Colton Haaker Wins in a Fast and Entertaining Fourth Round of Pro EnduroCross
- Sep 29, 2016
The stage was certainly not too big for Colten Haaker as he dominated the field in the first ever running of Pro EnduroCross in Arizona. Haaker won his heat race, garnered the fastest time in the Hot Lap competition, and ultimately walked away with the main event win. The atmosphere was electric in the sold out WestWorld Arena in Scottsdale. Motorsports excitement was certainly in the air as the race was staged in tandem with the International Off-Road & UTV Expo at the facility.
In the 15 lap main event in Scottsdale, KTM’s Taylor Robert charged hard out of the starting gate to take the holeshot and the early lead. Haaker kept his Husqvarna close for the first third of the race and on lap five he made his move. Haaker passed Robert in the middle of the rugged “rock garden” section of the course. From that point on, Haaker ran a spotless race to pull away from the field. Several times, he thrilled the raucous crowd by jumping completely over the water section of the track. An exuberant Haaker said, “I had an awesome battle with Taylor and we were jumping the water and some awesome stuff so that was a really fun race and I am happy to do what I needed to do.” The Arizona race came after a rare two-week layoff in the series and Haaker clearly appreciated the break. “I came in a little rusty due to an injury so I was glad we had a weekend off.”
This was Robert’s first EnduroCross race of the season due to obligations with the World Enduro Championship series. “This is the gnarliest two wheel sport we have, and I only had three days of EnduroCross practice,” Robert said. Clearly his valiant effort in capturing a second place finish is a harbinger of things to come for the second half of the season. Defending series champion Cody Webb took the third spot. Webb won his heat race and rode well in the main event. However, he had late-race equipment problems and had to push his bike across the finish line. Haaker now leads Webb by 7 points in the overall series standings. Sadly, the time off clearly wasn’t enough for former EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak to heal his various injuries as he finished a disappointing last. This EnduroCross season has been a struggle for the talented rider.
The immensely successful Arizona debut for EndurCross is encouraging for the sport and for series sponsor K&N. EnduroCross is one of the most extreme motorsports in the world, and it’s fitting that K&N is a major sponsor of the series. To protect your engine from the extremes of the real world, find your air and oil filters in our K&N search by vehicle tool. Remaining Schedule:
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