Over the weekend of October 23rd, Prescott Valley Arizona welcomed Motorcycle racing for round four of the AMA EnduroCross season. 'What is EnduroCross?', you may ask. Well, EnduroCross is a thrilling sport that packs all the off-road obstacles into a small arena, creating an exhilarating experience for riders and spectators alike.
EnduroCross is a form of motorcycle racing that features exaggerated obstacles and man-made challenges. The races are held during both the day and night, with amateurs competing to qualify for the finals and pros doing practice laps before competing in the main events. The winner is determined by points accumulated from three main events. EnduroCross is known for its challenging and bottleneck-inducing course, with the matrix section being a major obstacle. Overall, EnduroCross is an exciting and spectator-friendly form of motorcycle racing.
In addition to placing all the obstacles into the arena, they exaggerate some of them as well. For example, sometimes out on the trail, you might have to run through a rocky dry creek, but in EnduroCross, you end up with a boulder garden. Or, you might come across a downed tree blocking the trail. In EnduroCross, they take that tree, add some more trees or logs, and you get the Matrix. Then they like to add in some man-made challenges too, like tractor tires, tire jumps, and other stuff. The format lends itself to a great day, and night, of racing. During the day, the various amateur classes get to try and qualify for the finals of their class which takes place as part of the night show.
The pros get to do some practice laps too. Then at the night show, it starts off with the Hot Laps. Each pro gets one lap against the clock. The best times get the best gate picks for Pro Main #1. Pro Main #2 then lines up based on a reverse finishing order of Main #1, and Main #3 lines up based on the finishing order of Main #2. The rider with the best points from all three mains is the winner. The amateur classes run one main event for each class.
Colton Haaker was the points leader coming into Round 4 in Prescott Valley and was hoping to extend his point lead over Tristan Hart and Cooper Abbot. Cooper Abbot is a local Arizona rider, hoping to pull the home-court advantage. The crowd definitely supported the Arizona riders that were there.
The course had the matrix section, followed by a tight left-hand corner with a giant log in the middle of it, and then straight into the bolder garden. It was a very challenging section, even for the pros, and was a huge bottleneck all night long. This section had a major impact on the night, causing many traffic jams on the course. The rest of the course was pretty fast.
When the first moto started, Haaker jumped into the lead and showed why he is the reigning champion and current points, leader. By the end of the night, Colton Haaker took his #1 Husqvarna to another win, winning each of the 3 main events. He was followed by two Arizona riders, Cooper Abbot taking second and Max Gerston coming in third.
Overall it was a great night of racing. If you have never been to an EnduroCross race, please do. It is some of the best spectator-friendly motorcycle racing you can watch, and you will leave with amazing respect for all the racers that attempt to finish.
You can find more information on the EnduroCross website.