E3 Spark Plugs News

Taddy Blazusiak lands his sixth win this season in the GEICO AMA EndroCross Series main event in Boise, Idaho this weekend. Photo via www.endurocross.com.

Taddy Blazusiak remains the man to beat in the 2011 EnduroCross season. Before a packed crowd at the Idaho Center in Boise Saturday, he took his sixth win of the season in the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series presented by Lucas Oil. And young Taylor Robert continues his lead of the E3 Spark Plugs Jr. Championship within a Championship.

Blazusiak started the race with a bang, securing the lead out of the first turn and launching completely over the first pool on the first lap. Mike Brown trailed closely behind, knowing he had to finish third or better to have any chance at nabbing the championship from Blazusiak. He temporarily lost his second place position to Justin Soule, who passed him in the rock section – a tough section for even the toughest competitors. But Brown won it back when Soule and Cody Webb collided in the pond section. That collision allowed Geoff Aaron to take third place behind Blazusiak and Brown. Soule managed an impressive comeback sans visor or goggles to take fourth place and Gary Sutherlin finished fifth.

Blazusiak remains the series points leader with a perfect 180. Brown follows with 127, then Aaron with 118. Webb and Seoule tie with 103 points.

Taylor “The Threat” Robert continued his lead of the E3 Spark Plugs Junior Championship within a Championship for riders age 21 and younger. His 41 points are enough to beat Keith Sweeten’s 34 and Ryan Sandoval’s 30. Taylor competed in his first race at just four years old and got serious about a pro-racing future when he began racing in amateur nationals at age 10. After sitting out most of the 2010 racing season with a torn ACL, Robert is impressing competitors and fans in both EnduroCross and the WORCS series this year.

E3 Spark Plugs congratulates all the winners this weekend. Next up: the double main event EnduroCross season finale at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas November 19.

GEICO AMA EnduroCross, Presented by Lucas Oil – Boise, ID Expert Main Event Results

1. Taddy Blazusiak – KTM
2. Mike Brown – KTM
3. Geoff Aaron – Honda/Christini
4. Justin Soule – Kawasaki
5. Gary Sutherlin -Kawasaki
6. Bobby Prochnau – KTM
7. Keith Sweeten – KTM
8. Kyle Redmond – Honda
9. Cody Webb – Beta
10. Max Gerston – KTM
11. Eric Rhoten – Kawasaki

Taddy Blazusiak wins Round Two of the GEICO Powersports AMA EnduroCross Series presented by E3 Spark Plugs. Image courtesy of EnduroCross/Source Interlink.

Round Two of the 2010 GEICO Powersports AMA EnduroCross series presented by E3 Spark Plugs delivered a dramatic show this past weekend at Guthrie, OK’s Lazy E Arena. Bets were on KTM racer Mike Brown, who dominated much of the race – until the checkers flew. After an exhausting battle across the biggest track of the series, KTM teammate Taddy Blazusiak pulled out all the stops for a spectacular come-from-behind win. After also taking the series opener at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena July 17, Blazusiak thus far has a firm grip on the championship lead.

Brown and Blazusiak traded leads throughout the event, with Brown hitting triples and scrubbing speed in the straights and Blazusiak, true to form, holding the advantage in the technical rocky turns. In fact, it was one rock in particular that ultimately took Brown out of the running for the win. Wet sand had made the river rock 180-degree turn incredibly slick and it was there that Blazusiak made the pass that stuck. Several laps later, Brown’s KTM stalled and never fired back up, saddling its rider with a disappointing DNF.

Taddy Blazusiak wins Round Two of the GEICO Powersports AMA EnduroCross Series presented by E3 Spark Plugs. Geoff Aaron (right) took second, Justin Soule (left) third. Image courtesy of EnduroCross/Source Interlink.

Brown’s exit handed second place over to GEICO Christini rider Geoff Aaron, a ten-time National Trials champ. For a moment, it looked as if he may take the win when Blazusiak nearly performed an endo across a double jump on the last lap, but held on long enough to finish first. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Justin Soule took third place, making his first podium finish in only his second main event. The turn of events pushed Soule’s Kawasaki teammate Ricky Dietrich further away from regaining his AMA EnduroCross championship. Dietrich raced despite debilitating pain from a compound fracture of his pinky toe suffered just two weeks prior. The pain and a bent shift lever on the opening lap of the main left him with a modest ninth-place finish.

Next up: Round Three of the GEICO EnduroCross series presented by E3 Spark Plugs in Indianapolis, Indiana Friday, August 27 during MotoGP weekend. Be sure to check the E3 Spark Plugs blog for all the latest racing news. And to boost your own racing performance, pick up a set of E3 Powersports Spark Plugs at one of our licensed dealers with stores online and nationwide.
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Defending EnduroCross champion Taddy Blazusiak of Poland raced to a hard-fought win, opening the E3 Spark Plugs-sponsored 2010 GEICO EnduroCross Series at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena July 17. Touted the sport’s “premier showman,” Blazusiak rode his Red Bull KTM to victory over Geoff Aaron and Cory Graffunder.

Poland's Taddy Blazusiak, winner of the 2010 GEICO EnduroCross Series' Las Vegas opener.

Ten time National Trials champ Aaron kick-started race day by setting the fastest time in the Pioneer Hot Lap, which determined the gate picks for the evening heat races. When the dust settled, Blazusiak, Graffunder and Mike Brown were awarded the best gate picks for the main event. Blazusiak wond the $750 Girardi Wealth Management holeshot award, but it proved a short-term victory when Aaron quickly passed him by. The two riders ran neck-and-neck during the first half of the race, until a mishap sent Aaron tumbling into the GEICO rock garden. That gave Blazusiak a small lead that he managed to hold for the rest of the race.

The competition for third place proved to be a nail biter. Graffunder, Brown, Justin Soule, Gary Sutherlin, Cody Webb and Kyle Redmund. Each had a shot at the podium at various times during the race, but all bets were on Webb until he crashed into the Monster water hole. Brown and Soule followed closely for fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ricky Dietrich provided the biggest shock of the day when he crashed during the Last Chance Qualifier, knocking him from the main event. Lucas Oil rider Colton Haaker, last year’s E3 Spark Plugs Junior champion also sat out the main event on the bench.

Next up for the GEICO EnduroCross Series presented by E3 Spark Plugs, maker of the top-rated E3 motorcycle spark plugs: Round Two at Guthrie, Oklahoma’s Lazy E Arena August 14.
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