Despite going off the track, Taddy Blazusiak made steady progress through the field and eventually took the win over Christini KTM's Geoff Aaron.
A sold out crowd filled the Comcast Arena in Everett Washington for Round 4 of the GEICO AMA EnduroCross series presented by E3 Sparkplugs. This was the first ever EnduroCross event in the Pacific Northwest and the riders put on an amazing show that kept the fans on their feet for most of the evening. Taddy proved to be an animal on a motorcycle once again as he launched himself off the track immediately after taking the Girardi Wealth Management Holeshot award, which seemingly gave all of the other riders a chance to take the top spot on the podium and it appeared that Geoff Aaron was going to do just that. But Taddy slowly closed in on the ten time Trials champion and took the lead on the seventh of ten laps. Aaron put up a good fight but ultimately lost touch and settled for second ahead of Gary Sutherlin.
The day started with the Pioneer Hot Laps, which puts the riders on the track one at a time to determine the gate picks for the evenings heat races and Geoff Aaron, the GEICO backed
KTM rider set the fastest time. Zip Ty
Husqvarna backed Cory Graffunder took second followed by Blazusiak on the Factory KTM. Aaron earned a $500 bonus from Rekluse clutch by being the fastest rider using their auto clutch.
Aaron, Blazusiak and Graffunder were the heat race winners, which gave them the critical first picks on the starting gate. After Blazusiak launched off the track and re-entered around mid-pack, it took him less than a lap to work through a lot of carnage and get back to second place but Aaron looked to already have a safe lead. FMF KTM’s Mike Brown was holding third position and looked set for his first EnduroCross podium of the season but a trip over the bars on the seventh lap pushed him out of contention. Gary Sutherlin, the Montana native that was Ricky Dietrich’s mechanic three years ago and decided to get back into racing himself has steadily qualified for all four main events this season and took a hard earned third place on the podium. Monster Energy
Kawasaki’s Justin Soule took fourth position ahead of Graffunder. Lucas Oil backed Colton Haaker took sixth, Brown was seventh and Kyle Redmond was eighth. Eighteen year old Keith Sweeten finished ninth ahead of Kevin Rookstool and Jamie Lanza.
In the support classes, Dennis Sweeten won the Vet class to kick off the evening activities and GEICO backed Matt Crouch won the open amateur class. Crouch then came back later in the evening to win the Dirt Rider magazine Dash for Cash event that combines the top finishers in the amateur classes.
2010 EnduroCross Everett, Washington Results:
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM)
2. Geoff Aaron (Christini KTM)
Geoff Aaron set the fastest time in his Pioneer Hot Lap and finished second behind Taddy Blazusiak in the main.
3. Gary Sutherlin (Kawasaki)
4. Justin Soule (Kawasaki)
5. Cory Graffunder (Husqvarna)
6. Colton Haaker (Kawasaki)
7. Mike Brown (KTM)
8. Kyle Redmond (Kawasaki)
9. Keith Sweeten (KTM)
10. Kevin Rookstool (KTM)
11. Jamie Lanza (Kawasaki)
2010 EnduroCross Championship Points:
1. Taddy Blazusiak, 120
2. Geoff Aaron, 85
3. Justin Soule, 71
4. Gary Sutherlin, 67
5. Ciry Graffunder, 67
6. Kyle Redmond, 63
7. Kevin Rookstool, 57
8. Mike Brown, 54
9. Jamie Lanza, 45
10. Colton Haaker, 44
The GEICO AMA EnduroCross series presented by E3 Spark plugs now heads to Denver Colorado on Saturday, October 30th. This will be the forth visit to Denver and the event has sold out in the past so if you want to see EnduroCross in person, please go to www.EnduroCross.com to get your tickets.
GEICO EnduroCross on the Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour on Versus network:
Event Date Arena Air Date & Time Re-Air Date & Time
Las Vegas, NV 07/17/10 Orleans Arena 10/10/10 6:00 PM 10/14/10 5:00 PM
Guthrie, OK 08/14/10 Lazy E Arena 10/31/10 5:00 PM 11/3/10 5:00 PM
Indianapolis, IN 08/27/10 Pepsi Coliseum 11/7/10 6:00 PM 11/11/10 5:00 PM
Everett, WA 9/11/10 Comcast Arena 11/14/10 5:00 PM 11/17/10 5:00 PM
Denver, CO 10/30/10 National Western Complex 12/12/10 5:00 PM 12/15/10 5:00 PM
Las Vegas, NV 11/20/10 Orleans Arena 12/19/10 6:00 PM 12/23/10 5:00 PM
Note: All times are Eastern.
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