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was Haaker's turn to take the top step. The Rockstar JCR Honda rider proved to be on his game—a game of not giving up an inch—at the National Western Complex, where he collected the holeshot and went on to battle Blazusiak for the victory. Haaker stayed clear of mistakes and held on to take his second EnduroCross win of 2014. Coming in to the Denver round, the championship stood at a tie between GEICO Fac- tory Beta's Webb and Red Bull KTM's Blazusiak, with Haaker only two points back. Incred- ibly, the finishing order in Den- ver—plus the single points awarded for heat race and hot lap wins—have brought the big three even closer in points. Haaker and Blazusiak are now tied for the lead with Webb only one point behind. "One point—that's really pret- ty incredible," Webb said. "The new points system has really changed things up. The cham- pionship is still wide open and we got plenty of racing left." It was a tough night for Webb, who admitted he's never had to work so hard to finish third. At the same time, he is happy to call a third-place finish his worst result so far this season. "In the main I just didn't get the best start—but kept push- ing hard," the Factory Beta rider recalled. "Taylor [Robert] and I came together in the first couple corners. I came into the rock turn and he came in hot on the inside. He tried to push me wide but I just kept going. I wasn't going to stop! We both went off the track there." Webb got ahead of Robert as they both got back on track, but the two had another tangle a few laps later, which left them both on the ground. "I missed the tire jump so he gained a bunch on me," Webb VOL. 51 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 7, 2014 P83 Briefly... Kyle Redmond suffered a hard get- off during the afternoon hot lap ses- sion. The KTM rider crashed only feet from the finish line and ended up practically under the scoring tables. Redmond walked away from the crash, but was forced to call it a night due to a concussion and did not go on to race the evening program. Eric Peronnard was noticeably absent from the Denver Enduro- Cross. He was in Southern Califor- nia attending the Red Bull Straight Rhythm—another event he helped create. Also missing from action was Red Bull's Geoff Aaron who was on hand in Pomona, California for the Straight Rhythm event doing his tri- als stunt show. For the third year in a row, RPM/ KTM's Chantelle Bykerk took the Women's class win in Denver. Bykerk battled her way to victory ahead of Morgan Tanke who took second. Husqvarna's Sandra Gomez of Spain rounded out the podium ahead of Rachel Gutish and Tarah Gieger. Husqvarna's Sandra Gomez is joining the fray in the EnduroCross Women's class. The X Games En- duro X medalist made arrangements with Husqvarna and EnduroCross promoters to race the three consec- utive rounds—Denver, Salt Lake City and Everett. After decimating the field in qualifying, Gomez finished third in the Women's main event in Denver aboard her TC 125. Gomez has demonstrated that she has the speed to win, and is looking to do so at the next two rounds. In the support classes, Nick Thompson took the Open Amateur continued on next page Colton Haaker (10) and Taddy Blazusiak (1) got off to a fast start in the final. continued on page 86