Hickory, NC (January 23, 2020) – The KENDA Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series is pleased to announce Appalachian Offroad Motorcycle Company as its 2020 presenting sponsor.
Located in the heart of the Appalachian mountains in Charleston, WV, AOMC is a multi-line dealership selling KTM, Husqvarna, Sherco, and Beta and a full line of parts and accessories to keep you ready for the races. Regardless of your location, AOMC can keep you outfitted with all the parts and accessories you need for Full Gas Sprint Enduro racing with their online store AOMC.mx.
AOMC offers a unique racer rewards program, BraapCoin Rewards, and will be giving $10 in rewards to each racer for every Full Gas Sprint enduro entry. You can also earn BraapCoin from online purchases, product reviews, signups, referrals and social media shares at AOMC.mx.
“We’re stoked to have AOMC on board for 2020 as our series presenting sponsor!” said series founder, Jason Hooper. “Jamin and his crew at AOMC understand our series and off-road racing–they sell the bikes, parts, and accessories our racers use every weekend–that’s what we look for in our series partners. The fact that they’re going to give BraapCoin Rewards for every race entry this season so make it easier on our racers to keep their bikes up and running made it a no-brainer having AOMC on board as our presenting sponsor!”
AOMC CEO, Jamin Jones adds, “We feel that grassroots marketing through motivated promoters like Jason Hooper is the best way to advance our sport while introducing our brand to new customers. We couldn’t be more excited to be involved with Full Gas Sprint Enduro racing and are looking forward to bringing yet another pro level racing event to the state of West Virginia!”
The KENDA Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series presented by AOMC kicks off its 6th season of racing on February 8-9 at GTR Complex in Gaston, SC. Pre-entry for the entire season is now open at sprintenduro.com.
2020 Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Presented by AOMC Schedule
Round 1 February 8-9 GTR Complex Gaston, SC Round 2 Feb. 29 – Mar. 1 Lane Farm MX Garfield, GA Round 3 March 28-29 NC Motorsports Park Henderson, NC Round 4 May 9-10 Hawkins Farm Union, SC Round 5 May 23-24 Hidden Valley Golf Course Glen Daniel, WV Round 6 June 13-14 Harleywood Bristol, VA Round 7 July 18-19 LL Raceway Fairmount City, PA Round 8 August 8-9 Rockcrusher Farms Young Harris, GA Awards Banquet TBA The Crossing at Hollar Mill Hickory, NC
For the 2020 season we will once again be accepting and encouraging all riders who plan to compete in the entire season to use their earned or requested permanent number. This will allow everyone to get their custom made numberplate stickers made and not have to run the little number stickers we typically give at signup.
The number you earned is for the class you raced in last season. If you’re switching classes let us know via email asap. If you’re requesting a number, the number must be in the number range for the class you are racing. Please pay attention to the number range for your class as they may have changed from last season.
All number requests, number changes, class changes, etc. will be done on a first-come-first-served basis through emails to [email protected].
If you do not plan on racing at least 6 rounds of the series please do not request a permanent number.
LAURENS,SC (SEPT. 1-2, 2019) The best of the east met up with the best of the west at the final round of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series, in Laurens, South Carolina, with ex-moto star and all-around off-road ace Ryan Sipes coming out on top of a close battle with newly crowned Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series champion Kailub Russell to take the win at the Chestnut Corner Full Gas Sprint Enduro. Former Supercross star Josh Hill also made an appearance on Sunday, bolstering an already loaded Pro class.
The final round of the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series was designated an ISDE camp by US team manager Antti Kallonen, so the entire US ISDE Trophy team (World, Junior and Women’s) showed up to do battle, pitting the best from each of the major series in the United States against each other: Full Gas Sprint Enduro, AMA National Enduro, Grand National Cross Country and WORCS.
After two days of racing and 12 timed tests, Sipes edged fellow factory KTM rider Russell by just 22 seconds for the overall win.
Ryan Sipes drifts through a turn on the cross test. // Photo: Shan Moore
Sipes admitted he was a bit surprised by the win and since the event also served as a warmup and training weekend for the upcoming International Six Days Enduro in Portugal, he thinks the US squad is ready to win back the title it claimed in 2016.
“I had no clue where I’d be against these guys since I haven’t raced one of these all year; I didn’t know where my speed would be, so I’m really happy,” said Sipes. “I knew I would do okay in the Cross test, I just wasn’t sure about the Enduro test. I got a little lucky with this woods test. It was technical, but not very tight, so that played to my strengths.”
