Taddy Blazusiak secures 2012 title in style
Poland’s Taddy Blazusiak – KTM has been crowned the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro World Champion following another superb performance, this time at the final round of the series inside the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona, Spain. Winning two of the night’s three SuperEnduro finals Blazusiak once again proved exactly why he is the world’s fastest indoor enduro rider, doing so in front of 10,000 spectators.

The championship’s rookie sensation Britain’s Jonny Walker - KTM capped off a fantastic end to his year clinching second overall in the series by beating Sweden’s Joakim Ljunggren – Husaberg into third overall.

Knowing victory in the opening SuperEnduro final of the night would secure the world championship Blazusiak grabbed the holeshot and quickly set about building a lead. However, behind him a small crash by second placed Alex Salvini – Husqvarna caused a pile-up, which with the track blocked forced the race to be red flagged.

Following the restart Blazusiak picked up where he had left off and rode to a comfortable race win, securing the 2012 SuperEnduro title in the process. Salvini recovered well in the restart to end the opening race in second but it was behind the top two where the real battle developed. Fighting for second overall in the championship, Ljunggren finished in third, two places ahead of his rival Britain’s Jonny Walker – KTM. Walker, who struggled in qualification, eventually finished sixth after starting from the second row on the start.

With the start order reversed for the second SuperEnduro final of the night Walker capitalised on his front row start position to steal the holeshot. With a clear track ahead of him he quickly built up a six second advantage over Spain’s Alfredo Gomez – Husaberg while Blazusiak and Ljunggren struggled to work their way through the field. With three laps to run, Walker slid out entering the start straight but was able to remount just in front of Gomez.

Sensing a possible victory in front of his home crowd a rejuvenated Gomez tried all he could to make the pass but was unable to get the better of Walker, who clinched his first victory of the 2012 season. The newly crowned champion, Blazusiak, rounded out the top three while Ljunggren could do no better than sixth.

With Blazusiak already crowned world champion, the final SuperEnduro race of the night would decide who would claim the runner up position in the championship. Again Blazusiak was fastest out of the start gate with Salvini slotting into second. Ten laps later, Blazusiak would eventually win the final race of the championship as Spain’s Ivan Cervantes – Gas Gas passed Salvini on the final lap to claim a crown pleasing second. However, behind the leading trio Walker’s fifth place result was enough for him to earn the runner up position in this year’s championship while Ljunggren’s ninth place finish would leave him third overall for the series.

TADDY BLAZUSIAK
Taddy’s the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro champ

KTM Enduro Factory Team rider Taddy Blazusiak has brought an incredible 15 months of racing to a victorious close by clinching the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship. Competing inside the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona, Spain Blazusiak again stamped his authority on the European indoor enduro scene, winning two of the night’s three SuperEnduro finals. Also finishing third in the second race it ensured Blazusiak remained the overall winner – something he’s achieved at each round of the 2012 SuperEnduro series.

Returning from the lengthy break between rounds two and three, Blazusiak arrived in Barcelona in confident mood. Entering the night’s racing with a healthy 39-point advantage over his closest competitor, he knew that by winning the opening race he would secure the world title. Winning the night’s qualification event Taddy was able to get that all-important first choice pick of the start for the opening SuperEnduro final. Grabbing the holeshot he immediately began to open up a sizeable lead until the race was red flagged due to a crash behind him. Facing the restart, Blazusiak again was fastest out of the gate and this time rode to a comfortable race win to clinch the world title.

With the start order reversed for the second SuperEnduro final of the evening Taddy had to start on the second row. Unable to slice a path through the field of riders ahead of him like he had done in both Italy and Poland, Taddy’s winning streak was finally brought to an end as he finished the race in third.

Reverting back to the original starting order of the final race, Taddy again claimed the holeshot and once again secured another commanding victory. While having already wrapped up the world championship during the opening race of the night, winning the final race of the series ensured Blazusiak claimed the overall win in Spain to remain undefeated in the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship.

Taddy Blazusiak: “Winning the 2012 SuperEnduro World Championship has capped off an incredible 15 months of racing for me. Tonight I knew that if I could win the first SuperEnduro final then that would secure the championship. I focused really hard on the start and knew that getting the holeshot would be crucial in winning the race. Thankfully, I did just that and I tried to race as hard as I could on a clear track to open up an advantage. I managed to open up a small lead and avoid any trouble to win the race and the championship. The team works so hard to ensure that I have the perfect setup to do my job and I’m delighted to reward them with this championship and also the 2011 AMA EnduroCross title. Now I’ll take a break for a few weeks and have some fun before getting ready for AMA Endurocross season that begins in May.

KTMOFFROADRACING UK

After a few good days testing and training in Spain with the KTM factory Enduro team Jonny Walker felt confident and ready for the final of the 2011/12 FIM SuperEnduro Indoor Championship in Barcelona.

Going into the final round Jonny was holding second place in the series with a small 2 point advantage over Husaberg factory rider Joakim Ljunggren.

In the qualifying race Jonny made a poor start but quickly came through the pack on a track which did not create good racing, the circuit was strange, quite fast and easy with the exception of one point which can only can be described as a sandy bog after the water section, this area caused most of the nights crashes and problems. The deep sandy rutted turn claimed Jonny when he crashed with another rider, he damaged the bike and had to withdraw from the qualifying race which would give him last gate choice for the finals.

Heat one and JW started from the second row, running outside the top 10 on lap one, he quickly moved up the leaderboard picking off riders each lap until the race was red flagged due to another big pile up after the sand section !!!. The race was rerun and Jonny had a tense performance to finish 6th, unfortunately his main rival Ljunggren made 3rd position which demoted JW in the championship back to third.

