Jared Stock & Harley Lawson take home the wins at round 5 of the SOR Enduro Championship
Story: Noel Flatters - Editor - The Enduro Bureau
August 20, 2024
Jared Stock (KTM Canada / Leatt / SOR Enduro) and Harley Lawson (BFR Motocrew / Blackfoot Motorsports) took home the Pro wins at the final round of the 2024 SOR Enduro Championship series this past weekend at an incredible new racing venue in Alberta, Canada. Stock and Courtney Schmale (KTM Canada / Leatt / SOR Enduro) finished the series as the Overall champions.
The 2024 SOR Enduro Championship concluded this past weekend at Nitche Valley MX, an incredible new off-road racing venue in Alberta, Canada. This was a fast course encompassing log grass track sections, fast woods riding, cross-test tracks, and tight singletrack that, in combination, rewarded the most complete off-road racing skillsets.
Coming into the final Stock had a commanding lead in the overall and controlled his own fate ahead of Kale Cuthbertson (BFD Moto / Husqvarna Canada / Rad 2.0) and Shane Cuthbertson (Rad 2.0 / GasGas Canada / BFD Moto). A disastrous start by Stock saw him heading out onto the first grass track section dead last, but he was able to recover and showcased his tremendous speed to end up in P1 before the end of the section. Stock never looked back from that point and led all the way to the finish, opening up a sizeable gap by mid-race before moving into race management mode for the remainder of the 2.5 hour event.
Behind Stock it was a very tight battle between the Cuthbertsons for P2 on the day and P2 in the overall Championship. At the start Shane Cuthbertson had a 1-point lead over Kale, but Kale was able to turn up the extra notch that he needed in what was the battle of the day to beat his father by 2 seconds after going back and forth in P2/P3 all race. Luke Sydor (1st Track Motorsports) and Ty Cartwright (BFR Motocrew / Blackfoot Motorsports / KTM Canada) rounded out the top five.
In what was likely the ride of the day, young Canadian GNCC racer Hayden Dupuis (Husqvarna / BFD Moto / Fox Racing Canada) came out on his 105cc bike and jumped in with the Pro class as he worked to get ready for the resumption of the GNCC series in two weeks. 13-year old Dupuis put on an absolute clinic all afternoon, showing the Canadian field the speed and skills he’s developed racing both off-road and MX (Dupuis had just come back from stellar outings at both Loretta Lynn’s and Walton). On a fast course that rewarded speed and horsepower, Dupuis pulled off a P8 finish just 6 minutes slower than Stock’s winning time over 2.5hrs. It was a very impressive ride on the small bike, and there is NO question that he can be a star in the off-road racing world. We look forward to seeing how he finishes off the GNCC season.
It was also good to see Canadian ISDE World Junior Trophy Team member Boston Montgomery (Nicola Motorsports / Yamaha Canada / Riders Edge) racing in the Pro field. Although he didn’t get the result that he wanted, Montgomery showed great speed through the first half of the race running top-3/4 lap times before fading slightly over the final 3 laps. Definitely looking forward to seeing Montgomery in action at the Corduroy Enduro in September, and in Spain for the ISDE.
On the Pro Women side of things it was, unfortunately, a depleted field with injuries to Lexi Pechout and Shelby Turner (Enduro Engineering / GasGas / FXR Moto), and Destiny Slingerland stepping back from racing for the remainder of the 2024 season. For the final round it was Harley Lawson and Canadian ISDE Womens World Trophy Team member Courtney Schmale battling it out. Lawson put her grass track and MX skills on show to keep Schmale in the rearview mirror throughout the race, picking up the win by just over 1.5 minutes ahead of Schmale. Lawson is another up-and-coming young Canadian off-road racer who has ISDE in her sights after she finishes high school.
Schmale’s P2 finish was more than enough to secure the overall Championship, though, with 95 points to Lawson’s 81 and Turner’s 50. More to come as we look back at the full 2024 SOR Enduro Championship in our series wrap-up