Colton Haaker matched Taddy Blazusiak with his fifth GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship. The Rockstar Husqvarna rider clinched the title with a second-place finish on the first of two nights of racing in Denver, Colorado, on Friday night. He followed that up with another second-place finish on Saturday night.
And who beat the champion? It was none other than Haaker’s long-time rival, Cody Webb, who missed the first four rounds due to an injured wrist. Webb won four of the six motos held over the two evenings of racing to make his mark on the series and remind Haaker that he will be back to battle for the championship again next season.
Friday Night Highlights
Webb made his first race back a memorable one as he quickly passed Haaker and early leader Will Riordan to take the lead and first moto win. Haaker finished second and the parity of the riders behind was evident as several riders traded positions. Riordan, the teenager from Australia, led early in the race and held on for third in the moto.
Haaker flipped the tables on Webb in the second moto to make a block pass for the lead, but he could not shake a hard-charging Ryder LeBlond, another teenager improving his EnduroCross game, who nearly made a last-lap pass on the champion.
Webb finished third.
In the final moto, Webb made a late-race pass on Haaker, who crashed in the Matrix, to take the moto and overall win.
Third overall on Friday went to German rider Tim Apolle who raced the series for Beta USA. His consistent 4-6-5 scores beat out several riders that had mixed moto results.
Cooper Abbott (KTM) finished fourth overall on Friday with 5-8-4 finishes.
LeBlond nearly had his first EnduroCross overall podium finish but a last-lap tangle with Abbott in the final moto dropped him from fourth to eight and his 8-2-8 results put him in fifth.
Saturday Night Highlights
Haaker led early in moto one, but three crashes dropped him back to fourth at the finish. Ty Cullins looked to be on his way to his first-ever moto win until a crash allowed Webb to get by him. Cullins still held on for second in the moto and Max Gerston finished third.
Abbott, Apolle and Webb started moto two at the front despite starting on the second row. Webb had a good battle with Abbott for a few laps before he was able to open a small gap and take the win. Abbott had to battle with Haaker and then a crash dropped Abbott back to sixth.
Gerston had another third-place moto finish.
Haaker and Webb rubbed elbows all the way to the first turn to start moto three, and Webb ended up getting pushed back into the pack and then went down in the second corner. Haaker rode the whole moto at the front, while Webb worked his way through the field to finish second and take another overall win. Abbott finally had a clean moto and some late-race passes allowed him to take third in the moto.
Third overall on Saturday went to Gerston with 3-3-4 finishes while Abbott (KTM) had his worst finish of the season with fifth overall via 5-6-3 moto scores.
For the championship, Abbott had a breakthrough season to finish second overall. Max Gerston finished third, his highest overall finish in 10 seasons of EnduroCross. Cory Graffunder finished fourth and Ty Cullins rounded out the top five. CN
FRIDAY
Results: Super EnduroCross
| 1. | Cody Webb | SHE | 1-2-1 |
| 2. | Colton Haaker | HUS | 2-1-2 |
| 3. | Tim Apolle | BET | 4-6-5 |
| 4. | Cooper Abbott | KTM | 5-8-4 |
| 5. | Ryder LeBlond | HUS | 8-2-8 |
| 6. | Max Gerston | GAS | 6-4-9 |
| 7. | Cory Graffunder | YAM | 7-9-6 |
| 8. | Nick Thompson | KTM | 10-11-3 |
| 9. | Ty Cullins | TM | 13-5-7 |
| 10. | Will Riordan | KTM | 3-13-10 |
SATURDAY
Results: Super EnduroCross
| 1. | Cody Webb | SHE | 1-1-2 |
| 2. | Colton Haaker | HUS | 4-2-1 |
| 3. | Max Gerston | Gas | 3-3-4 |
| 4. | Ty Cullins | TM | 2-5-2 |
| 5. | Cooper Abbott | KTM | 5-6-3 |
| 6. | Cory Graffunder | YAM | 6-4-7 |
| 7. | Tim Apolle | BET | 7-7-6 |
| 8. | Will Riordan | KTM | 8-8-8 |
| 9. | Nick Thompson | KTM | 10-12-10 |
| 10. | Ryder LeBlond | HUS | 8-2-8 |
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