Blazusiak Stays Perfect with Boise Win
October 24, 2011 9:50am
Blazusiak Keeps Perfect Record with Boise EnduroCross Win
Mike Brown finished second to keep the championship alive until Las Vegas
Mike Brown finished second to keep the championship alive until Las Vegas
Boise, ID – A packed Idaho Center greeted the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series presented by Lucas Oil witnessed Taddy Blazusiak take his sixth win of the season. Mike Brown kept the championship alive by finishing a strong second place ahead of Geoff Aaron.
The three podium finishers also set the three fastest laps during the hot laps to get the first picks in their respective heat races. Damon Bradshaw, the former top Motocrosser who is now 39 years old competed in his first ever EnduroCross and surprised everybody by setting the eighth fastest time during the hot laps. He unfortunately could not find his way to qualify for the main event. Monster Kawasaki’s Justin Soule managed to beat Aaron during the first heat race while Brown and Blazusiak each won their heat races.
KTM’s Blazusiak made it easy on himself by jumping to the front coming out of the first turn and then launched completely over the first pool on the first lap to pull a small gap. Brown, the only rider that still has a mathematical chance of winning the championship knew he had to finish at least third to keep the title hopes alive and came out second ahead of Soule. Then Soule made a great pass on Brown in the long, difficult rock section to take the position but Brown got aggressive to take the position back and actually kept Blazusiak in sight for several laps. Soule and Beta’s Cody Webb were battling over third early in the race but collided in the pond section when Webb doubled over the first pond while Soule singled it. That allowed GEICO Honda’s Aaron to take over third, where he would finish.
After the collision, Soule made a heroic comeback to finish fourth without a visor or goggles. Gary Sutherlin, the privateer Kawasaki rider finished fifth ahead of a hoard of riders that were all battling for the position early. RPM KTM’s Bobby Prochnau finished sixth ahead of Keith Sweeten, Kyle Redmond, Cody Webb, Max Gerston and Eric Rhoten.
The Championship is still alive as the series heads to the Las Vegas for a double main event format. Blazusiak has a perfect 180 points followed by Brown with 127, Aaron with 118, Webb with 103 and Soule tied with 103. For the E3 Spark Plugs Junior Championship within a Championship for riders 21 and under, Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert has 41 points followed by Keith Sweeten with 34 and Ryan Sandoval with 30.
In addition to the Expert class, EnduroCross events include Open Amateur, Vet 35+ and TrialsCross classes. The top two finishers in each class also earn a spot in the Vegas Grand Championship Finals for each respective class. The Vet class was won by Shane Cuthbertson ahead of Adam Booth and Josh Adams. The Amateur class was won by Max Gerston over Eric Rhoten and Derick Mahoney. The TrialsCross class was won by Bryan Roper and he was followed home by Mike Damm and Shad Petersen. Louise Forsley made history by being the first female to ever qualify for an EnduroCross Amateur main event and finished tenth.
GEICO AMA EnduroCross, Presented by Lucas Oil Boise, ID Expert Main Event Results
Taddy Blazusiak KTM
Mike Brown KTM
Geoff Aaron Honda/Christini
Justin Soule Kawasaki
Gary Sutherlin Kawasaki
Bobby Prochnau KTM
Keith Sweeten KTM
Kyle Redmond Honda
Cody Webb Beta
Max Gerston KTM
Eric Rhoten Kawasaki
Las Vegas will host the final round of the EnduroCross series and that event will feature a double main event format. So the riders that qualify for the main event will race two separate points paying races that also provide double purse
Tickets are available at http://www.orleansarena.com/event-calendar/endurocross and www.EnduroCross.com.
2011 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Schedule
Location Date Arena / Additional Information
Los Angeles, CA July 31, 2011 Staples Center (Expert only during X-Games)
Everett, WA August 13, 2011 Comcast Arena
Indianapolis, IN August 26, 2011 Pepsi Coliseum (Friday during MotoGP weekend)
Ontario, CA September 17, 2011 Citizens Business Bank Arena
Denver, CO October 1, 2011 National Western Complex
Boise, ID October 22, 2011 Idaho Center
Las Vegas, NV November 19, 2011 Orleans Arena (Double Main event)
EnduroCross tracks incorporate various elements of extreme off road racing into a supercross-style setting, including rocks, boulders, logs, sand, mud, a water-hole…and even a few special obstacles like giant tires thrown in! Known as the “toughest racing on two wheels,” this indoor off road racing will certainly keep you on your feet. Don’t miss your chance to see GEICO AMA EnduroCross “Live”. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will combine to telecast 25 hours of live X Games 17 competition, which will include Enduro X. For the six remaining EnduroCross events, be sure to log-on to www.motorsportshour.com for local air dates/times for the Lucas Motorsports Hour on the Versus network.