Endurance racing tests both man and machine, and a 24-hour off-road endurance race is as tough as they come. Matching last year’s record turnout of 78 teams, the pits were packed, and the racing was electric at the 2024 edition of the 3Bros 24-Hour Endurance of Glen Helen. Similar to their 2022 win, the SLR Honda squad of Ryan Surratt, Tyler Lynn, Justin Morgan and Brandon Prieto put up a dominant performance to take the coveted overall victory, with 89 laps tallied in a day’s time.
Photos: Trevor Hunter
At 10 a.m. sharp on Saturday morning, the Open Pro field of five teams rocketed off the Glen Helen starting gate, barreling into the famous Talladega first turn. First to the turn and first to the dust was Trevor Stewart, riding a DirtBikeTest.com (DBT) Yamaha YZ450FX on the number-two bike with teammates Trevor Hunter, Clay Hengeveld and Justin Seeds. In his draft was SLR Honda’s newest recruit, Ryan Surratt, who was piloting the number 7x Honda CRF450X as the team prepares for next month’s SCORE International Baja 1000. Other Open Pro teams included defending champions Tyler Nicholson on the number-one KTM (with Thomas Dunn, RJ Warda, and Matt Cerami), Bryson Gardner on the number 805 Beta, and Brian Whiteside on the number 15x Husqvarna.
Taking advantage of the clean air, Stewart built a sizable gap over the opening laps to put the number-two Yamaha out front early. The 15x bike was next in tow on the opening lap, passing the Honda team in the dusty ridgelines off the start and running the front-runner’s pace early on. By lap three, the Honda moved up into second ahead of Brian Whiteside’s Norman Racing Husqvarna FX450. The record size turnout led to a record number of lapped riders early on in the race, and it set the tone for what was to come over the next 23 1/2 hours. By the end of the first hour, Surratt had closed the gap to within 30 seconds of the lead team. On lap five, as the second rotation of riders logged their first laps, the number 7x Honda team moved into the front of the race, the position they would hold for the remainder of the event.
Over the next few hours, the 7x team maintained control of the race, though the Yamaha team would fall back several minutes or close to within 30 seconds of the leaders throughout the rider rotations. Sitting comfortably in third, the KTM team rode consistent laps just behind the leaders with little drama or hiccups throughout the day.
As the afternoon sun began to drop and nighttime loomed in the distance, the Yamaha team suffered its first mechanical issue with a mousse failure. The premature wheel change set the team back a few minutes, but it was a quick fix, and they maintained second place. However, just one lap later, the team suffered a heavy fall, resulting in bent handlebars and a broken throttle, among other things, forcing a long pit to piece the bike back together. In the process, the team lost an entire lap to the leaders and fell back to third.
Over the next hour, pit strategies came into effect as teams began installing lights and adjusting for the 12 hours of darkness that loomed ahead. With lappers playing a big factor, the Yamaha team used the lapped traffic to their advantage to sneak around the KTM team, passing in a rocky creek to take over the runner-up position as night fell, while SLR Honda number 7x remained solely out front.
At the halfway mark, 7x held a commanding 22-minute lead over the Yamaha team with another eight minutes to spare over the KTM team. However, the DBT Yamaha squad was hit with another mechanical, as they suffered from light issues and a broken rear wheel. Another unplanned pit cost valuable time and relegated them back to third briefly and almost two laps down from the leader.
Over the next 10 hours, the SLR Honda team continued to run a perfect race with only their planned pit stops and consistently fast lap times all day and night. As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the CRF450X was three laps ahead of the now three-man Yamaha team, who went down one rider and suffered from many small mechanical issues in the last half of the race.
When the checkers flew on Sunday morning, Justin Morgan was first to the line with 89 laps and covering approximately 712 miles. A distant second was Trevor Hunter’s DirtBikeTest.com Yamaha team with 86 laps, and third went to KTM-rider Tyler Nicholson, also with 86 laps. Fourth overall belonged to Bryson Gardener and the Beta USA team, which hovered between fourth and fifth place all race long, eventually finishing with 82 laps to their credit.
The top amateur team and fifth overall went to Jordan Maas, a young 250cc Expert team rider, joined by some of the future stars of the sport, including Dustyn Davis, Brennen Watson, Peyton Maas, Caleb Tate and Oliver Bonner aboard a GasGas EX250F.
Although winning the 3Bros 24 Hours of Glen Helen is no easy feat, the real heroes are those in the Ironman class. Riding solo for 24 continuous hours is a tough task, but to do so in what many considered the most grueling and challenging 24-hour courses in years, is an accomplishment in its own right. Leading from lap one, Josh Dalton led the Ironman class all day Saturday and well into Sunday morning with an unmatched pace in the front half of the race. Ryan McKee, who hovered in the top five during the race’s first half, put in a late race charge over the final 12 hours. Dalton had two stops in the middle of the night, resulting in him relinquishing the lead in the early dawn.
Dalton didn’t give up easily, as he clawed his way back, chipping away time lap after lap until he regained the lead with an hour to go. However, just as he’d pass into the lead, McKee would regain control to take the class victory with 57 laps, totaling 456 miles and finishing 43rd overall. Dalton finished second in class with 55 laps to his name. Rounding out the Ironman podium was Evan Kleen with 53 laps.
Other notable finishers include Dylan Delgado and his team topping the Open Expert/Intermediate field, Levi Arnold’s team winning the 30+ Expert/Intermediate class and first age-group finisher, and Brandon Petersen’s AHM team winning the Industry class. The top 85cc team was Keelan Whiteside, who finished an impressive 38th overall with 63 laps. CN
2024 3Bros 24-Hour Endurance Race Results
OVERALL
- Justin Morgan (Hon)
- Trevor Hunter (Yam)
- Tyler Nicholson (KTM)
- Bryson Gardner (Bet)
- Jordan Maas (GG)
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