Super heroes!
By TMX Archives on 15th Mar 13
With the short, three-event championship making its final stop in Tours, France, event organisers called in US EnduroCross track builders Schaefer Tracks to build a fast flowing and action-packed circuit.
Entering the final round with a healthy 29-point advantage over his nearest rivals, KTM's Taddy Blazusiak was all but assured of the title.
But with only one- point separating Honda's David Knight and Jonny Walker (KTM) in the fight for runner-up honours everything was still to play for.
Getting his night off to a strong start, Knight secured pole position for the first of the three nine-lap finals. But with Walker opting for an inside starting gate, the young Cumbrian rounded the first corner in the lead.
Desperate to put distance between himself and Knight, Walker pushed hard, but after four laps, he began to fade with arm pump, allowing both Blazusiak and Knight past.
With Blazusiak holding a small lead over the chasing Honda rider, the Pole held on to take the first win of the night. Finishing second to Blazusiak, Knight further increased his advantage over Walker in third.
For Final number two, the start order was reversed. With the top seeded riders starting on the second row, Husaberg's Dani Gibert grabbed the holeshot. Knowing Blazusiak, Knight and Walker would be trapped at the back of the pack, Gibert set a blisteringly fast pace to open up a healthy lead.
Steadily slicing his way through the field, Blazusiak soon worked his way into second place. But with Gibert holding enough of an advantage over the Pole, the Spaniard claimed a surprising win.
Settling for second position, Blazusiak also secured the world title. Spain's Alfredo Gomez (Husaberg) placed third.
"Coming into the championship with a 29-point lead I knew what I needed to do to secure the title,” said Blazusiak, the newly crowned world champion. "In Final one I managed to get into the lead on lap four and controlled things to take the win.
‘‘With that victory I knew it would be possible to secure the title in the second heat. Starting on the outside of the second row I got blocked entering the first corner so I decided to be patient. From last place I moved up a couple of positions on the first lap. Once I got to second I rode smart to secure the title.”
"Winning the championship along with topping each round of the series is fantastic. Entering the season injured and having to deal with all that pain was tough but it was worth it to be champion.”
With Blazusiak winning the title, the attention turned towards Knight and Walker as the battle for championship runner-up position boiled down to the third and final race.
Blazusiak took the holeshot and led for the first half of the race with Knight in close contention but applying pressure, Knight capitalised on a costly error by Blazusiak to take the lead.
With Blazusiak slipping back to third behind Walker, Jonny tried to bridge the gap to Knight but the Manxman proved too strong.
Maintaining a comfortable five-second gap over Walker, Knight took the final race win of the series and with it finished as runner-up in the championship.
Ending his race in second, Walker confirmed his top three position in the final championship standings.
"It's been another good event for me,” said a pleased Knight.
"Taking pole position was a big confidence boost. I was third off the start in the first final and followed Taddy and Jonny.
‘‘Again I was taking my time and managed to get second. The races were quite long for indoor events, so I just paced myself as best I could.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX MARCH 15
FIM WORLD SUPERENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 (Final) – Parc des Expositions, Tours, FRANCE
1 Tadeusz Blazusiak (POL - KTM) 20 + 17 + 14 = 51
2 David KNIGHT (GB - Honda) 17 + 11 + 20 = 48
3 Dani Gibert (E - Husaberg) 10 + 20 + 10 = 40
4 Jonny WALKER (GB - KTM) 14 + 7 + 17 = 38
5 Alfredo Gomez (E - Husaberg) 9 + 14 + 9 = 32
6 Graham JARVIS (GB - Husaberg) 7 + 9 + 11 = 27
7 Kornel Nemeth (H - KTM) 8 + 10 + 8 = 26
8 Kyle Redmond (US - KTM) 11 + 5 + 6 = 22
9 Joakim Ljunggren (S - Husaberg) 6 + 8 + 7 = 21
10 Christophe Bruand (F - Sherco) 5 + 6 + 5 = 16
11 Xavier Leon (E - Gas Gas) 4+4+3=11, 12 Julien Gauthier (F - Sherco) 3+0+4=7, 13 Xavier De-Soultrait (F - Yamaha) 2+3+2=7, 14 Mathieu Gagnould (F - TM) 1+2+1=4, 15 Pierrick Roncin (F - TM) 0+1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Blazusiak, 2 KNIGHT, 3 WALKER, 4 Redmond, 5 Gibert, 6 Gomez, 7 Nemeth, 8 JARVIS, 9 Ljunggren, 10 Bruand, 11 Tomasz Zych, 12 Gauthier, 13 Huebner, 14 Gagnould.
RACE TWO: 1 Gibert, 2 Blazusiak, 3 Gomez, 4 KNIGHT, 5 Nemeth, 6 JARVIS, 7 Ljunggren, 8 WALKER, 9 Bruand, 10 Redmond, 11 Tomasz Zych, 12 Huebner, 13 Gagnould, 14 Sola.
RACE THREE: 1 KNIGHT, 2 WALKER, 3 Blazusiak, 4 JARVIS, 5 Gibert, 6 Gomez, 7 Nemeth, 8 Ljunggren, 9 Redmond, 10 Bruand, 11 Gauthier, 12 Tomasz Zych, 13 Huebner, 14 Gagnould.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 3 rounds: 1 Taddy Blazusiak 162 points (CHAMPION), 2 David KNIGHT 130, 3 Jonny WALKER 119, 4 Gomez 99, 5 Nemeth 89, 6 Ljunggren 67, 7 Oldrati 52, 8 Gibert 47, 9 Bruand 46, 10 Cervantes 33, 11 JARVIS 27, 12 Redmond 22, 13 Leon 21, 14 Thain 19, 15 Hartmann 18, 16 Huebner 17, 17 Kurowski 16, 18 Lorenzo 15, 19 Meo 14, 20 Tomasz Zych 8,...
