with a sixth overall finish. Photo Jack Jaxson

For the night’s overall results, Haaker finished fourth with 1-2-9 moto finishes. Abbott came in fifth overall with 5-5-3 moto finishes. Blazusiak finished sixth overall ahead of Tim Apolle who took seventh. Will Riordan came in eighth overall ahead Max Gerston in ninth. Nick Thompson came in tenth overall.

(Racers) Left to Right: Jonny Walker (P3) Trystan Hart (P1) Cody Webb (P2) in the EX Pro Class. Photo: Jack Jaxson

2022 AMA Super EnduroCross- Round 4: Overall Results (Top 10)

1. Trystan Hart, 3-4-1, KTM

2. Cody Webb, 2-6-2 Sherco

3. Jonny Walker, 4-1-7, Beta

4. Colton Haaker, 1-2-9, Husqvarna

5. Cooper Abbott, 5-5-3, Sherco

6. Taddy Blazusiak, 6-3-4, GasGas

7. Tim Apolle, 7-8-6, Beta

8. Will Riordan, 9-7-10, KTM

9. Max Gerston, 8-9-11, GasGas

10. Nick Thompson, 12-10-8, KTM