Endurocross: Cody Webbs Wins Vegas Endurocross Opener

Shan Moore | May 3, 2014
Cody Webb

Cody Webb took a big win at the opening round of the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series in Las Vegas. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAN MOORE

Las Vegas, NV (May 2, 2014) – Cody Webb drew first blood in the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series fueled by Monster Energy and presented by Lucas Oil with an impressive win at the opening round of the series in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the evening’s main event, Webb drubbed the competition, lapping up to fourth place on his Beta USA/GEICO/Stillwell Performance-sponsored Beta 300 RR and taking the win by half a lap over runner-up Lucas Oil/Rockstar/JCR Honda’s Colton Haaker.

Bel-Ray/FMF/Moose/Husqvarna’s Mike Brown took the early lead after grabbing the holeshot from the elevated starting line, however, it didn’t take long for Webb to move into the lead as the tight pack of front-runners moved around the first lap. By the end of the first lap it was Webb, five-time Champion Taddy Blazusiak and Kyle Redmond across the line for the top three. Redmond later suffered a mechanical issue dropped off the pace, while Brown eventually pulled off the track due to a finger laceration and possible hand injury suffered earlier in the evening, ending his race evening as well.

Webb put down several error-free laps to start to pull ahead of the pack. In the meantime, Haaker passed Blazusiak on lap two after a rare mistake by the Factory KTM racer. By the end of the lap, Blazusiak had moved back into third after Haaker made a similar bobble in a tricky rock turn. The two riders would exchange the runner-up spot a few more times before the end of the race with Haaker getting the last pass for second on the last lap when the defending champ got stuck in a challenging rock corner.

In the end, Webb took the convincing win with Haaker in second and Blazusiak in third.

“I only made a few mistakes the whole main event,” said Webb. “I have been practicing just racing the track at home and when I passed Taddy on the first lap, I just focused on the track for six laps and did not even know how much of a lead I had.”

Webb now carries the series points lead into round two of the series on June 6 at X Games in Austin, Texas.

 

Results

1.    Cody Webb        Beta

2.    Colton Haaker        Honda

3.    Taddy Blazusiak    KTM

4.    Bobby Prachnau    KTM

5.    Taylor Robert        KTM

6.    Geoff Aaron        KTM

7.    Gary Sutherlin        KTM

8.    Cory Graffunder        KTM

9.    Bryan Roper        KTM

10.    Jamie Lanza        Husqvarna

 

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.