Johnny Girroir has won eight-straight sprint enduro day rounds, accounting for four overall victories: some of them dominating and some of them nail-biters. Saturday’s US Sprint Enduro at High Voltage Raceway was of the nail-biter variety, thanks to Am Pro Yamaha’s Liam Draper. However, Sunday’s more technical event saw Girroir hammer the competition to easily amass his fifth overall victory of the series.

It wasn’t easy, especially on Saturday, but Johnny Girroir remained undefeated in the 2024 US Sprint Enduro Series after the FMF KTM Factory Racer won both days of this weekend’s Warrior US Sprint Enduro on a beautiful Easter weekend in Semora, North Carolina. With AmPro Yamaha’s Liam Draper nipping at his heels (and FMF KTM Factory Racing Landers’ Angus Riordan waiting in the wings), Girroir eked out Saturday’s win by 16 seconds over Draper.

Round two of the USSE series took place in Buffalo, South Carolina at the Silver Hawk Plantation. Silver Hawk is no stranger to off-road racing, having hosted a Full Gas round several years ago, the annual SETRA Little Brown Jug Enduro and being one of AmPro Yamaha and off-road champion Randy Hawkins’ properties. The property is beautiful and tremendously fun to ride, with tight singletrack, access roads, a full motocross track and even a little bit of elevation change. Unlike the sandy soil last round, this was pure red clay – so it’s just as well that conditions were dry and sunny, because that kind of dirt gets insanely slippery when wet.

Even though it took place in Georgia, northerners who made the trek south for Mac Daddy’s Sprint, round one of the USSE series, were likely disappointed by temperatures hovering around freezing. However, they were not disappointed by sunny and dry conditions, especially after the torrential rain riders faced at this venue last year.

The 4-mile (roughly 6.5k) cross test took place in an active sand (or maybe clay) mine and had a very ISDE/Euro feel with lots of fast sweeping corners and short but sharp elevation changes as you entered and exited different sections of the open pit… with a few natural-terrain based jumps for good measure. The 3-mile (roughly 5k) enduro test was also a mix of sand and clay, with a few deep, sandy corners, but a lot of harder clay sections with exposed tree roots and braking/acceleration chop. The cross test held together beautifully throughout the weekend, aside from the jump face and landings getting a little worn down and chewed out. It was stunning how quickly the enduro test got rough. Even between previewing the tests Friday and starting the adult race Saturday (with only the youth riders having been out on the course) there was a noticeable difference, and by the final test on Sunday, it was approaching GNCC or ISDE special test levels of roughness, with very few viable options for riding the edges or avoiding the whoops.