KING OF THE MOTOS RACE SUMMARY

CODY WEBB TAKES THE KING OF THE MOTOS CROWN AWAY FROM ENGLAND’S GRAHAM JARVIS

Cody Webb is an trails and endurocross specialist. This is his first major off road victory

The 2nd annual KING of the MOTOS kicked off “HAMMER WEEK” in the heart of Johnson Valley for the weeklong rock-crawling festival known as KING of the HAMMERS. Co- race directors Dave Cole and Jimmy Lewis have collaborated to bring the bikes into the mix at Cole’s ever-growning event sometimes referred to as the “Burning Man for 4×4′s”.

Graham Jarvis is considered the top extreme enduro rider in the world. A failed rear tire insert spoiled his chance to keep his crown in the US. He says he is coming back

Defending KOM champion Graham Jarvis is the #1 extreme enduro rider in the world but American Cody Webb is now the new King of the Motos; For Webb, a trials champion and endurocross specialist, this was his first major off-road win.

Jarvis and Webb exchanged the lead more than a dozen times throughout the race, and both crossed the finish line with flat rear tires due to foam inserts (bib mouse) melting down from high speed in the transfer sections.

Taylor Robert got third and remained mostly alone all day about 40 minutes off the pace by the finish.

In the chaotic rocky uphill start when Grand Marshall Larry “LR” Roeseler waived the green flag, Jarvis was first to reach the top of the hill, but Webb took an outside line at the hairpin and gained the lead, heading back down a treacherous all rock descent. After the racers left the first set of technical sections, they sped across a long fast transfer section of open desert and dry lakebed. As they began to scatter out through the next technical section called “Spooner”, Cory Graffunder, Taylor Robert and Destry Abbott rounded out the top 5. As Jarvis and Webb battled together, their lead over the others only widened.

Destry Abbott is 40 years old but tells us he is not finished; he’s still got some meat on the bone, so to speak

Both Webb and Jarvis are slow speed specialists coming from trials backgrounds so it’s clear now that Jimmy Lewis’ course of carnage favored these two, despite mixing the terrain up with fast desert sections. It was important to Lewis’ mission to “equalize” the KING of the MOTOS to not favor trials bikes or one particular discipline of racing. Thus, he created a course with the fast sections to give the traditional desert racers a chance to gain time back in the flats. Cody Webb will face Graham Jarvis again in two weeks when they try to tackle “Hell’s Gate”, an icy nightmare of an event held in Italy.

Could you even think of a better choice for Grand Marshall than the living legend himself?

For the experts, Steve Deines from Colorado, was the only expert who was not lapped by the pros (pros did two laps, experts did one) and crossed the finish in 10 minutes before Cody Webb. Deines commented that the terrain was very similar to his native Rocky Mountain jeep trails and technical tracks.

Just a sample of what most fans don’t get to see on King of the Motos

Desert mainstay Paul Krause was a last minute substitute for moto-journalist Chilly White who had a bum knee. When PK finished he commented that he had never taken his bike through anything this tough before and that he would typically look at a section like “Flipper” and turn around.

A shot of the start at King of the Motos

As a unique innovation, co-race director Jimmy Lewis developed a “team” class, whereby two riders, each with their own bikes, must stay together through checkpoints and at the finish.

Officially, Robert Madden and Nathan Brown finished first in the team class, both riding trails bikes and wearing Hawaiian style shirts in protest of the bright-colored matching gear-sets that today’s top, young pros wear. Really though, it was the only way they could stand out in the field, other than the fact they were the only experts to ride trials bikes.

Robert Madden and Nathan Brown sport the Hawaii Five-0 styles on their way to the “team” championship

Ironically, BAJA brothers Cameron Steele and Shane Reed rode the expert class as individual entrants but purposefully rode the event as a team, staying together through checkpoints and crossing the finish at the exact same time, officially tying for 4^th in the expert class. Had they simply entered the team class they would have easily won but that takes nothing away from the amazing race the two bros said they shared.

Shane Reed gets the hole-shot in the expert class

Cameron Steele and Jimmy Lewis: Two icons of the off-road scene

X-Games silver medalist and trials champion, Louise Foresley was the only woman entered in this event although she officially DNF with what we believe to be a fule shortage, she showed many grown men how to negotiate the incredibly challenging terrain of KOM. At the finish she commented that she simply wants to “keep up with the boys” and she truly proved that is not a problem for her. A young woman with poise and grace, she is likely to return next year to give it another go.

Australian freestyle trials ace Jack Field came to the states with his trials bike and performed and eye catching freestyle performance with a mobile quarter-pipe/platform ramp, doing a bunch of back flips and technical nose-riding and rail slides the day before the race.

In the end, extreme enduro is still an emerging sport in North America; Jimmy Lewis and Dave Coles collaboration is just a sign of things to come. There is no question that this event will double in size again, thanks in most part to the dynamic live streaming coverage co-sponsored by KOM title sponsor FMF.

Another KOM challenger lets off a little steam

This coverage kept the fans at home glued to their monitors as the stream cut to different cameras and highlights throughout the day.

Graham Jarvis and “King” Cody Webb exchanged the lead more than a dozen times throughout the battle for the crown

King of the Motos Pro Class Results

1  Cody Webb 247 4:50:38

2  Graham Jarvis 1  5:17:29

3  Taylor Robert  33  5:24:44

4  Destry Abbott  8  5:54:43

5  Brian Roper  125  6:31:46

6  Eric Bailey  529  7:14:04

7  Jack Field  111  7:24:21

8  Eric Rhoten  200  7:36:22

9  Don Boespflug  8VA  8:02:59

10  Max Gerston  25  8:03:22

11 Richard Lancaster 30  8:11:24

14 Michael Allen  14  9:03:41

DNF  Peter Weiss 13

DNF  Cory Graffunder  115

DNF  Jacob Argubright  911

DNF  Bryan Nelson 106

DNF  Kevin Murphy  20

DNF  Louis Chamberland  116

DNF  Ryan Sandoval  113

DNF  Timothy Robel  222

DNF  Brad Pace  457

DNF  Noah Kepple  696

DNF  Adam Adair  747

King of the Motos Expert Class Results

1 Steven Dienes 514  4:26:15

2  Paul Krause  6  5:18:23

3  Jonathan Estes  228  5:27:56

4  Shane Reed  624  5:43:04

4  Cameron Steele  16  5:43:04

5  Joseph Kessler  46  5:46:00

6  Craig Thompson  37  6:12:26

7  Bernard Unhassobiscay  17  7:04:32

8  Brenden Throckmorton  N375  7:09:19

9  Robert Katz  15ZQ  7:41:42

10  Andrew Mitchell  530  7:54:01

11  Tom Walker  84  8:04:50

12  John Kearney  N2M  9:25:10

DNF  Adam Glanz  40

DNF  Jeremy Kirby  251

DNF  Ryan Hanna 769

DNF  Christopher Deans  V2X

DNF  Louise Forsley  114

DNF  Justin Leineweber

DNF  Ryus Finch  464

King of the Motos Amateur Results

1  Madden / Brown  502T  7:17:10

DNF  Delmage / Brown  5T

DNF  Nowell / Genest  341T

DNF  James / Tiner  86T

DNF  Dickson / Schaffer  88T

RDC goes hats off the entire team at Ultra4 Racing, FMF and King of the Hammers.

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