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All content © Bob MuIIins |
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Cody Webb wins season opener Lodz Poland 5th December 2015 Cody Webb won the opening round of the 2015/16 Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro Championship at the Atlas Arena in Lodz Poland despite a mistake in the second heat; Taylor Robert took the holeshot in heat 1 from Jonny Walker. Cody Webb pushed the leaders hard and capitalised on a mistake by Jonny Walker to take his first race win. In the second race Webb could only muster sixth in race two. But bouncing back to win the third and final race of the night, he secured the top step of the podium. "It's an awesome feeling to come away with the win in Poland,” told WEBB. "It was tough out there tonight, everyone was pushing so hard, mistakes were common. Two race wins and the overall is a fantastic way to kick off the championship.”
Jonny Walker "To come away from the first round of the SuperEnduro series second overall, just one-point behind leader Cody Webb, is great. The first race of the series is always difficult, but now that it’s over I know I have the speed to challenge for race wins. Switching from extreme enduro on a 300cc two-stroke to SuperEnduro on a 250f isn't easy, but I feel like it’s gone really well. I’ve really been working hard on my starts and my speed leading up to this race, and again I feel like it’s paid off. It would have been great to come away with the overall win, which I could have done with a better Superpole lap or without a lapper falling in front of me in the opening final. But the most important thing is a strong start to the championship. I feel much stronger in my racing, and I felt smooth and relaxed all night. The fact that I mostly managed to stay away from trouble, and didn't allow any silly mistakes to spoil my results, yeah, I’m really happy with that. I’ve enjoyed the racing, got second overall, so it’s been a great start to the championship for me.”
Taddy Blazusiak: “It was certainly a pretty crazy night for me, but I’m happy to have finished on the podium. I needed a little luck to go my way in the last final, but it didn’t happen. I got a really good start but then got caught with Colton Haaker exiting the first turn. I went down pretty hard hitting my head and ribs. I crashed gain in the Matrix section, but managed to find a little bit of extra strength to carry on. I feel like I lost quite a lot of points, but certainly not the championship. There’s still a lot of racing to do. I haven’t raced for a while so I need to see that gate drop a couple more times to be able to give my best. It’s been a tough year but we managed to get back racing. When I first started training on the bike again in the beginning of October my fitness was bad. I feel like I’ve come a long way for sure. Overall, It’s great to be back racing. And I had a great time racing I front of my home crowd. I’ll keep working hard and will be ready for the second round early next year. There’s going to be some great racing this year.”
Colton Haaker: “It was an eventful night. My bike was excellent and I really felt like I could ride to my potential. The track in Poland was good and we had some interesting races. It’s great for the sport that we have five or six different riders going for the win. I got a mediocre first race, a win in the second race and had a big crash in the last race. If you’re out front from the start it makes a big difference and that’s what happened to me in the second race, which I won. In the final race Taddy got tangled up with someone and went straight on and I was just there. I went over the side of the bike and lost it. The gear level broke so I was left in fourth gear. I’m looking forward to the next round, hopefully with some better luck.” Tying on points with Haaker KTM's Taylor Robert completed the top five overall, which included a third place finish in races one and three. Alfredo Gomez was 6th, Ty Tremaine, 7th. Andreas Linusson 8th, Marion Roman 9th and Paul Bolton 10th,
Paul Bolton had a rough start to the series when he was taken out in the first turn of the first race!! Starting from dead last he made his way back to 7th before he crashed on the tyre double and caught his hand in his wheel. In the Junior class the night belonged to Germany's Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM). Producing a near flawless performance inside the Atlas Arena, Lettenbichler topped the podium with three wins from three starts.
Making a welcome return to SuperEnduro having injured himself during the GP of Brazil last February, Husqvarna's Gethin Humphreys {GB) secured the final step of the podium with third. Lee Sealey (GB-Yamaha) and South Africa's Blake Gutzeit (Husqvarna) rounded out the top five. Tim Apolle was 6th, William Hoare 7th and Josh Gotts 8th. The German Mike Hartman took the first title in the SuperEnduro-European Championship at the indoor-event in Lodz (Poland). The GasGas-rider won both heats in front of the Austrian Lars Enöckl on KTM. Third in the championship became the local Jakub Lukaszczyk with Sherco. The Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro World Championship continues with round two in Riesa, Germany on January 2nd 2016.
Prestige Heat 1 : 1. WEBB ; 2. WALKER ; 3. ROBERT ; 4. BLAZUSIAK ;
5. HAAKER ; 6. TREMAINE; 7. GOMEZ; 8. ROMAN; 9. NEMETH; 10. ADDESSO… Junior Heat 1: 1. LETTENBICHLER; 2. OLIVEIRA ; 3. SEALEY; 4.
APOLLE; 5. GOTTS; 6. GUTZEIT; 7. HUMPHREYS; 8.HOARE; 9. KACZMARCZYK; 10.
JUSZCZAK…
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Falling just one-point short of beating Webb for the overall win, Jonny
Walker had to be content with the runner-up result. Proving himself both
fast and consistent throughout the night, the KTM rider avoided trouble to
card three second place finishes. 
Hoping to deliver his home crowd a home win, Taddy Blazusiak had a very
eventful night. Making his first serious comeback to racing having spent the
majority of the summer recovering from illness, the Pole was pleased with
his riding. Taddy was caught out by the gate in heat 1 and while he was
re-grouping he crashed into a stricken Andreas Linusson but he
fought back to finish 4th, He was 3rd in race two and digging deep to
recover to seventh in race three following a crash off the start, Taddy ended
his night in third.
Also
caught up in the start straight crash of race three, Husqvarna's Colton
Haaker (USA) placed one-point behind Blazusiak for fourth overall. However,
the American recorded his debut SuperEnduro race win when he claimed an
almost start-to-finish victory in race two.
Mario Roman: “It was my first race with the Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna Factory Racing team and I’m glad I kept improving during the
night. It’s really hard to come back to competitive action after six
months off. We worked hard during the day and came up with a good bike
set-up. Right now I feel I can compete with the best of the guys for a
certain amount of laps, but I still need to find my rhythm for the full moto
to get better results. I’m happy I improved during the day and managed to
get a ninth place overall. We’ll get back stronger in the next round of
the championship.”
Behind him, SuperEnduro newcomer Luis Oliveira (P-Yamaha) proved a fast
learner. Two second place results and a fourth earned him the runner-up
result.
Results