Taddy dominates IEWC opener at Sheffield

Taddy Blazusiak Media Service '09
Indoor Enduro World Cup Rnd 1, Sheffield, England, 31.10.2009

KTM Enduro Factory Team / Red Bull rider Taddy Blazusiak has made a triumphant start to his 2010 Indoor Enduro World Cup campaign, claiming three commanding race wins at the championship's opening event held in Sheffield, England. Returning to Europe just a few days after clinching the '09 US Endurocorss title, Taddy made light work of a challenging course to end his night with a 13-point championship advantage over US rider Mike Brown, with Britain's Graham Jarvis third.

In similar style to most of his US Endurocross performances this season Taddy posted the fastest time during timed practice before going on to qualify into the finals thanks to a solid win in his heat race. Topping the four-lap race ahead of Ivan Cervantes and Antoine Meo, Blazusiak showed just how much he has improved in the past 12 months after riding a calculated and controlled race.

In each of the first two finals it took Taddy little time to move into the lead. With fast starting Mike Brown ahead of him initially, once out front Taddy extended his lead before claiming comfortable wins. Wining the first final by five seconds Blazusiak then topped the second by close to eight seconds. In the third final, knowing that the overall win was his for the taking, Taddy simply sat back and waited for the riders ahead of him to make mistakes, which they eventually did. Securing a third win to put the finishing touches to a perfect night Taddy now heads back to the US for the final round of the US Endurocross championship in Las Vegas on November 21.

Taddy Blazusiak: "Coming back from the US as the '09 Endurocross champion and winning the opening round of the Indoor Enduro World Cup is really great. It's been a long week but everything has been perfect. I couldn't have asked for things to go any better. I got the fastest time in qualifying, won my heat race and then had three great starts in the finals, and won all three races. I think that was the best part of the event for me - starting alongside a rider as good as Mike Brown and competing against him on every start. The first two races went really well. I made a few small mistakes, but I think it was impossible not to because there were a few tricky places on the track. In the third race I was third and decided just to take it easy. The guys ahead of me made some mistakes and I was able to win again, which was a great end to a great night. I'm going to take a few days off now before flying back to the US and the final round of the Endurocross series. I'm going to give that event everything. The championship's already mine so I'm just going for the win. Then it's back to Europe and the second IEWC event in Italy, which I'm really looking forward to. Hopefully, I can repeat the result I've had here."

Results - '10 IEWC series standings
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM Enduro Factory Team) 45 points
2. Mike Brown (KTM) 32 points
3. Graham Jarvis (Sherco) 25 points