Everett Washington EnduroCross to Taddy Blazusiak

Geoff Aaron and Cody Webb round out the podium!

 Everett, WA (August 13, 2011) – The
2011 GEICO AMA EnduroCross series, presented by Lucas Oil made a huge
impact as part of the X Games less than two weeks ago then the riders
made the trip up to the Pacific Northwest to race in the Comcast Arena
in Everett Washington. And just like at the X Games, Taddy Blazusiak
rode his Factory KTM 350 to the win. Geoff Aaron finished second on his
GEICO Honda while Cody Webb rounded out the podium on his factory Beta.

The
afternoon got started with the timed qualifying laps to determine the
gate picks for the heat races. Blazusiak set the fastest time followed
by Aaron, Graham Jarvis, Mike Brown and Colton Haaker. The “Hot Laps”
determine the gate picks for the heat races.

Blazusiak,
Webb and Jarvis each won their heat races to get direct transfers to
the main event. Webb has really stepped up his game for EnduroCross and
looks like he will be a regular podium contender. Jarvis made the trip
from England to compete in a few North American off road events and
showed that he is a contender. The biggest surprise non-qualifier for
the main event was Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert who could not
re-fire his bike after stalling in his semi.

When
the gate dropped for the main event, Blazusiak immediately took the
lead but could not shake the field for the first three laps. Brown, Webb
and Aaron all stayed very close and began a fierce battle that slowed
each of them and allowed Blazusiak to pull away. Aaron eventually took
control of second and Webb fought back to third after a few mistakes.
Brown took fourth just ahead of Graham Jarvis. Jarvis rode a very steady
race but seemed uncomfortable with the high intensity of the first few
laps. Lucas Oil backed Haaker finished sixth ahead of Oregon’s Kevin
Rookstool. Justin Soule finished eighth on the Monster Energy Kawasaki
ahead of Gary Sutherlin, Wally Palmer and an unlucky Bobby Prochnau. The
top Canadian off road motorcycle racer had worked his way to fourth but
a derailed chain ended his race.

In
the end, Blazusiak lapped all the way up to  third place, which is an
amazing display of skill with such a strong field of riders that
included Aaron, a 10 time AMA Trials Champion, Cody Webb, the 2010
Trials Champion and Jarvis, who just this year has won the Romaniacs,
Tough One and Hells Gate Extreme Enduro events.

In
addition to the Expert class, EnduroCross events include 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 Culberson over Joe Kopp and Billy
Baldwin. The Amateur class was won by Ben Rego over Matt Crouch and
Keith Curtis. The TrialsCross class was won by Max Nelson ahead of Paul
Neff and Teddy Hahn.

Due
to the X Games buzz for the Women’s class and a large number of female
riders interested in competing, the Everett round also included a
Women’s class. Seattle native and X Games gold medal winner Maria
Forsberg took the win after literally dragging her bike across the
finish line just ahead of Canada’s Victory Hett. Chantelle Bykerk
finished third ahead of Christy Williams and Kendall Reed.

The
GEICO AMA EnduroCross series will now head east to Indianapolis,
Indiana for a Friday night event that kicks off the MotoGP weekend on
August 26^th. The event will take place inside the Pepsi Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 

Tickets for the Indy event are available at Bloomington Powersports www.bloomingtonpowersports.com/ and IndyMoto www.indymoto.com, as well as directly from Ticketmaster. Information for all of the GEICO EnduroCross events can be found at www.EnduroCross.com.

2011 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Schedule

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. 

ENDUROCROSS is a registered trademark of Source Interlink Magazines, LLC.

For rules and race information visit www.EnduroCross.com or email endurocross@sorc.com.