Blazusiak over Walker and Knight at opening FIM SuperEnduro
Cycle News Staff | December 9, 2012
The 2012/2013 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship kicked off in Poland and Taddy Blazusiak, the home country hero, took the win ahead of Britain’s Jonny Walker and the Isle of Man’s David Knight.
Blazusiak taking the win is not surprising as he has rarely lost in FIM SuperEnduro or US EnduroCross competition over the last several years but a training crash just ten days before the event made the win more impressive. “It is the biggest pain of my life! But it’s damn great to win this first event in front of my home crowd with a serious injury so painful. Until yesterday, I wasn’t sure I could compete and at the end of the evening, I have taken lead of the championship, it is so great” said Blazusiak.
Blazusiak won two of the three main events despite a shoulder injury
The FIM SuperEnduro format includes three main events and Blazusiak won the first and third events. He had won the qualification race, which gave him the first pick for the first and third main events and he took full advantage to get the wins. With the last pick in race two, Blazusiak worked his way up to third behind Knight but Walker was long gone. Blazusiak then found a way past Knight to take second. The 1-2-1 result secured the overall win and points lead.
Jonny Walker finished second overall with a 3-1-2 score and holds second in the championship. “very satisfied, but a little frustrated after the opening SuperEnduro event … Even when he was injured, I stole only one race off Taddy, he was awesome” said Walker.
Knight, in his first ride on the Honda finished third overall with 2-3-5 finishes. He had held second in the final race until the last lap when a lapped rider held him up and allowed Walker, Alfredo Gomez and Joakim Ljungren to push him to fifth. “The first race with my new bike is pretty well gone. Despite some problems in the second and third races, I am very satisfied with my Grand Prix and my Honda has been working perfectly” said Knight.
Blazusiak, Walker and Knight on the podium in Poland
