Husqvarna Motorcycles-Supported Ryder Leblond had an impressive start to the 2022 AMA U.S. Hard Enduro Series over the weekend, claiming second overall at the Grinding Stone Hard Enduro in Page, Arizona. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Colton Haaker was slated to line up for the season opener but he came down with an illness while travelling to the event and wasn’t able to line up.
Leblond got off to a great start in second and he maintained a solid pace throughout the course of the day. Although he wasn’t able to catch the race-leader of Trystan Hart, Leblond successfully fought off a couple hard-charging riders to carry his runner-up finish all the way to the checkers, finishing just under the five-hour cut-off in second overall.
“It was a pretty gnarly race,” Leblond said. “I had a good start right behind Trystan in the beginning and kind of fell off his pace a little bit, which I was kind of upset about but I had a good battle for second for a while with two other guys. I was kind of riding silly in the beginning but I picked it up about mid-way through the race and we actually put a good gap on everyone else. I had a couple good crashes throughout the race, which wasn’t too great but luckily we didn’t break anything major on the bike, so it was good!”
Coming off an action-packed schedule abroad for the FIM SuperEnduro World Championship, Haaker experienced an unfortunate bout with illness that kept him from lining up at the opening round of the U.S. Hard Enduro.
“I became too ill to compete while on my travels to the race this weekend,” Haaker said. “Unfortunately, these things happen. I’ve been in more than five different countries over the last month and basically living in airports, so a lot of exposure! My health is the most important thing right now so I am focused on recovery and we’ll just take it from there.”
Round 2: May 1 – Billings, Montana
Overall Pro Results – Grinding Stone Hard Enduro
1. Trystan Hart (KTM)
2. Ryder Leblond (HQV)
3. Cooper Abbott (SHR)
