Sadly, in this day and age we have gotten into the habit of expecting races to be cancelled and enduros to be lost. If someone would have told me a year ago that HMDR would be able to put Shotgun back on the schedule at its former Barnesville PA location I would have never believed it. I didn’t think this was possible in the current anti- enduro climate. When we lose a race, we don’t get it back- that’s just the way it is.
But….But….somehow, someway HMDR was able to pull this off and they nailed it! We just didn’t get an Enduro back on the map, we got one hell of a race back on the map! 7 sections of tight, freshly cut single track that was a perfect mix of challenging and technical terrain intermingled with fast flow. Toss in an A/B cutoff at the end for an 8th section that may end up being one of the best sections of the year.
Section 1 was a fast flowing 3+ miles that was the perfect start of the day. Exciting section 1, my crew got together and the consensus of the group was “If that is the type of trail they give us all day, this is going to be an awesome race”. Yes- They gave us this and more the rest of the day!
I don’t know the exact percentage of fresh cut trail, but as I rode through the course on row 2 it was clear that the HMDR Guys and Gals have been spending a lot of time in the woods. It seemed like well over 50% of the course was fresh cut. The trails linked up nice with some fantastic fast flow mixed in with the rocks, big boulders, some dragon backs and lots of elevation changes. Everything was arrowed well and club members were everywhere you would expect them to be. I noticed at least two newly built bridges. HMDR put in the work!
Neil Enman (KTM) Won the day taking he top spot on the podium Kyle McDonal took 2nd on his Beta Ryan Canavan got on the Podium in 3 rd riding a Husqvarna Chris Silverman took the overall in A class on his KTM Lou Davis took the overall in B class riding a Husqvarna Jared Beachy took the overall in C class on a Beta Sarah Mickey (Husqvarna) won the Woman’s class
Randy Bergey (KTM) won Masters A Robert Litwin (Sherco) won Masters B/C Paul Scanlin (KTM) took the Golden class win.
A special thanks to HMDR for putting this event back on the schedule and for all your hard work getting this race up and going. HMDR does not have the numbers that some of the other clubs have, they are a smaller, close nit club with a blue-collar work ethic and a reputation for putting on some of the best- off road events in the area. Shotgun Enduro 2024 keeps up this clubs long standing tradition of putting on fantastic PA races.
See you all in three weeks up in NY for Barbed Wire! It’s a great time to be an Enduro Rider!