Story: Noel Flatters - Editor, The Enduro Bureau
July 02, 2024

Canada’s Trystan Hart (FMF KTM Factory Racing) came to the 2024 edition of the Silver Kings Hard Enduro with only one mission: win. By the time the dust settled he had put on an exhibit of hard enduro riding that put an exclamation point on his reputation as one of the top three riders globally in the discipline. Likewise, Sandra Gomez returned to Silver Kings and showed the Pro Women field that she is currently the gold standard in hard enduro.

WHAT?

• Trystan Hart dominated the field at the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, ID, taking the Day 1 and Day 2 wins to finish with a 22.5 minute overall advantage over Ryder LeBlond (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing). Will Riordan (GasGas Factory Racing) picked up P3 overall, with Alfredo Gomez and young Hawaiian rider Kamakana (Kana-Boy) Waiwaiole-Kahalepuna (Kauai Racing Development) rounding out the top 5.

• Riley Bender (Sherco USA) had a perfect weekend, taking wins in the 509 Amateur Street Rhythm and both the Day 1 and Day 2 Silver class races. The 17-year old Colorado racer was the only Silver class rider to finish Day 2.

• Sandra Gomez also had a perfect weekend to show/remind the North American field and fans that she’s the one to beat in Pro Women.

• One of the biggest stories of the weekend (after Hart, Gomez, and Bender’s wins) was the performance of the Kauai Racing Development team out of Hawaii, with Kana-Boy’s P4 in the final race, and his P5 overall, coupled with Ryder Guest’s P7 final race/P8 overall.

• The race organization made an interesting call to change the Day 2 race mid-race, moving from a three-lap/four-hour cut-off format to a five-hour cutoff. Presumably this decision was made to allow for at least one finisher on the day (Hart finished in 4:22:01.52, after the original four-hour cutoff), however no official reason for the change was provided.

SO WHAT?

• Hart forcefully demonstrated his position as one of the top three hard enduro riders in the world, and arguably the top hard enduro rider in North America. The only reason for the use of ‘arguably’ was the absence of Cody Webb (FactoryOne Sherco) due to a knee injury he sustained in the prologue at Red Bull Erzbergrodeo in early June. Hart finished the Day 2 race with a 12 minute advantage over LeBlond despite having to stop for a wheel change necessitated by a destroyed rear wheel bib. The only thing Hart didn’t do all weekend was win the 509 Street Rhythym (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Colton Haaker took that win, ahead of teammate LeBlond).

• Bender continues to demonstrate that he is the top Amateur hard enduro in North America, and that he is developing into a world-class talent. At age 17 he has built an incredible North American resumé, and it’s going to be interesting to see where he finishes at the Tennessee Knockout in August as it is an FIM World Hard Enduro Championship Round.

• For the Kauai Racing Development Team, they continue to punch well above their weight and continue to be a great story in North American Hard Enduro. The team and riders have, with amazing community support, built a high-performance program out in the middle of the Pacific. With limited industry support, their results keep improving and they’re becoming a real threat in the US Hard Enduro Series. Kana-Boy’s breakthrough ride in the final race was, to my eyes, the team really starting to show what they are capable of. To think that this young Hawaiian just beat Alfredo Gomez in a 4-to-5 hour race feels pretty mind-blowing!

• Getting back to the mid-race format change, Silver Kings results do not show detailed times with respect to checkpoints throughout the race. We did contact the race organization to ask if detailed results were available, but no response was received at time of publication. Without that information it’s impossible to determine if the 1-hour addition to the cut-off time resulted in any position changes from the 4-hour cut-off that was provided in the Rider’s Briefing. It certainly didn’t impact on Hart’s win, but LeBlond passed Riordan for P2 on track before finishing approximately 00:06:30 ahead of Riordan. The race website did note that “All cut-off times will be strictly enforced.” Hopefully we won’t see these inconsistencies at the next edition of the race.

NOW WHAT?

• The next big event on the Hard Enduro calendar is Red Bull Romainacs, coming up in three weeks. Hart’s P2 finish at Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, combined with his big win at Silver Kings, has reminded the world that he’s still very competitive despite electing to race only the Erzbergrodeo, Romainiacs, and TKO rounds of the Hard Enduro World Championship. It will be interesting to see if Hart can keep building on his momentum to pull off the win at Romainiacs.

• The other North American riders will get a little break before they refocus on the US Hard Enduro Premier Series for the Donner, CA, round on the weekend of August 10th. Will Riordan will be heading back to Australia over the break to race the Hattah Desert Race with his GNCC/USSE-focused brother Gus Riordan (FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers).

• Inside Enduro (the promoters of Silver Kings Hard Enduro) announced this winter that, in partnership with WESS Promotion GmbH (FIM Hard Enduro World Championships promoter), “WESS is ultimately looking to strengthen its position in North America and it has been agreed that SKHE will be the first New Race added to the schedule when this time comes.  SKHE and WESS are fully committed to bringing the highest quality racing to Silver Mountain Resort.” It will be interesting to see if/how this relationship develops. WESS has chosen to run only one World Championship round in North America per season, currently alternating between TKO and Red Bull Outliers (Calgary, Alberta). It would be great to see multiple World rounds on this side of the Atlantic.