NOTE TO READERS: This story first appeared on Direct Motocross

Story & Images: Noel Flatters | Editor - The Enduro Bureau
October 31st 2023 | Idaho Falls, Idaho

Round 4 of the IRC Tires Endurocross Series went off Saturday night at the Mountain America Arena in Idaho Falls, ID. Round 3, the night before, saw the return to normal operations for Canada’s own ‘The Robot’ Trystan Hart (FMF KTM Factory Racing) as he went 1-2-1/P1 and moved from 5th overall in the series to 3rd. The big questions coming in were if Hart could keep building on that momentum, and how series leader Jonny Walker (Beta USA) would react to his first adversity of the series.

The Bottom Line Up Front

• Trystan Hart had another big night going 1-2-2 for his second win in a row, moving into a 2nd place tie overall with Cody Webb (FactoryOne Sherco) just 11 points behind Walker.

• Series leader Jonny Walker had a very rough night at the track getting caught up in several incidents and losing a substantial amount of his overall series lead, but still managed a 6-4-3/P4.

• Canadian pro Melissa Harten (Beta Racing Canada) was P3 at Round 4, and maintained her hold on second place overall in the series with two rounds to go. Series leader Rachel Gutish (Over and Out Racing/GasGas USA) will miss Round 5 to race ISDE Argentina, which should afford Harten the opportunity for a final round shootout with Gutish and third place overall Hallie Marks (Sherco USA).

• Canadian Branden Petrie (Sherco Enduro Racing) had a hard crash early in Moto 1. He was able to walk off under his own power, but is still hurting as of publication date (October 31st).

• Canadian Spenser Wilton went 8-12-14 for P11 this round, and is in a tie for 11th in the series standings, a single point out of 10th. Moving into 10th overall would allow Wilton to avoid the qualifier into the mains.

PRO Men

Hot Lap Qualification

Series leader Jonny Walker threw down a blazing 31.795 hot lap to qualify first. Watching his lap from ground level was impressive. He was surgically precise through the technical features, and very fast in the transition sections. My impression was that he’d been able to leave a disappointing Round 3 behind him, and that he’d be back to racing at the front. Cody Webb threw down an excellent 32.462 lap for P2, and looked especially fast and comfortable in the rock garden section. Trystan Hart was just behind Webb with a 32.974 lap for P3. Hart bobbled slightly on the transition section leading to the rock garden, and that was enough to keep him behind Webb. Colton Haaker (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) and teammate Ryder LeBlond rounded out the top five with 33.235 and 33.881 laps respectively.

Walker commented after the hot laps that he was still struggling with the track, and while he was happy to qualify fastest he didn’t think it mattered too much as gate position wouldn’t make a big difference as long as you were on the front row.

Moto 1

Hart picked up where he left off the night before, coming out of the gate blazing to take the hole shot ahead of Webb and Walker. Branden Petrie had a very good start as well, coming out of the back row for P6. Unfortunately, Branden crashed on the 2nd lap 2 coming off of a large tire obstacle into the log matrix. This crash resulted in a red flag and a standing re-start from the gates.

Off the re-start, Trystan Hart took the hole shot again ahead of Ryder LeBlond (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing), with Walker getting stuck back in P4. Walker and LeBlond would then come together and crash just before the entry to the rock garden. Their bikes ended up tangled, and Walker dropped to last place. Prior to this, still on the first lap, Cooper Abbott (FactoryOne Sherco Racing) had crashed, holding Walker up. There’s no question that lap 1 was a disaster for Walker.

Through the first 6 laps it was Hart and Webb building a significant lead on the rest of the field, while Walker struggled to get through traffic. At the finish it was Hart taking the checkers, Webb in P2, and Max Gerston in P3. Walker managed his way back to P6 with an impressive comeback ride through the field, but Moto 1 was not the response he needed to Hart’s new found momentum.

