over his eighth-place finish at
the series opener in Poland.
With better starts he managed to
avoid the early trouble that had
plagued him at round one.
Grabbing the holeshot in
race one, Haaker was pushing
hard to try and break away. But
a small mistake saw him mo-
mentarily hit the deck, allowing
Walker and Webb to slip by.
Picking himself back up, he got
past Walker but was unable to
prevent Webb from winning.
For race two, Haaker initially
looked to have finished second,
shadowing Blazusiak across the
finish line. But the KTM rider
was later docked 20 seconds
for jumping the concrete pipes
on lap one, bumping Haaker up
to first and a potential overall vic-
tory heading into race three. But
tangling with another rider off
the start resulted in a damaged
clutch lever for Haaker. Sal-
vaging seventh, the defending
champion lost his shot at victory
but still claimed second overall.
"It feels good to be back
on the podium," said Haaker.
"Things just didn't go my way
in Poland but tonight it was a
lot better. My starts were sharp
tonight and it sure felt good to
lead race one. Unfortunately a
small tip-over cost me there but
that happens sometimes.
"Going into the final race I had
a shot at the overall win having
gone 2-1, but things got messy
in the first corner and I damaged
my clutch to the point where it
didn't work so seventh was the
best I could do for the overall
runner-up result.
"I think it's taken me a little
longer than I expected to re-
cover from my elbow injury but
we're 85 percent now."
In the decision for the final
step of the podium, Blazusiak's
race-two penalty provided a bit
of controversy on the night. Ini-
tially third overall was awarded to
rising rookie Bolt but an appeal
saw Blazusiak's penalty reduced
from a rather harsh 20 seconds
to 10.
"I made a silly mistake on my
part by jumping the concrete
pipe off the start," told Blazu-
siak. "I hold my hands up, I
completely forgot that we had to
roll it off the start and having got
the holeshot I got a little carried
away. It wasn't until I was in the
air I realized my error. But to
be initially docked 20 seconds
was harsh, that was half a lap.
Thankfully they reviewed the
penalty and reduced it to 10
seconds. This championship is
so close, we're fighting for every
point we can get, so a decision
like that could have ruined my
season."
Bolt ended up fourth. CN
PRESTIGE CLASS OVERALL
1. Cody Webb (KTM) 1-3-1
2. Colton Haaker (Hus) 2-1-7
3. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 4-6-2
4. Billy Bolt (Hus) 5-4-3
5. Jonny Walker (KTM) 3-7-4
IN
THE
WIND
P38
Defending
champion Colton
Haaker had a
much better result
from round one.
He made it an
American 1-2.
