VOL. 53 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 13, 2016 P23
lowed Taddy for a couple of laps
before making my move for the
lead. Second overall is disap-
pointing, but to lose to Taddy on
a night like this, well, is okay."
With Blazusiak and Haaker out
front, the battle for the final step
of the podium came down to the
wire between the KTM duo of Al-
fredo Gomez and Jonny Walker.
Walker struck first early in the
night by claiming the fastest time
in the Akrapovic SuperPole and
three important championship
points. He then backed that up
with third in race one.
But in race two Gomez began
to find his rhythm, having pretty
much flown straight from a Roof
of Africa runner-up result to
Poland. Leading the majority of
race two, Gomez then chased
Haaker and Blazusiak across
the finish line for third in the final
race to secure an unexpected
podium result.
"Two weeks ago I had no inten-
tions of racing the series," said
Gomez. "I came to Poland with
no expectations, straight after the
Roof of Africa. Racing without
pressure worked well for me this
time and I had loads of fun."
Missing out on the top three
by just one point, Walker had to
be content with fourth overall.
Making his long-awaited Su-
perEnduro debut, Mike Brown
adapted well to the three-race
format for fifth overall.
"It feels good to be here.
I've wanted to do this series
for a while and managed to put
something together just a couple
of weeks ago. The track was
good—a lot different than the
USA—and the three-race format
was something new I liked.
"The intensity is a lot differ-
ent than EnduroCross as we're
doing six-minute races, but now
that I understand the game bet-
ter I'm looking forward to round
two in Germany.
The FIM's SuperEnduro World
Championship continues in Ger-
many on January 7.
Jonty Edmunds
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 58
2. Colton Haaker (Hus) 54
3. Alfredo Gomez (KTM) 45
4. Jonny Walker (KTM) 44
5. Mike Brown (Hus) 31
Blazusiak leads the way in one
of the three main events.
Defending champ Colton
Haaker got to wear the
number-one plate for the
first time and got the season
off to a good start.
