Cycle News

VOL. 56 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 29, 2019 P45 ahead of the Polish star. Webb, meanwhile, rode well in the race but too many small mis- takes relegated him to third place. Starting from the second row in race two, Webb managed to avoid a first-lap pileup that swallowed up many riders, including Haaker and Blazusiak. Both Haaker and Blazusiak got back up and started making their way up through the pack. They both eventually caught up to the second-placed rider, Spanish trials star Pol Tarres. On the last lap, and as they crossed the finish line, Haaker made his move for second place when the two riders, Haaker and Tarres, collided in midair! Haaker was credited with second and Tarres third. Blazusiak also went down hard in the madness and was unable to cross the finish line, needing medical assistance. He would, however, recover to start race three. "Over the final jump we raced to it and came together and it was an explosion of bikes and people," Haaker said of the crazy finish. "It was no one's fault because we both were racing for the flag." Haaker had it much easier in the third and final race, winning handily over Gomez and Rus- sian David Leonov. Webb ended up sidelined with a broken chain resulting in a DNF, and Blazusiak suffered another hard crash that had the medical crew jumping into action once again. He managed to get going again and finish out the race but well down the field. Webb worked franticly to mount a new chain on his KTM, and succeeded in performing the trackside repair himself, but although he resumed the race, did not complete enough laps to record a finish. The points standings sees a big shakeup with Haaker now leading by 13 points over Webb, despite trailing Webb by eight points going in. Blazusiak is still third in the championship but lost a lot of ground to the lead duo. He now trails second-place Webb by 18 points with two rounds still to go. "The end result is awesome but it was an up and down night for me," Haaker said. "It was nice to bring home the first race, but in race two, I came over the tanks [obstacles] and there were four guys in the valley and I had no- where to go. I followed Cody into it and he made it through cleanly, but me and Taddy didn't and we were tangled together. We seem to find each other together all the time, probably because were both so aggressive. "It was tough to put that [the crash in the second race] behind me, but I tried to be clean in final three. At the start, I had some- one behind me [Webb] but then suddenly he wasn't there. It's hard for Cody but chains breaking can happen." "That was a crazy night!" Webb said. "It's a freak accident for the chain to make and its tough 'cause I felt good just before the chain broke. Growing up my dad instilled into me to never give up. I had the chain snap and quickly pushed it around the outside of the track and had the mechanic run back to the paddock to grab a new chain. Replaced the chain with no as- sistance to get back on the track. I continued the race with no gloves or goggles to try and score some points. I crossed the line, but was credited a DNF in the final moto because I didn't complete enough laps. I'm proud I did all I could and didn't allow it to get me down mentally. Still somehow scored second overall with zero points in the last race. "I didn't think any of us would open a double-digit lead," Webb added, "but two crashes for Taddy and my chain means that Colton has an edge. We've all been riding super hard this year in every race but now Colton has a lead and it'll be interesting to see if he starts riding defensive. I only have points to gain." Gomez was thrilled to finish out the night on the podium after having suffered an elbow injury at the previous race. "I'm very happy to do my comeback with a final po- dium," the fan favorite said. "Those past few weeks have been really difficult and painful. I'm pleased I took the decision to come back racing here in Madrid. The fans gave me so much strength. I suf- fered from my elbow, but I hung tight to get this result. This is a great satisfaction." CN OVERALL 1. Colton Haaker (Hus) 1-3-1 2. Cody Webb (KTM) 2-1-DNF 3. Alfredo Gomez (Hus) 9-5-2 4. Pol Tarres (Hus) 7-2-6 5. Blake Gutzeit (Hus) 5-6-4

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