Blazusiak vs. Brown – Two KTM Giants Take EnduroCross Down to the Wire
OutdoorHub 11.21.13
KTM goes to the final round of the 2013 AMA Geico EnduroCross championships with two of its riders poised to take the competition down to the wire in Las Vegas. KTM factory riders Taddy Blazusiak (Poland) and teammate Mike Brown from the USA are equal leaders with 130 points each. The stage is set for a winner takes all at the end of the 2013 season.
Blazusiak has been the pre-eminent rider in this discipline that brings the thrill of Enduro sport into the arena and accessible to increasingly enthusiastic audiences. The 30-year-old Polish rider’s reputation and skill is already well documented. He has been unchallenged in the EnduroCross championship since 2008, is a multiple SuperEnduro/Indoor Enduro title holder and has a record five victories in the daunting Erzberg Rodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble. But in 2013 as the sport continues to gain in popularity, Blazusiak increasingly became the rider with a target on his back as other challengers moved up the ranks. In the six rounds so far he has 2 x wins, 2 x second places and 2 x fourth places but he goes into this weekend pumped with confidence after a resounding victory in the opening round of the European-based FIM SuperEnduro series in Liverpool, UK.
But when the gate drops in the Orleans Arena on Saturday night, Taddy’s fiercest rival will also come from the ‘Orange Army’ in the form of veteran racer Mike Brown of the FMF/KTM Off-Road Racing Team. The 41-year-old Brown is royalty in the US offroad racing scene and this season he has matched Blazusiak every step of the way on the EnduroCross tracks. He too has two wins, two seconds and two fourth places to his credit as the two go head-to head this weekend.
Brown has been a regular in the US national ISDE team and a dominant force for years in the US WORCS series. He has been a member of the KTM lineup for the various Baja series and an X-Games EnduroX gold medalist. Brown has been in blistering form in EnduroCross this year and will give no ground as far as the Polish pretender is concerned.
Brown goes to the event with his name on the top of the standings because of his sequence of results so far this season but in reality there is nothing between the two KTM riders – either in points or skill on their respective KTM machines. The only other two competitors who are in with a chance to spoil the KTM showdown are US riders Cody Webb and Coulton Haaker with 110 and108 points respectively. Stay tuned for a great final round.
