Monday Hot Press
Everett Endurocross Win Awarded to Blazusiak
[Photo: Drew Ruiz]
Round 6 of the Geico Endurocross series offered one of the toughest courses of the season yet. But to no surprise, it was no feat for KTM rider Taddy Blazusiak who set the fastest lap time in the MVP hot laps. The Main event saw a new face on the podium and some intense racing. Off the start, Blazusiak shot out in front, but slipped up in the rocks during lap two. Before Mike Brown, who was in second, could capitalize on Blazusiak's mistake- he fell to the same misfortune and was a sitting duck along side the leader. Stillwell Beta's Cody Webb charged ahead and built his lead over the next few laps, until losing his step and falling in a corner. Blazusiak took back his lead spot while Taylor Robert focused on keeping his pace in 2nd.
The biggest surprise of the night came when FMF/RPM/KTM Racing Team Maxxis rider Bobby Prochnau moved all the way up from ninth overall, into a battle with Mike Brown for third. Brown couldn't shake off the fellow KTM rider and lost his chance to keep third as Prochnau crossed the finish line in a well-deserved third place finish.
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Mullins Back Earns First 2012 Win at Ironman GNCC
The GNCC battle continues to heat up weekend by weekend! The East coast circuit made it's stop in Indiana this weekend for the annual Ironman round; where in fact a new man was crowned with a win. In the XC1 class, AmPro Yamaha's Paul Whibley took yet another holeshot to kick off the race, but it was Thad Duvall who shot to the front ahead of Whibley. From the back Charlie Mullins passed ahead of Whibley and Duvall for the lead position but wasn't able to run away with it as the two from behind weren't letting him lead so easily.
Unfortunately, Whibley made the sore miscalculation of running out of gas, forcing him to look for donation on the course. He took enough gas to get himself back in the game but failed to go to his pit- resulting in a dock of .15 seconds. The front leaders continued on and Kailub Russell moved into Whibley's spot in time for the finish. Considering Whibley's finish behind Russell, the two sit just a single point from each other, Russell being the leader.
The XC1 class wasn't just the class to watch this weekend as the XC2 class had an intense battle of their own going on. Since Steward Baylor's wrist injury, Jason Thomas and Andrew Delong moved higher in the point's ranks creating an intense racing atmosphere. But after Baylor's official crowning of the 2012 National Enduro championship, he had the upper hand of confidence heading into the Indiana round. From nearly start to finish Baylor dominated the class in first until lap five when Jason Thomas moved in and took the lead. Clearly Baylor wasn't having it and charged back into the lead for the finish. Currently Baylor has officially moved back into the points lead over Jason Thomas by just one point.
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Ryan Kudla Captures AMA/ WCEC www.RideChec.com Win
Round 7 of the AMA/Flexx Bars Western Checkpoint Enduro Championship was hosted by Training Wheels MC in Red Mountain, California this weekend. Training Wheels MC lays out a true time keeping Enduro and the top 3 overall were all separated by seconds! While 3 Bros KTM / Flexx Bars back Ryan Kudla has already wrapped up the local Overall and Class titles he started the weekend with the overall on his mind. It wouldn't be easy with IDSE Gold Medalist Jordan Brandt trading Test wins all day long. There were lots of other top contenders, from all over California and the West Coast on the line as well with SRT's Brad Pace, 3 Bros KTM's Nick Hamill, Northern California's James Ptarcinski and Arizona's Travis Epperson.
The event would start out very slow and tricky with Kudla dropping 2 seconds, Brandt dropping a full minute and lots of others zeroing the entire loop. FT Motorsports Greg Seda woud take both the 60+ A victory and the 1 loop overall!
The Second loop would get more difficult and tricky with two 4mph sections to throw the riders off their games. Kudla would stay on his minute while Brandt would drop another point and Pace would drop 2 points going into the final 2 tests of the day. 3 Bros KTM's Mike Whitcomb would take the 2 loop overall and 50+ victory but woud not secure enough points to take the 50+ A title from 3 Bros KTM Owner Ricardo Barbosa.
Pace and Brandt would step up their games on the final section being the only 2 riders to make the 1st test on time while Kudla would jut miss is dropping 1 points leaving everything up to the final test. Kudla felt great all the way through, checking in on time and blasting through the section but a bobble on the last climb looked to get the better of him. Pace would post the fastest time dropping 1:20 seconds followed by Brandt dropping 1:30 followed by Kudla dropping 1:49. When all the times were added up Kudla would come out on top dropping a total of 2:155 on the entire day followed by Brandt in 3rd 3:144 and Pace with 3:200.
1 - Ryan Kudla - KTM - 2:155
2 - Jordan Brandt - YAM - 3:144
3 - Brad Pace - HON - 3:200
4 - Travis Epperson - KTM - 6:362
5 - Jason Parsons - KAW - 7:464
Full Results Here
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