After three rounds of the Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro Championship, defending champion Taddy Blazusiak is undefeated. Photography by Future7Media.
Taddy Blazuisak, Cody Webb and Johnny Walker made it an all orange podium at the Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro Championship in Helsinki, Finland. Round three of the series took place at the Messukeskus Arena, where a bigger and longer course than previous rounds awaited racers.
Blazusiak is on a role in the SuperEnduro series, where he appears to be all but untouchable. The Red Bull KTM rider has now taken three wins in as many rounds, but this time, American rider Cody Webb was able to score a moto win. Walker also collected a win, but it was Blazusiak’s unmatched ability to land on the podium in all three races that earned him the overall victory.
“It’s fantastic to come away with the overall win again,” Blazusiak said. “It was a tough night – the racing was seriously close. Getting the win in the final race was awesome, but capping off the night with the top step of the podium was even better.”
The third and final race was the climax of the evening, as Blazusiak and Webb duked it out for the win. An aggressive move by Blazusiak in the rock garden just before the finish was the deciding factor in the battle. The defending champion muscled his way around Webb for the lead, and held on to take the final win of the night.
“It was an aggressive pass, but pretty clean to be honest,” Blazusiak said. “I was happy about that. It was a pass for the win, which was important. I’m pleased we’re building that gap in the championship and I’m pumped to win the race. Three in a row is good – I couldn’t ask for more!”
Cody Webb took the first moto win of the night in Finland, and went on to finish a strong second place. Photography by Future7Media.
As for Webb, he agreed that the pass was clean. And despite being so close to an overall win, the AMA EnduroCross champion is happy to see things coming together for him in the FIM series.
“The track was kind of similar to American style,” Webb said. “I used that to my advantage, as a lot of guys were making mistakes.
“I had Taddy there at the finish, and then into the last corner I left a line open and got punted. I can’t be mad at him; it’s good for him to get the overall. But there’s even more fight for me coming into the races in Brazil and Mexico.”
Walker added to the close finish, and was one position away from matching Webb’s finishing score.
“I can’t complain too much as we’re all still close on points,” Walker said. “Cody has maybe pulled a few points on me, but I’ll keep pushing for the next round. In qualifying for my first fast lap, I caught David [Knight] and that messed my lap up. Then the second good one I stalled it in the rocks. After that I just couldn’t get a clean lap with the people I caught up with.”
Johnny Walker (pictured) came within one position of challenging Webb for second, but had to settle for third in Helsinki. Photography by Future7Media.
Americans Abroad
Along with Webb, fellow American rider Kyle Redmond found the Finland course much more too his liking, and took the opportunity to improve on his finish. Redmond piloted his Factory Beta to sixth overall with a 9-6-6 score for the night.
AMA EnduroCross Junior Champion Ty Tremaine collected a second-place finish in Finland with a solid 2-2-2 score. Tremaine has now officially lost the lead in the FIM Junior Championship, however, although he sits only one point behind the current leader Andres Linusson, who topped all three Junior finals in Helsinki.
Not everyone in the American contingent fared better, however. Factory KTM’s Taylor Robert struggled through a long night in Finland, only able to salvage eighth overall with an 8-7-10 finish in Helsinki.
Robert had a rough night after getting knocked around by several other riders. At one point he was physically tangled with another rider who got his brake line caught on the rear brake pedal of Robert’s KTM.
“In the third moto I got a great start and was second place out of the first turn when my teammate went super wide and I got cleaned out again,” Robert lamented. “I had to catch up from dead last. I’ve never been so frustrated in my life.”
Overall Prestige Class:
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM)
2. Cody Webb (KTM)
3. Johnny Walker (KTM)
4. David Knight (KTM)
5. Alfredo Gomez (Hus)
6. Kyle Redmond (Bet)
7. Daniel McCanny (Hus)
8. Taylor Robert (KTM)
9. Paul Bolton (KTM)
10. Mario Roman (KTM)
Championship Points after round 3:
1. Taddy Blazusiak (169/3 wins)
2. David Knight (148)
3. Johnny Walker (129)
4. Cody Webb (121)
5. Alfredo Gomez (Hus)
6. Taylor Robert (92)
7. Mario Roman (72)
8. Paul Bolton (68)
9. Daniel McCanny (60)
10. Kyle Redmond (59)
