Impressive Start To '08 IEWC For Taddy Blazusiak - Dirt Rider Magazine

KTM Enduro Factory Team racer Taddy Blazusiak got his Indoor Enduro World Cup campaign off to a solid start ending the opening round of the series, the Barcelona Indoor Enduro, as runner-up to Spaniard Ivan Cervantes. Performing consistently throughout the opening round of the IEWC series, Taddy set the third fastest lap time during the event's qualifying session before comfortably moving through his heat races and into the finals. With the clear goal of winning the championship Blazusiak rode hard and fast, but importantly with improved control and consistency.Faced with a fast but technical track Taddy made a great start to his title hopes by finishing a close second to Ivan Cervantes in the first of three finals. Leadingfor much of the race, Taddy made his only mistake of the night when his front wheel washed out from under him in one of the slowest corners on the track. Dropping from first to third, Taddy quickly moved back into the runner-up spotand crossed the finish line less than two seconds behind Cervantes.The second final saw Taddy claim the exact same result as he had in the first race. Italian Thomas Oldrati made a quick break away from the rest of the field early on the opening lap, which meant that no rider was able to catch him. Importantly for Blazusiak only a handful of seconds separated the two riders at the finish as Taddy had closed down Oldrati's advantage at the front of the race. In the third final Taddy got caught up in the first corner, which saw him end the first lap near the rear of the field. Steadily working his way forward he moved up to fourth at the finish, which gave him a second place result for the night.2008 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup, Series Standings after Rnd 1
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 40 points; 2. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM Enduro Factory Team) 32; 3. Mika Ahola (Honda) 25; 4. Xavi Galindo (KTM) 22; 5. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 19; 6. Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 15; 7. Graham Jarvis (Sherco) 12; 8.Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 9; 9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 9; 10. Greg Evans (KTM) 7; 11. Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) 3; 12. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 2; 13. Marc Sola (Yamaha) 2; 14. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1Taddy Blazusiak: "I'm really happy with the way I performed. Last year I was really fast but I was also riding way over my head and making a lot of mistakes.This year I was pushing hard again but I knew where my limit was, and I was making sure that I didn't make too many mistakes. I wanted to start the championship with a top three result and I finished second overall, which putsme in the perfect place to attack at the next round. Anything can happen with this type of racing, you can get stuck with other riders like I did in the last race, but I really am happy with the way I performed. I just made one mistake during the three finals. It was a silly fall in the first final, which cost me the win, but that was my only mistake. The thing I'm happiest about is the improvement in my riding from last year. Since the crash I had earlier this year in the US I've been working hard to be fit and ready for this race, but also a better racer. I think Ishowed that, and I'm really happy with the way things went."