OFF ROAD
GEICO AMA ENDUROCROSS SERIES, FUELED BY MONSTER ENERGY AND PRESENTED BY LUCAS OIL
ROUND 1/MAY 2, 2014
ORLEANS ARENA/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
P90
the Rock Turn, dropped him back even
further. At one point in the race, he
was actually in fourth place. Blazusiak
did, however, work his way back up to
Haaker, and the two traded positions a
couple of times as the race wore down.
Haaker, though, was determined to
beat Blazusiak, who just couldn't seem
to stay out of trouble, found more car-
nage on the last go-around in the Rock
Turn, where struggling lapped riders
were blocking the premium line. Haak-
er, on the Lucas Oil/Rockstar/JCR
Honda CRF450R, slipped past the de-
fending champ and crossed the finish
line moments later in second place.
"The heat race I won but crashed like
six times," Haaker said. "I was riding
kind of over my head, just trying to push
it a little too much. Since I pushed it so
hard, I realized for the main I couldn't do
that. I wasn't going to be able to crash
six times and get a good result, so I had
to calm myself down and tame it. I hit
my marks, hit my lines and did what I
had to do.
"Cody got out there, it was a good
track for him, pretty technical and slow,"
Haaker added. "I think the two-stroke
might be pretty good for that stuff. I'm
looking forward to having more open
tracks in the future. This track was a lot,
really tight for a 450 and I was kind of
struggling with the weight and power."
(Above) Pre-race
title favorite Mike
Brown suffered a
hand injury in a heat
race that eventually
prevented him from
finishing the main
event.
(Above right) Kacy
Martinez won the
Women's Expert
main for the first
time.
(Right) Canadian
Bobby Prochnau
chases Cory
Graffunder en route
to a fourth-place
finish.
