Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker and factory KTM’s Cody Webb—both of California—have been going at it for supremacy in EnduroCross in the U.S. for the last few years. This year they spent their off-season flying internationally and chasing the SuperEnduro World Championship (the European version of EnduroCross) and they did very well—to the point that the title came down to them, and then down to the last lap, and then the last turn! Haaker emerged with the clutch victory and the championship.
Last week we spoke with Haaker about the win.
Racer X: You were trying to figure out today, you might be the first American to win a world championship in off-road. There’s not a big history of American off-roaders killing it in Europe, so congratulations.
Colton Haaker: Thanks. I wasn’t sure. Are we saying that?
Well, [Ryan] Sipes won the ISDE individual, but that event is really designed around the team. But the off-road scene here and in Europe is totally different, so there’s usually not much crossover success.
This was the first year that a lot of Americans got to go over there and race the SuperEnduro World Championship series. They did a good job stepping up their program as well with the series. They ran six rounds, two in South America, four in Europe. So it was the best of the best, really. Taddy [Blazusiak] was going for his seventh title in a row. He ended up getting hurt after the second round. Then it was Johnny Walker in the lead for a bit. Some of those guys had a few so-so races toward the end and I was able to capitalize.
EnduroCross gets pretty wild. Do these races and championships really come down to who is fastest, or does it just come down to just craziness and crashes and mistakes?
The series was pretty crazy because of the format. There are six rounds, but 18 races because each round has three point paying three main events per night. So you qualify for gate pick in the first main event, but then they invert the gates for the second one—if you win it you get last gate pick, second row, for the second race. Third main event they go back to qualifying gate picks. So it makes everything a little bit more interesting. That makes for crazy motos and crazy moto scores and finishes.
With all that, does it just come down to being consistent and not making mistakes? Three main events, inverted starts, it seems like the potential for chaos is pretty high.
It’s both. You might be in the position where you’re up front but you lose the leader. Maybe they had a couple better lines and they just rode better than you in that moto. They’re shorter races, too. They’re only six minutes plus a lap. It’s a lot more fast paced and if you make a mistake you lose a lot of time. So it’s both. There’s chaos because of the inverted start and being consistent ends up paying in the end, but you’ve also got to have that race craft where it’s like, “I’m losing time in the section,” because the leader changed lines. You’ve got to figure that out quickly. It’s even gnarlier over there because there’s Cody [Webb] and myself, Johnny Walker, Taddy, and then there’s four or five other Euros, a couple other factory riders…there’s five, six, seven guys that could win. Hard to get consistent scores with that.
So how did it end up going into this last race? How close were the points between you and Cody?
It was actually three riders, seven points apart. Johnny Walker was leading the championship, then Cody was six points behind, then myself. But Walker was riding hurt. And the track was really small and tight—seemed like it would fit an 80cc arenacross race, and we’re racing full size dirt bikes around an obstacle course. So that made it crazier. Then in the SupePole (qualifiying) I stalled it and didn’t get any points, I got last in it so I got the eighth gate pick. Cody won the SuperPole, so he got the bonus points, so now it’s down to a three point difference between myself, John [Johnny Walker] and Cody going into the three final races. So in the first race I pull an amazing start from the outside and pass into the lead. Then I actually had a fall on my own. Going back and forth with Taddy and [Alfredo] Gomez and a few other riders, back and forth. There were a lot of mistakes going on! I ended up getting third. Cody had a horrible start—he came up and finished fourth. Johnny actually broke his leg earlier the round before, fractured his fibula I think, so he was a little off pace. I think he finished sixth.
I don’t remember where I passed anybody. I don’t remember where I went.
Broken leg but he was still racing?
Yeah! He was the points leader. Any of us would have, I think.
So you’re looking good but then you get the inverted start?
Then we get the inverted start [for the second main event] and Cody and I both make our way up through the pack together. He wins, I finish second. That’s a three point difference right there. So now it’s two points going into this final race between Cody and I. Cody has first gate pick, I have last gate pick, because it goes back to where we qualified for the final race. I don’t get the start. Cody does. He’s in first place by the second turn. I’m in ninth.
So, at this point there’s no other choice but to try to go forward. I started picking people off and ran through the best guys. With three or four laps left before I had Cody pretty much right in front of me. Then I made one move on him that didn’t stick, and I gathered it up, and it came down to the last lap—I had to make a pass to win the title. The very first turn on the last lap was the firewood turn. There’s two lappers stuck in it. Cody splits the lappers. I had no choice but to just dive bomb the inside over this gnarly line, over this double log thing. No one took that line all night. I didn’t even know where it came from! It worked, I get in the lead and I’m like, I think he’s still stuck in the firewood pit. Well, come to find out he wasn’t stuck, because two turns later he jumps to the inside of the sand turn, hits me, throws a block pass back on me to get back in the lead! Now I’m in second. We have two turns left. I chase him down through the matrix so I can make a pass. I made the pass through the matrix section right before the last turn, and then I got the win. That was championship, that was the pass for the championship. It was pretty incredible.
How did you make this pass in the matrix? Did you just go for it? Did you have a different line?
Basically there’s this 90-degree right-hander, there were two logs in it. He didn’t hit the very inside where you double the logs and I did and I got up right next to him. I think he felt my presence there. He took the left-hand line in the matrix and I took the rut in the middle. I think maybe he was a little pumped up from maybe the pressure of the situation and I wasn’t. I able to just hammer it and get the win.
I know that you guys always talk about how gnarly these events are heart-rate-wise. You’re going forward from ninth and everything’s on the line, you’re passing each other on the last lap. Where are you at physically when this race is over? You might not even feel it during it, but were you like at 300 beats a minute? It must have been so crazy.
After my celebration, I was probably at 350 beats per minute! I went on like a 30 second, half Justin Bieber half crazy man, just letting out all the feelings of what went down. A lot culminating at that point. I didn’t know what was going to happen. It was just a battle until the very bitter end. It’s a lot different than when you’re up front leading for the whole way and then you win. You’re like, all right, cool. Give a little salute and that’s all. But when it comes down to it like that, you don’t even know what to do. I felt like Ricky Bobby! I didn’t even know what to do!
Do you even feel tired on that last lap? Do you even notice that? Or is it just all blocked out?
No. I blacked out, I’ll tell you that much. I pretty much blacked out the entire race, halfway through.
You don’t even remember?
No. I don’t remember where I passed anybody. I don’t remember where I went. The only thing I do remember was that line I did on the inside of the firewood. And then I remembered the sand turn, him getting back around me, and then I remember the last pass. Everything in-between that—the rest of it I was just blacked out.
This is the zone that they talk about. You’re just in some crazy focus zone.
Sometimes it’s hard to get to in that situation. It’s hard to let go. You have this thing that you want to control so much. You want to control the situation and then you’re out there racing, but you have to just… a champion, they just let themselves go. They just do it—react. That’s what I was doing. I wasn’t thinking about anything. Just letting all the practice that I’ve done—practiced so much for so long—I just let that all take control. I was just in autopilot. It was a pretty amazing feeling and an amazing situation.
