Taddy Blazusiak showed us why he is a five-time series champion at Ontario, but Cody Webb is the new King of EnduroCross.
GEICO/Beta USA-backed Cody Webb came into tonight’s final round of the 2014 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California, brimming with confidence.
With a 12-point lead over JCR Honda’s Colton Haaker and a 13-point leader over five-time and defending AMA EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak, Webb knew that in the worst-case scenario, if either of his rivals won the race, he could clinch the title by finishing fifth or better. In a masterful race before a strong crowd, the 26-year-old Webb ran third for most of the 13-rider, 15-lap main event, and he was able to take advantage of an unfortunate fall by Haaker to finish second and earn his first career GEICO National EnduroCross title, dethroning Blazusiak to win the title over him by 12 points, 214-202. This was also Webb’s second career AMA National title, his first coming in a different discipline; Webb is a former AMA/NATC National Trials Champion.
“It was a good year,” Webb said while reflecting on his new title. “I never came off the podium, and I won every heat race except one. All those bonus points definitely worked in my favor and gave me confidence coming into the final round. Those guys [Haaker and Blazusiak] never let down, and I never let down on them too, obviously. This EnduroCross. Chaos always happens, and I stayed out of it.”
Chaos reigned at Ontario, which featured an extremely difficult track that claimed more than its fair share of riders in the main event, starting with fast-qualifier Taylor Robert, who ran into trouble early on lap one and wound up at the back of the field while Blazusiak got away clean and immediately took the lead. From there, Blazusiak ran about as clean a race as he possibly could, losing time to his pursuers only twice, once in the rock garden and the other on the very last lap, when he ran over a downed lapper in the matrix. Blazusiak had built up too much of an advantage by then, and he crossed the finish line well ahead of Webb to claim his third win of the season.
“I think I rode really good,” Blazusiak said. “I had Colton [Haaker] behind me, and he was going absolutely over his head, fighting to win the championship. When I saw him, I pulled like two seconds straight away. The speed was there, the riding was there, the consistency was there, the start was there. What else? It was a perfect night.”
Well, maybe not exactly perfect for Blazusiak, who bids farewell to a number one plate he has held for the past five years—a feat which may never be equaled in AMA EnduroCross. Reflecting on it, Blazusiak left no doubt about the fact that he wants the title back.
“It’s never over,” he said. “I know I can win it next year. I am a professional athlete, and I just won the last race of the year. I just had some bad luck at the previous two races, going down in the first corner. That’s where my championship went all wrong. So, five [titles] in a row, and a second this year. And I consider this year to be a tough year, so I’m still happy about this year.”
Webb said that his plan was to play it cool from the very beginning and not risk crashing away his chances at the title.
“Taddy got out ahead of us, and Colton just seemed like he was maintaining his gap ahead of me,” Webb said. “I was just being patient, didn’t want to do anything crazy. Then Colton made a big mistake, and I got by him and finished second. I never got wild all night, although in the last couple laps I made a couple mistakes.”
One of them was in a rather unlikely spot, on one of the tire jumps, just before the log section known as The Matrix. Webb clipped the tires while trying to hop onto them and got out of shape, but he gathered it up and held on to second place.
“It was tough,” Webb said. “It was so slippery there, and I was trying to figure out a good way through there, and I started seat-bouncing it.”
Haaker’s night got off to a bad start when he crashed during opening ceremonies, damaging his radiator, which forced his team to scramble to make the necessary repairs. After qualifying directly to the main event through his heat race, Haaker then crashed again during the hot lap competition that sets the starting order for the top six riders.
In the main, Haaker rode like a man possessed, passing Webb early and then charging after Blazusiak. Haaker got close to Blazusiak when the former crashed in the rock garden while trying to pass lapped riders. However, Blazusiak pulled away quickly. Haaker then crashed in the Matrix, and Webb was able to get around him and take over second place. Haaker recovered in time to finish third, ahead of Robert. Geoff Aaron was fifth.
GEICO AMA National EnduroCross Series
Citizens Bank Arena
Ontario, California
Results: November 22, 2014 (round 9 of 9)
Expert Main:
1. Taddy Blazusiak-KTM
2. Cody Webb-Bet
3. Colton Haaker-Hon
4. Taylor Robert-KTM
5. Geoff Aaron-KTM
6. Bobby Prochnau-KTM
7. Mike Brown-Hus
8. Max Gerston-Bet
9. Cory Graffunder-KTM
10. Ty Tremaine-KTM
11. Kevin Rookstool-KTM
12. Giacomo Redondi-Bet
13. Nick Thompson-KTM
GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series Points Standings (After 9 of 9 rounds)
1. Cody Webb-214/3 wins
2. Taddy Blazusiak-202/3 wins
3. Colton Haaker-199/2 wins
4. Taylor Robert-176/1 win
5. Max Gerston-122
6. Mike Brown-119
7. Cory Graffunder-113
8. Bobby Prochnau-105
9. Geoff Aaron-104
10. Ty Tremaine-100
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