VOL. 51 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 14, 2014 P79
pointing fifth, and now finds him-
self 10 points behind the leader.
Only three points back is Red
Bull KTM's Taddy Blazusiak.
There were no real fireworks
in Salt Lake for the defending
champion, as he rode to a distant
second-place finish in the main
event. But the six-time champ
knew that he didn't have to get
the win to keep his championship
hopes going strong.
"Second place—I think we
can still win the championship,"
Blazusiak said. "That's the most
important thing. Being that close,
you don't want to do anything stu-
pid. It wasn't the best of races; I
made little mistakes. Toward the
end of the race I got that rhythm
going again and started working
on all the guys, and ran out of
time, but I'm happy with second.
We're in a good place looking to-
ward the championship."
Blazusiak's factory KTM team-
mate Taylor Robert was thrilled to
finally break through to the podi-
um—a feat he has been fighting
to accomplish all season. Rob-
ert made a pass on Husqvarna's
Mike Brown in the rock section
just before the white flag to move
into third place, which he held to
the finish.
"It feels good to finally get on
the podium," Robert said. "I felt
really good all night, actually. I
Briefly...
"The course here was really fun, re-
ally technical," said Cody Webb. "I
thought it was going to be fast and
easy but the dirt here is a lot different
from what we're used to so it was re-
ally slick. I think years of trials riding
and my Dunlops helped me out to-
night because I was hooking up out
there." "I think the track was good,"
Blazusiak said. "I think it was racy,
it was fun to ride, some cool jumps
and still a lot of technical stuff that
you could choose how much you
want to risk coming into it. I loved it."
Beta rider Ty Cullins celebrated a
double victory in Salt Lake City. Af-
ter cruising to a win in the TrialCross
class, Cullins had a much tougher
battle for the win in the Amateur
class. During a dramatic last lap,
Cullins squeezed past Trystan Hart
in the final turn to steal back the lead
and take the win. Kurt Nicoll took
another dominant victory in the Vet
class ahead of Jason Gitchel and
Rich Black. In the Women's class,
Tarah Gieger was trying to break
away with the early lead, but couldn't
match the lap times of Sandra Go-
mez (see My Own Race). Gieger
looked as though she was headed
for the podium, but a last-lap hang-
up in the rocks saw her slip back
from second to fourth as the RPM
KTM duo of Chantelle Bykerk and
Rachel Gutish got by to finish sec-
ond and third, respectively.
Supercross convert and son of the
Energy Solutions Arena general
manager, Landen Powell tried his
hand at AMA EnduroCross. Living
with Colton Haaker proved to have
its advantages, as Powell qualified
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