The chase for the 2013 GEICO AMA EnduroCross series, fueled by Monster Energy and presented by Lucas Oil visited a sold out Comcast Arena in Everett Washington and Beta’s Cody Webb took a thrilling win to move into a tie for fourth in points. Webb passed KTM’s Mike Brown for the lead on lap ten of twelve to take the win. Brown had to hold off a late charge by Rockstar/Lucas Oil backed Colton Haaker to take second. Taddy Blazusiak salvaged fourth place despite two crashes in the main and a nasty crash during the first practice that injured his right wrist. Husqvarna’s Cory Graffunder rode a strong race to take fifth.
Kyle Redmond, Brown and Blazusiak won the three heat races, which all included exciting battles. The thirteen riders that qualified for the main via the heats and LCQ’s each completed a single Hot Lap against the clock to determine the gate picks. Webb set the fastest time to get the first pick ahead of Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert, Blazusiak, Haaker and Kyle Redmond. Brown had a near crash into the pond, which contributed to him earning the ninth pick.
Despite the outside gate pick, Brown came out of the first turn in second behind Robert and then immediately passed him for the lead and then put in a couple of extremely fast laps to open up a big lead. Robert and Webb exchanged second position a few times before Webb finally took the position on lap four and at that point, he was nearly nine seconds behind Brown. Webb put in several consistent laps at the same time that Brown started to suffer from arm pump and cut the lead in half and then closed to his back wheel on lap ten when Brown got stuck in a tricky rock turn. Webb made an aggressive pass on the inside to take the lead and then took the white flag before opening a five second gap on the last lap to take his second consecutive GEICO EnduroCross win. “This track was so difficult and I felt like I was so tired but I know that Brown and Colton must have felt the same way out there” Webb said.
Brown came under heavy pressure from Haaker and the two battled all the way to the checkered flag to take the final two podium positions. “I could not hold on after the halfway point” Brown said. “The ruts and slippery track was difficult but I should have continued to pull away” he continued. Blazusiak, who had suffered a huge crash during the first practice session crashed multiple times during the main event but managed to work back through the field to finish fourth and lose only four points to Brown in the championship chase.
Graffunder completed the first lap in eighth and steadily moved through the field to finish fifth. Robert, who was sick all week faded to sixth despite taking the lead on the start. Redmond finished seventh, Gary Sutherlin was eighth, Geoff Aaron ninth and Justin Soule rounded out the top ten.
Brown gained four points on Blazuisak in the championship chase, 112 to 105. Robert narrowly held onto third with 90 and Webb moved into a tie for fourth with Haaker at 88 points. Two rounds remain with Boise Idaho on November 9th and Las Vegas on November 23rd.
Everett, Washington GEICO AMA EnduroCross, Fueled by Monster Energy Expert Main Event results:
1. Cody Webb Beta
2. Mike Brown KTM
3. Colton Haaker Honda
4. Taddy Blazusiak KTM
5. Cory Graffunder Husqvarna
6. Taylor Robert Kawasaki
7. Kyle Redmond KTM
8. Gary Sutherlin KTM
9. Geoff Aaron KTM
10. Justin Soule Kawasaki
11. Max Gerston Beta
12. Jamie Lanza Husqvarna
13. Wally Palmer Christini
Like most of the races during the evening, the women’s main event was decided on the last lap and Canada’s Chantelle Bykerk took a narrow win over Shelby Turner. The two exchanged the lead a few times and Turner closed in on Bykerk’s rear wheel but came up a little short. Rachel Gutish took over third on the last lap to take that last step on the podium. Washington native Kendall Reed took fourth ahead of Melissa Harten. Bykerk has now won three races in a row and has opened up a large points lead over Gutish, 119 to 97. Morgan Tanke is in third with 75 and Turner is forth with 69.