Heat two and Jonny would make no mistake at the start, he powered his KTM 300 EXC to a holeshot and quickly pulled out a good advantage, however in the later stages he clearly slowed as he became tired and allowed Spanish rider Alfredo Gomez to get very close, the pair battled for 2 or 3 laps until finally Jonny took a well-earned win.

The final race would see Jonny start again from the second row, he moved up to a top 5 position and just made a steady ride to the finish as his main rival Ljunggren was back in 8 or 9th position.

JW's three consistent performances gave him second overall for the night’s racing, even though the organisers made a mistake and awarded another rider second on the podium !!, but most importantly Jonny managed to hold onto the Championship second position.

Jonny Walker SHR KORR KTM 300 EXC: “After crashing in qualifying the night did not start well, damage to the bike meant I had to stop and therefore I did not earn a good gate choice for the finals. Because of this I felt under pressure and was riding very tense all night, the battle between me a Joakim was very close and he actually beat me in the first race which only made it more difficult for me, in the end I got the result I needed and it was great to win one race, but I'm a little disappointed in the way I rode tonight, I would like to thank all the people and sponsors who have helped me earn this result.”

Julian Stevens Team Manager: “This was I very difficult night for Jonny, with holding second in the Championship it created a situation in which he had to perform and would test how he could race under pressure to keep his place. The night did not go easy, but at this round most of the riders suffered some bad luck and it was Jonny's consistency and race win which made the difference, he did a very good job tonight and certainly worked very hard for his runner-up championship place.”

KTM RACING

KTM's Taddy Blazusiak takes third World SuperEnduro title
KTM factory rider Taddy Blazusiak continued his golden run on Sunday night to win the third and last SuperEnduro event of the FIM World Championship season 2011-2012 in Barcelona, Spain, to again clean sweep both the event and the series.

In another staggering performance of excellence Taddy won on the night and outright in the series to add another impressive piece of silverware to his collection. Already the reigning champion, Taddy also won the first ever X-Games Gold medal in 2011, every race in the US EnduroCross competition and his fifth Erzberg Red Bull Hare Scramble, the event that originally vaulted him into the limelight and won him a KTM factory ride.

In SuperEnduro 2011-2012, Taddy was also untouchable in the first round in Genoa, Italy, and put on a triumphant performance in the second round at home in Poland. It was the third season in a row for Taddy to take the FIM Indoor title.

“He was just amazing,” said KTM’s team boss Alex Doringer. “Everything he did was perfect. He had great starts and rode faultless races all night long. For sure he’s in a class of his own.”

Emerging KTM talent Johnny Walker of the UK was second overall in the series and took third place behind Alex Salvini on the night to thrill the 9000-strong crowd in Barcelona’s Palau St. Jordi stadium. Also racing in Barcelona was KTM factory rider Cristobal Guerrero who started well but suffered from arm pump. Guerrero finished fifth in the championship.

Indoor Enduro, as the event was originally called, is contested in an arena and riders have to negotiate a number of daunting obstacles. It is proving to be the perfect solution to bring world class Enduro competition into the city and giving the public a close up and personal look at the world’s leading talent. The sport in the classic sense is usually held in the open countryside over laps of around 70 km.

Taddy dedicated the victory to the memory of multi World Enduro Champion Mika Ahola of Finland, who died recently as a result of injuries only weeks after he had announced his retirement from top class racing. Taddy also wore a memento of this great rider as a sign of tribute. As part of his preparation for the main racing season Taddy Blazusiak will be racing in the opening round of the British Sprint Enduro championship next weekend along with other top riders including Johnny Walker.

Results Round Three in Barcelona
1, Taddy Blazusiak, Poland, KTM
2, Alex Salvini, Italy
3, Johnny Walker, UK, KTM

Final SuperEnduro Championship Standings
1, Taddy Blazusiak, Poland, KTM
2, Johnny Walker, UK, KTM
3, Joakim Ljunggren, Sweden, Husaberg

DOUGIE LAMPKIN
Dougie Lampkin - Gas Gas came within touching distance of claiming a top ten finish at the third and final round of the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship held at the famous Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona, Spain. Having tasted success as a Trial rider in the same arena in the past, Lampkin was hoping for a happy return to this impressive sporting venue that once again welcomed a crowd of over ten thousand people. Making his first competitive outing on an enduro bike in 2012, and since his tenth place at the second round of the series in Poland back in December, Dougie was aware that he was going to have to work hard to get back into the groove.

With last year's track having proved perhaps too technical and demanding to create close racing, this year the organisers in Barcelona delivered a much faster course that was far better suited to the pure enduro riders. Despite improving his time by nearly three seconds over the two official practice sessions, the thirty-five-year-old veteran campaigner was unable to make any impression on the front-runners and had to settle for tenth spot on both occasions despite his best efforts.

Lampkin's lack of outright speed served to limit his performance on the night, as the ex multi FIM Trial World Champion failed to record a result in the top ten in any of the three super finals that would ultimately determine the overall positions and the final championship rankings. Fighting every inch of each race, Dougie was eventually disappointed with his two twelfth and one fourteenth place finishes in the trio of main races to leave down in fifteenth spot overall after coming off worst in a three way tie break. Although it was definitely not Lampkin's night he was only two points off recording a top ten result overall, which confirms the close and fierce nature of the competition he faced.

Ranked twelfth in the final championship standing Dougie had this to say: "There are no excuses tonight, I simply was not fast enough. The track was much easier and open than last year and that certainly didn't help me. With the way the rounds have been it has been hard for me to get back on the pace after the long break since Poland. My expectations have been realistic over the three rounds, but tonight was a disappointing end to the championship for me."

Lampkin continued: "My attentions will now switch to putting my preparations in place for Hell's Gate in two weeks time. I have a good record at this event, and I hope I can continue it this year too and use a good result there to put tonight behind me.