Down to the Wire in Vegas!

Geoff Aaron

As the fans, racers and various enthusiasts left the Orleans Arena following the first night of the AMA/ Geico EnduroCross series presented by E3 Spark Plugs, one sentence could be heard pouring out of the mouth of everyone in attendance: "That was the best race I have ever seen." In typical EnduroCross fashion, the first round of the series took Las Vegas by storm and provided a wild night of racing that culminated in the closest main event in EnduroCross history and provided an exciting glimpse at what the rest of the season holds.

The evening started out with a string of close races in the Open Amateur, Vet and TrialCross classes that saw three very tired winners gratefully accept their trophies. The course-featuring six tricky lanes packed a wide array of obstacles-had several solid passing lines and made for insane action in every moto. But as exciting as the support classes were, the real racing began when the Pro Heat Races took off down the short start straight. KTM star Taddy Blazusiak set the bar high and took the first Expert Heat race win of the season, and several more intense qualifying races took place thereafter. When all was said and done, the stage was set and the Expert main event was literally anyone's game.

Ricky Dietrich

If you've seen the press release, you're well aware that Blazusiak earned the $500 Girardi Holeshot Award by grabbing the front position off the start. What you may not know from reading the PR is that Taddy almost took himself out on more than one occasion-the guy was pinning it! With a wide-open, almost spastic riding style, Blazusiak eventually hit the ground-the water, actually-and handed the lead to Colton Haaker. What ensued was one of the wildest battles in EnduroCross history, with Haaker, Blazusia, 2008 Champion Ricky Dietrich and KTM's Mike Brown all going at it with absolute ferocity, and Geoff Aaron not far behind. At one point, Dietrich and Blazusiak came together and got tangled, forcing Taddy to dig into his well of trials experience and pull a full-on 340-degree pivot turn just to get out of the mess. And all the while, the crowd was going nuts!

With all eyes on the front of the race, nobody noticed that Yamaha-backed Kyle Redmond was steadily hanging in sight of the fight, with Corey Graffunder, Jamie Lanza, Damon Huffman and Destry Abbott not far behind. Nevertheless, the skirmish at the front of the pack held the attention of everyone in the arena as the white flag came out for Dietrich, followed closely by Taddy. With just two turns to go, Dietrich threw it away over a simple log crossing, allowing Blazusiak to squeeze by and regain the lead. However, when Taddy then slipped off the rocks coming into the final corner, a small window was opened for Dietrich to take one last shot at the win. He held it wide open across the final log crossing and through the chopsticks section, coming across the line side-by-side with Taddy. It looked as though the Kawasaki rider had done the impossible, but the transponders proved otherwise: Dietrich had lost by a split second to Taddy Blazusiak.

Damon Huffman

Mike Brown

Destry Abbott

Taddy Blazusiak

Ecstatic with the win, Taddy took an entertaining victory lap around the course and fired off an excited (and partially unintelligible) podium interview. Shortly thereafter, Dietrich was spotted just outside the track entrance, puking his guts out and cursing himself for his small yet costly mistake.

When all was said and done, the first weekend of the Geico EnduroCross series turned out to be one of the most exciting rounds that the series has ever seen, and there are still five more stops to go! Although Blazusiak has captured the early points lead, you can bet your helmet that Dietrich is going to do anything he can to take the win at the next round of the series in Guthrie, Oklahoma on August 15th. The Guthrie round will be followed up by four more events, the last of which will mark the return of the series to the Orlans Arena in Las Vegas.

Of course, tickets for the remaining rounds are still available, and you can always try your hand at qualifying for EnduroCross through the morning support class program. Visit www.endurocross.com for more information about tickets, entries and scheduling.

To see ShotMaker Productions video recap of the wild Las Vegas round, check out http://shotmakerproductions.com/?p=663&preview=true.

AMA/ Geico EnduroCross Round #1 Final Results: