Taddy Blazusiak has claimed victory at the opening round of the '10 US Endurocross championship, making the perfect start to his title defence.
Putting his factory KTM on the top step of the podium ahead of Christini/KTM rider Geoff Aaron and Husqvarna's Cory Graffunder, Taddy dominated the 10-lap main event to claim a comfortable win. Only challenged during the opening lap, Blazusiak put in one of his most consistent Endurocross performances to claim a crucial early championship lead.
Returning to the US following several hugely successful months racing in Europe, Taddy was unable to top the hot-lap qualifying session due to one small mistake. Stuck in a corner losing a hand full of seconds Blazusiak placed fourth. Winning his heat race he past into the main event without problems.
Rounding the first corner out front Taddy made the perfect start to the main event. Battling with Geoff Aaron for much of the opening lap once in the lead Blazusiak began to edge away from his rivals, opening up what would be an unbeatable lead. Consistently working his way around each challenging lap Taddy claimed the chequered flag ahead of Aaron and Graffunder to take a well-deserved early lead in the '10 US Endurocross championship.
"Of course I'm pleased to have won the first race of the new Endurocross championship, but I'm most pleased with the fact that I didn't make any mistakes at all during the main event," Blazusiak said.
"The only thing that could have fone better was the qualifying ho-lap session. I stopped in a corner and lost three or four seconds, but that was pretty much my only mistake. It took me a while to get back in the Endurocross racing, because the track was pretty tight and technical. I was trying to go too hard and too fast initially, I had to slow things down and just make sure I didn't make any mistakes.
"The main event was great, I got the start, which I knew was going to be really important, and had a good little battle with Geoff Aaron on lap one. After that I got my head down and started pulling away. Nine of my 10 lap were the same time, so my consistency was good. My shoulder hurt like hell the whole night, but the strength was ok. It feels like I've been waiting for Endurocross to start for month and months so now that it finally has it's great that I'm leading the championship.'
Rnd two of the US Endurocross series takes place in Guthrie, Oklahoma on August 14.
Results - Endurocross '10, Rnd 1
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM Enduro Factory Team)
2. Geoff Aaron (Christini/KTM)
3. Cory Graffunder (Husqvarna)
4. Mike Brown (KTM)
5. Justin Soule (Kawasaki)
6. Gary Sutherlin (Kawasaki)