Russell stayed within a second or two of Sipes for most of the weekend and held the lead on two occasions, but threw it away with a crash in the final test.
Kailub Russell kept Sipes honest all weekend but crashes cost him a shot at the win. // Photo: Shan Moore
“I made a lot of mistakes,” said Russell. “It was tough – super dry and slick and I just couldn’t keep it off the ground. I’ve only fallen like two or three times all year at these races and I probably had four falls this weekend. It’s hard to compete for the win when you’re on the ground. Ryan was in a league of his own on the Cross test, but I had some fast times in the Enduro test. I got in the lead on Monday after the Enduro test, but then I fell in the Cross test and threw it away. Then I was close going into the final test so I went for it and fell again.”
FMF/KTM’s Taylor Robert, the 2016 ISDE Individual champion, kept the two front-runners honest with a solid third place finish, even though the event marked his first taste of woods racing in over a year. Robert got off to a slow start but was able to work his way into a podium position.
Taylor Robert grabbed 3rd in his first-ever Full Gas Sprint Enduro. // Photo: Shan Moore
“I started off pretty slow but I picked it up in the afternoon – I went from 10thplace to third by the end of the day,” said Robert. “Even though this woods section wasn’t very tight, it’s still tighter than anything I ride, and it’s mainly the tree roots I don’t get to ride, but it’s good prep for Six Days and it’s always good to practice something different.”
Since he will be the designated E3 rider on the US Trophy Team, Tely Energy Racing’s Steward Baylor (who normally rides a 450) will be riding a KTM 500 in Portugal, and he spent the first day in South Carolina getting used to one at the Chestnut Corner event. After a slow start, Steward put the big KTM into fourth overall.
“The 500 is a big change, and I’ve been trying to adapt to it,” said Steward. “It didn’t help that I stuck my bad knee into the ground on the first day. I always start slow anyway, so I picked up the pace on the second day and was riding pretty good.”
Fifth place went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Thad Duvall, who was part of the winning World Trophy Team in 2016, but who has elected to sit out this year’s ISDE.
Grant Baylor, also riding a 500 like his brother (on the Junior Trophy Team), was sixth overall, just two seconds ahead of Husqvarna/Max Motorsports/FXR’s Evan Smith.
Evan Smith took the Pro2 win and the championship. // Photo: Shan Moore
Smith took the Pro2 win for the weekend and also clinched the Pro2 championship in the process.
“This was kind of a sketchy track, so it was important to be consistent and not make any mistakes, and aside from a couple of crashes on the first day I was able to do that,” said Smith.
Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jordan Ashburn, Trail Jesters Racing KTM’s Ben Kelley, and GasGas North America’s Thorn Devlin, rounded out the top 10. Devlin also finished second in the Pro2 division, with Beta USA’s Mike Witkowski taking third in the Pro2 class with a 12thoverall finish.
Josh Hill finished 13thin the first Cross test and 12thin the Enduro test, and then elected to sit out the rest of the event as he was suffering the effects of an eye infection.
A crash in the first enduro test ended Josh Strang’s weekend early. // Photo: Shan Moore
Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Josh Strang, the defending series champ, started out with a third in the first test of the weekend but crashed in the second test and injured his shoulder and was forced to retire from the event. Despite not finishing the event Strang was able to secure a 3rd-place finish in the series points behind Kailub Russell and Thad DuVall.
In the Women’s Pro class, MEP MX/KTM’s Mackenzie Tricker rode a 350 KTM instead of her usual 250 and grabbed her first win of the season ahead of KTM’s Brandi Richards and Husqvarna’s Tayla Jones.
“I started off the first day with a couple of test wins, but I crashed a couple of times and Tayla won the day,” said Tricker. “I was able to get it together on the second day and come away with the overall, so I’m pretty happy since it’s my first overall win in this series in over a year.”
Mackenzie Tricker took her first Women’s Pro win of the year. // Photo: Shan Moore
Jones wrapped up the Women’s Pro title at the previous round.
Billy Schlag clinched the Pro-Am championship. // Photo: Shan Moore
Brody Johnson won the Pro-Am class in 18thoverall, ahead of Zach Nash (20thoverall) and Brewer Cawley (23rdoverall). Bill Schlag did not have his best result of the season with a 7th-place overall finish in the dry and dusty conditions, but it was enough for the TrailPros backed racer to secure the championship by 13 points ahead of RJ Cook.
