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Haaker Wins Exciting Boise EnduroCross Webb and Redmond round out the podium By Sean Finley Photo: Adam Booth. The Penultimate round of the 2016 AMA EnduroCross Championship took place inside the Ford Idaho Center and Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker came out on top of a wild main event. KTM’s Cody Webb salvaged a second place finish despite two violent crashes to keep the championship chase alive with one race remaining. Beta’s Kyle Redmond led several laps in the main event and finished a solid third.
When the main event started, Haaker took the $500 Nexen Tire Holeshot award while Webb went down hard and got run over by several riders. Haaker looked set to walk away with an easy win but got stuck in the firewood pit at the start of the second lap and lost a couple of positions. Redmond took over the lead and held it for five laps as Haaker worked his way back to second but struggled with the firewood pit nearly every lap.
Redmond had a close call when he landed on a log midway through the race and bent his footpeg up. Despite that, he held on to take his first podium finish of the season. “I got the Holeshot and was riding really good but got stuck the first six laps.” Haaker said. “I saw Cody crash several times and he was going down hard and still managed to catch me because I was getting stuck in the firewood but I have been on the other side of that. It felt good to get another win.” “In the beginning I almost wasn’t going to keep going.” Webb said. “I took a big digger and got run over but I realized I was not seriously hurt. Then I crashed again from the top of the rock pile so my bars were bent but I gave it my all to get back up there.” KTM’s Cody Webb recovered from two big crashes to take a fairly close
second place finish. Photo:Adam Booth. Canada’s Trystan Hart put in another amazing race to finish forth on his Husqvarna. Graffunder rode a consistent race to take fifth on his KTM. Husqvarna backed Brown took sixth position, just ahead of RPM KTM’s Ty Tremaine. Those two are in a tight battle for third in the championship. Beta’s Ty Cullins finished eighth after showing good speed all day long. Geoff Aaron finished ninth on his GasGas. Noah Kepple rounded out the top ten on his KTM. Nick Thompson and Cooper Abbott finished eleventh and twelfth. Five time champion Taddy Blazusiak was credited with thirteenth after he pulled off after a big crash during the main event.
Colton Haaker, Husqvarna Haaker opened up a fourteen point lead over Webb in the championship, with 179 and 165 respectively. Brown currently holds third with 115 points, just five ahead of Tremaine. Redmond moved into the top five with 103 points. Canada’s Shelby Turner took her sixth win in seven races in the Women’s main event riding a KTM. Melissa Harten nearly took her first ever win but gave up the lead on the last lap but held on for second on her Beta. Tarah Geiger rounded out the podium on her Honda. EnduroCross events also include two support classes for Amateurs and Vet riders 35 and older. Shane Cuthbertson made a pass right in front of the finish line to take the Amateur class win over Joshua Bridge. Kevin Dupuis rounded out the podium. In the Vet class, Stephen Foord rode his Beta to the win after a back and forth battle with Cuthbertson, the same rider that won the Amateur main. Ryan Middleton rounded out the Vet podium. The final round will take place in Ontario, California at the Business
Bank Arena on Saturday, November 19th. Tickets are available at: www.EnduroCross.com/buy-tickets/
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Webb,
Haaker and SRT racing backed Cory Graffunder won the three heat races to
earn a bonus championship point each. Graffunder’s win was particularly
exciting as he came out on top of a multi-rider tussle for the win when Mike
Brown crashed right in front the finish line. When the top two finishers
from each of the three heat races squared off for the evening Hot Lap,
Haaker earned the bonus point and first gate pick for the main by beating
what Webb despite what looked like a solid lap from Webb.
Haaker
worked his way past Redmond for the lead on lap six and pulled a small lead
but continued to struggle with the firewood pit. Webb got up from his first
turn crash well behind the field but started methodically working his way
through the pack. He was able to pass Redmond for second on lap seven and
then closed in on Haaker to keep the race exciting all the way to the
finish. Haaker managed to keep it together to take his fifth win of the
season while Webb showed his toughness to take second.
2016
Boise AMA EnduroCross Main Event Results