Taddy Blazusiak Wins Ontario EnduroCross

Kit Palmer | September 22, 2013
  Taddy Blazusiak en route to the 2013 Ontario EnduroCross win. Photography by Kit Palmer

Taddy Blazusiak scored his first EnduroCross win of the 2013 series. Photography by Kit Palmer

Taddy Blazusiak, the defending EnduroCross Champion, finally notched his first win of the 2013 GEICO EnduroCross Series after what was an exciting main event at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, September 21.

Mike Brown, Blazusiak’s KTM teammate and series points leader going into the race, got off to a fast start, shot into the early lead and was in position to win his third race in a row, as Blazusiak settled into third right behind Honda rider Colton Haaker, who was impressive in qualifying and earlier in the Hot Laps and was a threat to win, as well.

But Blazusiak was on the move. He quickly got a round Haaker, who momentarily stalled his bike, and set his sights on Brown on what was a faster-than-usual track but still technically difficult. Blazusiak stalked Brown for many laps as they remained a few seconds apart, but things changed quickly when they started encountering lapped traffic.

Brown held the lead but pretty much lost it all when he got held up by Geoff Aaron, who had troubles earlier in the race and was trailing the field. This allowed Blazusiak to rapidly catch Brown and ultimately make the pass for the lead at about the halfway point. Then, Blazusiak had troubles of his own in a rock section and nearly went down but was held up by Brown, who had nowhere to go but into the side of his teammate. Blazusiak remained upright, as did Brown, and Blazusiak managed to hang on to the lead, which he managed to stretch out a bit to the finish.

Brown held on to finish second.

After three of seven rounds, Brown holds a seven-point lead over Blazusiak.

Beta’s Cody Webb ended up third but never was close enough to challenge for the lead after getting off to a midpack start.

Fourth went to Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert who might’ve been a little closer to the leaders had he not dropped his bike early in the race while riding among the leaders. However, he still holds third in the series, 10 points behind Blazusiak.

Haaker dropped back to fifth, while Kyle Redmond (KTM), Gary Sutherlin (KTM), Cory Graffunder (Husqvarna), Justin Soule and Aaron (KTM) completed the top 10.

In other classes, Kurt Nicoll took the Vet class win after making a last-lap pass on Coby Begin. Canada’s Stephen Foord finished third.

Tucker Larrieu came out on top of a close three-way battle to take the Open Amateur win over Ian Young and Noah Kepple.

Ty Cullins took the TrialsCross class victory over Stephen Morgan and Michael Salsman.

Canada’s Chantelle Bykerk captured the win in the Women’s main event and was joined on the podium by Rachel Gutish and Morgan Tanke.

Results:

AMA GEICO EnduroCross Series

Round 3

Citizens Business Bank Arena

Ontario, California

September 21, 2013

PRO FINAL

1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM)

2. Mike Brown (KTM)

3. Cody Webb    (Beta)

4. Taylor Robert (Kawasaki)

5. Colton Haaker (Honda)

6. Kyle Redmond (KTM)

7. Gary Sutherlin (KTM)

8. Cory Graffunder (Husqvarna)

9. Justin Soule (Kawasaki)

10. Geoff Aaron (KTM)

11. Bobby Prochnau (KTM)

12. Max Gerston (Beta)

13. Wallace Palmer (Christini)

 

Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor

Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.