A Look Back At The 2008 EnduroCross Season

/></a>
<p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
</div>
<p>Although the 2009 AMA EnduroCross Championship is shaping up to be the wildest year of indoor off-road racing ever, the new season certainly has some awfully large shoes to fill. The six-round 2008 season was filled with upset wins, nasty crashes, countless lead changes and a close point battle all the way to the final main event of the year. In case you missed the events or didn’t catch the Versus TV coverage on the “Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour,” here is a look back at some of the highlights of the 2008 AMA/Maxxis EnduroCross season.<strong>Round 1: Las Vegas, Nevada</strong><br />The first round of the ’08 EX tour took place on a tight, super-technical course at the Orleans Arena, and each and every one of the riders came out of the gate charging. Nick Brozovich, Jamie Lanza, Damon Huffman, Colton Haaker and Canadian logger Bobby Prochnau all put in solid qualifying efforts to earn spots in the main event. The highlight of qualifying came in Semi #3 when desert hero Destry Abbott and Baja 1000 champ Kendall Norman tangled on the last lap just before the finish line, at which point both riders attempted to run their machines across the checkers (actually, Abbott pretty much just launched his factory Kawasaki over the line!). In the main event, 10-time AMA trials champion Geoff Aaron and WORCS front-runner Ricky Dietrich both rode exceptionally well, but neither could hang with eventual winner Taddy Blazusiak. Ironically, Taddy had to qualify into the main event through the last-chance qualifier, proving that anything can happen in EnduroCross. Armed with his trusty KTM two-stroke and an above-average supply of natural talent, Taddy looked smooth and pulled out a clean win to take home the first victory of the season, as well as to establish himself as the man to beat in the series. However, the week after his win in Las Vegas, Taddy sustained major injuries to his face in a huge crash at a WORCS event and was forced to undergo surgery, thus leaving the point lead wide open coming into round two.<strong>Round 2: Guthrie, Oklahoma</strong><br />Round two of the EnduroCross series brought a special surprise for the riders, as Guthrie’s extra-large Lazy E Arena offered more than twice the floor space than the opening round at the Orleans Arena. As a result, the track was massive! A long start straight and several big log sections provided some good passing opportunities, but the section that had most of the riders worried was the massive rock pile before the finish line. The racing was close all night long. A host of Support class riders showed up to try their hand at EX, with Phil Smage bagging his second TrialCross class win of the season, and Eric Rhoten and Kyle Calderini taking the Open Two-Stroke and Open Four-Stroke class wins, respectively. Qualifying was tight with Geoff Aaron missing out on the main due to a few mistakes and local heroes Guy Cooper and Kenny Bartram making the cut into the night show. Still, all eyes were on the top 10 pros as they lined up for the second main event of the year. With Blazusiak on the mend from his still-healing facial surgery, it was anyone’s ballgame. When the gate dropped before the MX-style first turn, it was Damon Huffman with a massive holeshot and the initial lead, which he kept to within sight of the white flag. A motivated Ricky Dietrich was riding like a banshee in second place, and when Huffman got stuck on a log with one lap to go Dietrich was there to take advantage. Huffman got going again and put in a solid charge to the finish, but it wasn’t quite enough to stop his teammate Ricky from getting his first-ever EnduroCross main event win, which also happened to be the first round of the Geico Triple Crown that pledged $50,000 to the rider who could win the Guthrie, Columbus and Las Vegas main events.<strong>Round 3: Florence, South Carolina</strong><br />Following Guthrie, it was no secret that Ricky Dietrich was going to be a major threat in the EX championship race. When the riders arrived in Florence, the track that greeted them made one thing crystal clear: It wasn’t going to be an easy weekend. New for this round was an innovative “firewood” section that had riders plowing across approximately 20 yards of freshly cut pieces of firewood, each about a foot long. This made for an unpredictably slippery obstacle that literally changed shape each time a rider went through it. A tight first turn, an off-camber rock garden and some deep sand rounded out the technical track.Marking the first time that the EnduroCross season had visited the East Coast, the Florence round did not disappoint in terms of excitement. The night began with a series of tight Support class main events that saw two new winners in Steve Leivan (Vet class), Eric Rodgers (Two-Stroke) and Chris Denison (Four-Stroke), with Phil Smage nailing down another TrialCross victory. Qualifying for the Expert division was likewise a battle with enduro champion Mike Lafferty, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Summey and arenacross specialist Kyle Calderini all failing to make the main. When the Expert feature came around, Team Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Huffman did something extremely uncommon in EnduroCross: He rode a perfect race. Even with the likes of Bobby Prochnau, Dietrich, Colton Haaker and Mike Brown on his heels, Huffman’s charge couldn’t be stopped, and he left the stadium parking lot doing burnouts in his rental car with his first EnduroCross main event first-place trophy in the seat next to him.