Moto 2

With Endurocross’ reverse start order for Moto 2 Aussie Will Riordan (FMF RPM KTM Racing) took the hole shot ahead of Haaker, Hart, and Webb. Walker got caught in another incident right off the start and went down, dropping back down the field. Haaker, Hart, and Webb got by Riordan on lap 2, and by lap 6 Haaker had built a 3.5 second lead over Hart and Webb. On lap 7 though, Hart was charging to close the gap when Haaker had a minor bobble in the log matrix. This, in combination with Hart’s pace, put Hart back on Haaker’s wheel within a lap, where he stayed through to the finish for P2. Webb maintained P3 at the flag, Walker made his way back to P4 approximately 14 seconds behind the leaders.

After the moto Haaker spoke about how much a change in mindset had been helping him in the round, and in Round 3 the previous night. He talked about being too focused on his position in races, which led to him making unforced errors while trying to make spots back. For these two rounds, he had been able to deliberately focus on racing the track and going as fast as possible in each section while removing the worries of race position. He talked about his previous rounds being influenced by getting out of the moment and ahead of himself in a “throwing before I had caught the ball” baseball analogy. Whatever he was doing, it was clearly starting to manifest in great finishes.

Moto 3

Moto 3 started with the usual suspects coming hard off of the line. It was Cody Webb with the hole shot this time, ahead of Haaker and Hart. Walker had another tough start, getting swamped by the field and ending up P7. I can’t say for sure but it definitely appeared that Walker was rattled by what had happened in the first two motos after he had laid down his blazing hot lap. He didn’t seem to have an answer to the momentum change that Hart had brought to these two rounds. He was riding fast to regain positions through the field in each moto, no question, but coming from behind is not what this front-runner is known for.

On lap 2 Hart managed to get by Haaker for P2 but had to remain on the defensive against him, allowing Webb to disappear up the track. By lap 4 Webb had built a 2.4 second lead, which extended when Hart made a mistake on a log feature exiting the matrix. Haaker was already front wheel up for a pivot turn and ended up putting it straight into Hart’s back in a pure racing incident. Unfortunately for Haaker, he went down while Hart was able to absorb the hit and stay up. Now clear of his defensive battler with Haaker he was able to start chasing after Webb until a second mistake allowed Haaker to re-pass him and build a small lead. Hart went into maximum effort mode and re-caught Haaker two laps later. Hart then made an aggressive move to take the technical inside line into the rock garden, which forced Haaker outside where he washed out his front wheel. Hart went through to P2 for the final lap, where he remained at the checkered flag behind Webb. Walker also got by Haaker to finish P3, with Haaker dropping to P4. Hart’s pass on Haaker for P2 ended up securing him P1 overall on the night. Webb finished P2 for the round, and Jonny Walker somehow managed to hang onto P4 to salvage something from the night.

When I spoke with Trystan after the race he talked about how after winning Moto 1, he was “maybe a little too chilled” behind Haaker in Moto 2, and “in hindsight I should’ve been more aggressive.” He knew that he had to make the pass for P2 in Moto 3 to win the round “I knew I’d have to make a clutch move to win.” He was actually planning to make his move on the final lap, but the opportunity presented itself one lap before and he knew it was the moment.

Pro Women

The Pro Women’s race was once again the Rachel Gutish (Over and Out Racing/GasGas USA) show… at least until the final obstacle of the last lap. Gutish came into this very technical feature with a healthy lead over US Hard Enduro champ Hallie Marks (Sherco USA) and Melissa Harten (Beta Racing Canada), but got stuck trying to sneak through stopped traffic on top of this tire feature. Gutish was still trying to extricate herself when Marks arrived, but Marks also became stuck after trying to sneak by Gutish’s front wheel. This made for a nearly complete blockage of the obstacle by the time Harten came through (one lap down). Harten showed good patience and managed to get past the jam, but Gutish got herself unstuck shortly after and managed to get across the finish with the win over Marks (P2) and Harten (P3).

After the race Gutish commented that started racing in 2011, and that this was by far the craziest finish she had ever seen or been involved in. Harten noted that this wasn’t her best ride but that she was happy with her P3. She had taken a few good falls over the weekend, and I know she was pretty sore going into the race. Marks thought she might have been able to pass Gutish over that last feature, but some last second hesitation going into it hurt her commitment to the obstacle and lead to her getting stuck.