Haaker Wins AMA Endurocross Championship

Colton Haaker emerged from a hard-fought battle as the winner of the 2020 AMA EnduroCross National Championship Series. Haaker’s fourth Pro Super EnduroX class title in five years proved to be the toughest yet for the Husqvarna factory rider.

Haaker’s perennial rival, Sherco-mounted Cody Webb, challenged for every available point, finishing second. The three-time champ made a triumphant return to competition after sitting out the 2019 season due to injury.

Canadian phenom Trystan Hart was third overall, 9 points behind Haaker.

Tod Hammock, who also promotes the AMA Arenacross National Amateur Championship, organized a six-round season from Oct. 23 to Nov. 7 at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Calif.

Despite fundamental changes to the format—single location, outdoor track—Hammock characterized the series as a success. With one venue, he said, the track could be reconfigured for every round, not torn down and rebuilt elsewhere.

Track layout changed in several ways, including directionally. Hammock described the first two rounds as “jumpy.” Others were more technical.

“Track design is controversial,” he said. “You want the pros to struggle, but we need to keep the amateurs in the sport for future growth.”

Despite a bigger overall track footprint, lap times were roughly the same as past indoor events.

“We needed to keep a water-truck access lane between the racing lanes,” Hammock said, “so the track appeared larger than normal.”

In the premier Pro Super EnduroX class, the top 16 qualifiers advanced to the main event, comprising three approximately seven-lap motos. The two-row starting line was inverted for the second moto, putting the top eight finishers from the first moto on the second row.

Haaker began the season in dominant fashion, winning four of six opening motos, while Webb and Hart battled for second. KTM rider Cooper Abbott, son of off-road racing legend Destry Abbott, won the second moto.

Haaker struggled with injury.

“This year has been really tough for me,” he said. “I had a bulging disc in my back at Round 2, and since then I’ve been fighting it really hard.”

Webb used his strong trials background to nab a win at Round 5.

“The tracks got a little harder each round,” he said, “and that helped me.”

Hart, who managed two overall victories, including his first-ever series win at Round 3, nearly had to pull out after Round 4, having sustained a hand injury that required 10 stitches.

“Coming into Round 5,” he said, “I had it in my head that I wasn’t going to race, because I couldn’t even put my hand on the handlebar. But [KTM Team Manager Antti Kallonen] started cracking the whip, so I decided to give it a try. Once the adrenalin was flowing, I was able to ride well. It was still painful, but I got second and third, so I still had a chance to win [the title] going into that final moto.”

Ultimately, experience and racecraft won out, with Haaker and Webb, the favorites coming into the series, living up to the hype and taking top honors.