<div><a href=

Round 4: Denver, Colorado
At the halfway point of the series, Dietrich led Huffman by a single point, with Colton Haaker bringing up third place in the championship run. Round four in Denver promised not only a tight battle between the top three racers, but an interesting twist with the return of Taddy to the EnduroCross series. Healed, hungry and eager to make up for lost time, Blazusiak came out swinging in his heat race and posted a convincing win over Dietrich and “Wild” Wally Palmer. Taking the second heat win was an incredibly “on” Huffman, followed by Geoff Aaron, who looked comfortable and smooth aboard his Christini all-wheel-drive machine. Haaker took the top honors in the third heat race, while Prochnau, Jamie Lanza and Ty Davis bagged the semi wins to squeeze into the main.All eyes were on Taddy as the Expert final gate dropped, but it was Damon Huffman who snatched the lead and never looked back. To the amazement of everyone in attendance, Huff Daddy scored another solid win by riding a near-flawless race. Dietrich looked to be a challenger early on, but a crash dropped him to sixth, though he eventually worked back up to finish just off of the podium in fourth. Meanwhile, Taddy seemingly had second in the bag but made a big enough mistake to let Geoff Aaron by for third.Round 5: Columbus, Ohio
Coming into the fifth round in Columbus, fans knew that the series was still far from over. With two wins to his credit, Huffman looked to be in control, but he still had the likes of Blazusiak, Dietrich and Aaron to deal with. After a host of solid Support class main events, the Expert riders took to the track to determine who would control the point lead going in to the Las Vegas Final. The tight Ohio course, which featured one of the longest river-rock sections of the year, consisted of wet, tacky dirt that favored a more aggressive riding style.One of the earliest surprises of the night was a fall by Huffman in his heat race that had the lanky rider hitting the ground so hard he dislocated one of his fingers. Although the medics were able to pop the finger back into place so that he could ride the semi and last-chance qualifier, Huffman failed to make the main event due to the pain and was forced to watch from the sidelines. In the early laps, it was Dietrich with the lead followed closely by Blazusiak and Aaron, who both eventually got around the Kawasaki-mounted Dietrich and had a serious battle of their own. The Red Bull/BTOsports.com-backed Aaron charged as hard as he could for the duration of the race, passing for the lead just prior to the white flag. He pushed hard, but Blazusiak managed to slide back by Aaron for a narrow victory. The win marked Taddy’s second of the season and ended Dietrich’s hopes for a huge $50,000 check for the Geico Triple Crown win. With Huffman only 10 points behind Dietrich and a relentless Blazusiak inching his way back up to fourth in the overall standings, it was anyone’s race heading into the final round at the return to the Orleans Arena.Round 6: Las Vegas, Nevada
Leading up to the championship round in Las Vegas, the hype surrounding the AMA/Maxxis EnduroCross race was incredible. Not only would dozens of amateur EnduroCross racers be battling for four separate #1 plates in the AMA EnduroCross Grand Championships, but the Expert class riders squaring off for the title were ready to play for keeps. In addition to the usual heavy-hitting lineup of Dietrich, Blazusiak, Huffman, Aaron and Haaker, several new stars would be entering the race for their shot at the top of the box. Am-Pro Yamaha’s AMA National Hare Scrambles champion Jason Raines headed to Vegas, as well as AMA/FMF National Hare & Hound champion Destry Abbott and FMF Suzuki’s WORCS racer Nathan Woods. Also, current World Enduro champion Mika Ahola borrowed a bike from Carey Hart’s Rockstar/Hart & Huntington team and was looking to do some damage in the name of Finland. Without a doubt, the Expert class was as stacked as it had ever been heading into the event.Kicking things off in Vegas were the EXGC racers, of whom four were crowned with legitimate AMA championships. Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert grabbed the Open Four-Stroke class championship, while Ryan Dudek earned bragging rights in Open Two-Stroke. The Vet 35-plus class victory was won by Tod Sciacqua, and Patrick Smage took home the TrialCross title. By the time these racers had been given their #1 plates, the sold-out Las Vegas crowd was on its feet to watch the Expert class qualifying. When the dust cleared, former World Motocross champion Sebastien Tortelli, Ty Davis, Kurt Caselli, Jamie Lanza, Jason Raines and Nathan Kanney were some of the riders who did not make the cut, proving yet again how unpredictable EnduroCross can be.In the main event, Huffman redeemed himself from his tough luck in Ohio and put his Kawasaki out front from the very beginning. Behind him, a battle raged between Dietrich, Blazusiak, Aaron and Prochnau, who was sitting square in the sights of Mika Ahola. Although everyone on the course was throwing down some serious laps, none could match the pace of Huffman, and it was he who took the final win of the year. Finishing in second was Dietrich, whose strong finish clinched the 2008 AMA/Maxxis EnduroCross Championship for Team Monster Energy Kawasaki. Interestingly enough, Dietrich was the only rider of the entire season to make every single main event. Following in third place was Aaron, who made it past a struggling Blazusiak for the final podium position.Final 2008 AMA/Maxxis EnduroCross Point Standings
1. Ricky Dietrich, 136
2. Damon Huffman, 131
3. Taddy Blazusiak, 99
4. Geoff Aaron, 96
5. Colton Haaker, 86
6. Nick Brozovich, 76
7. Bobby Prochnau, 65
8. Jamie Lanza, 64
9. Ty Davis, 59
10. Phil Smage, 41Hungry for some EnduroCross race action? The 2009 season spans six rounds all over the U.S., so there is no reason not to get in on the action! Whether you want to attend as a spectator or as a participant, tickets and entries are available online, along with a wealth of information regarding the series. For more, log on to www.endurocross.com.2009 AMA/ Geico EnduroCross Presented by E3 Spark Plugs Schedule:
Las Vegas, NV – July 25
Guthrie, OK – August 15
Florence, SC – September 12
Columbus, OH – October 3
Denver, CO – October 24
Las Vegas, NV – November 21