Poland’s Taddy Blazusiak added a fourth Enduro X Gold medal to his collection with an exciting win at the inaugural Austin X Games. American Cody Webb passed two riders in the closing laps to take the silver medal. Spain’s Alfredo Gomez rounded out the podium on his Factory Husqvarna.
Husqvarna’s Mike Brown took the holeshot but was quickly passed by Blazusiak to start the first lap. Brown then made an aggressive pass in the first rock section to re-take the lead before going down in the second rock section. This gave Blazusiak the lead and a large gap due to Brown holding up the pack. Colton Haaker on the Lucas Oil, Rockstar JCR Honda took over second and was closing rapidly when Blazusiak crashed allowing him to close to his back wheel. The two riders battled back and forth for several laps and then Haaker made his move when Blazusiak got held up by a lapped rider but crashed as he tried to get around the outside. This allowed Gomez and Webb to close right up on Blazusiak and Webb moved past both Gomez and the downed Haaker in the same section.
Beta USA, GEICO backed Webb pushed hard to close in on Blazusiak on the last lap but came up just short. Haaker recovered to challenge Gomez for the final medal position but could not make the move.
“I did not feel that great on this track and it seemed a little one lined so getting that start was important’ said Blazusiak. “Brown pushed me really hard on that first lap and then I got a good lead before that stupid crash. And I could hear Haaker behind me but just kept pushing to hit my lines and it feels great to get my fourth X Games Gold”.
Brown pulled off after a second crash re-injured his left hand.
Beta USA’s Max Gerston passed FMF KTM’s Taylor Robert on the last lap to take fifth.
In the Women’s class, KTM’s Kacy Martinez took her first ever X Games gold medal with a wire to wire win. Spain’s Sandra Gomez kept it close throughout on her Husqvarna and took the silver medal. Rachel Gutish, celebrated her recent high school graduation with a Bronze medal on her team RPM KTM.
“I felt amazing during my race that was the best I rode all day” said Martinez. “On the last lap, I was like, I can do this, I am going to get a gold medal and it felt amazing to cross the finish line with all those people cheering.”
Men’s Main event Video: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11044564
Women’s Main event Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8baPY_pqM_E
2014 X Games Enduro X Men’s Final results
1. Taddy Blazusiak
2. Cody Webb
3. Alfredo Gomez
4. Colton Haaker
5. Max Gerston
6. Taylor Robert
7. Cory Graffunder
8. Ty Tremaine
9. Geoff Aaron
10. Kyle Redmond
11. Chris Hollis
12. Mike Brown
2014 X Games Enduro X Women’s Final
1. Kacy Martinez
2. Sandra Gomez Cantero
3. Rachel Gutish
4. Chantelle Bykerk
5. Shelby Turner
6. Emma Bristow
7. Tarah Geiger
8. Kristie McKinnon
9. Lexi Pechout
10. Morgan Tanke
11. Rily Ellinger
12. Melissa Harten
Round three of the 2014 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship will visit Sacramento, California on Saturday, June 21st.
