It was a hot and muggy one for racers in Oklahoma City where round two of the 2010 GEICO Powersports AMA EnduroCross series, presented by E3 Spark plugs took place. The largest track of the series sprawled across the floor of the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, making it a rather fast and motocrossy course. But whether it’s tight and technical or fast and jumpy, Taddy Blazusiak (pictured right) is showing that he just might be unstoppable this year. The Red Bull KTM rider took a dominant win – his second in as many rounds – and now holds a firm lead in championship points.
Blazusiak’s factory KTM teammate Mike Brown wasn’t about to let him get away so easily, however. Brown took quite well to the Oklahoma course and called on his Supercross skills to give Taddy a run for his money in the early laps of the main event. The two put on a great battle as they handed the lead back and forth several times. Blazusiak held the advantage in the technical rocky turns while Brown was able to hit triples and scrub speed in the straights to gain the advantage.
One rock turn in particular proved to be Brown’s Achilles heel, however. The river rock 180-degree turn, which had become incredibly slick from wet sand being tracked through it, is where Blazusiak finally made the pass that stuck. Several laps later it is where Brown stalled his KTM and was unable to fire it back up in time to rejoin the race. Brown was left to collect a disappointing DNF after showing remarkable speed on the round-two course.
Brown’s misfortune handed second place over to GEICO Christini rider Geoff Aaron (pictured above right), who had overcome a bad start and spent most of the main event working his way all the way through the pack. Aaron started off the night program quite well, having set the hot lap in practice. But a few hang-ups in the opening lap of the main event didn’t afford the ten-time National Trials champ an opportunity to take a run at Blazusiak for the lead.
Blazusiak continued on unheaded to the finish, but nearly threw it all away on the last lap when he almost performed an endo across a double jump. Fortunately the Polish rider was able to save it and keep his KTM on two wheels long enough to reach the checkered flag.
Aaron followed in second with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Justin Soule (pictured right) in third, marking his first podium finish in only his second main event. Soule’s Kawasaki teammate Ricky Dietrich is slipping further away from any chance of regaining his AMA EnduroCross championship. Dietrich had a rough going in Oklahoma due to riding with a broken foot suffered nearly two weeks prior. While out trail riding, Dietrich smashed his foot on a rock which resulted in a compound fracture of his pinky toe. He still chose to compete at last week’s Washington WORCS race with the injury, but admitted he was in much more pain in Oklahoma while trying to race EnduroCross. Fortunately he qualified straight out of his heat race for the main, but ran into further problems when he bent his shift lever on the opening lap of the main, relegating him to a modest ninth-place finish.
In the support classes, Oklahoma’s own Guy Cooper won the Vet class in front of the partisan crowd. The former Motocross and Supercross star faced stiff competition from several riders but ultimately took the win. Zip-Ty Husqvarna-mounted Nick Burson won the open Amateur main event and Josh Nutsch won the TrialsCross class. The top three in the Amateur classes battled for $500 in the Dash for Cash, which was taken by Matthew Henderson.
2010 Oklahoma EnduroCross Main Event results:
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM)
2. Geoff Aaron (Chr/KTM)
3. Justin Soule (Kaw)
4. Cody Webb (Gas)
5. Cory Graffunder (Hsq)
6. Kevin Rookstool (KTM)
7. Colton Haaker (Kaw)
8. Gary Sutherlin (Kaw)
9. Ricky Dietrich (Kaw)
10. Kyle Redmond (Kaw)
11. Mike Brown (KTM)
The GEICO EnduroCross series presented by E3 Spark plugs now heads to Indianapolis, Indiana for round three of the series. The event will take place on Friday, August 27th during the MotoGP weekend.
