Photo By Shan Moore
Cody Webb is going to be looking to kick off his title defense with a win at the series opener in Atlanta.
The 2016 AMA EnduroCross series can kick off this coming weekend in Duluth, Georgia where two-time plus defending series champ Cody Webb will be going for a three-peat against a large field of some of the best off road bikers in the world, including former champ Taddy Blazusiak and 2016 FIM SuperEnduro champion Colton Haaker.
Cody is coming off a big win at last week’s Tennessee Knockout extreme race, in which he lapped the field in the 30-minute final. Dirt Rider spoke with the FMF/KTM rider about his big win and the up coming EnduroCross series. During the time we spoke with Cody, he was staying at Charlie Mullins’ home in North Carolina, preparing for this weekend’s race.
Q: Precisely why do you feel you were so dominate on the Tennessee Knockout (TKO)?
A: I feel like I have a wide selection of skill sets and I think the TKO is just a long and extreme outdoor endurocross race that is set up just like a sprint. Obviously I’m an endurocross racer but I don’t only trip endurocross. I also ride moto tracks, and I’m going out and using trials. I think I have a wide variety of abilities and some of the endurocross guys these days are only practicing on endurocross songs. At the TKO you have a bigger variety of obstacles plus the rock sections are really long instead of the short ones you find in endurocross.
Q: You were the 2010 US Nationwide Trials Champion. Do you feel that your trials background helps you in EnduroCross and in extreme races?
A: Definitely the trials background performed a big factor. At the TKO I would see people struggling on all of the hills, where I was pretty much cruising right up them. If it wasn’t with regard to trials and learning how to ride the gear higher and knowing what the trunk tire is doing at all times, I would have been struggling just the same. I know how the bike’s going to react. I just prepare for it ahead of time and use that flywheel to get up the slippery hills.
Queen: You rode the 300 two-stroke at the TKO, however, you are riding a 250F within EnduroCross.
A: Within extreme events I prefer the PDS bike for sure, which is what the 300 is. I’m totally sold on PDS for off-road, trail riding, plus anything enduro-related. It’s one much less thing to worry about not catching the linkage. I’m running the bone fragments stock 300 XCW with suspension on it from KTM and WP. Nothing’s been done to the engine at all. It’s crazy how good that bike is. I run the PDS for extreme enduros as well as the two-stroke for the light weight. Plus, the particular two-stroke doesn’t have the tendency in order to overheat in the longer races like the four-stroke does. Then for EnduroCross, it’s a short sprint and I have raced a two-stroke the last couple years with Beta, and then KTM last year, and I was just obtaining really bad clutch arm push and having to use the clutch way more to get out of corners. I examined the 250, 350, and a three hundred all back-to-back last year. It literally showed that I had faster lap times on the 250F. And I may ride differently. I’m one of those men who struggles really bad along with arm pump, and at extreme events you’re not wide open the whole time. But endurocross is so short you have to be wide open. I was pumping up on the two-stroke at the EnduroCross races, but riding the 250F, I’m not on the clutch as hard.