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TADDY BLAZUSIAK TAKES OPENING ROUND OF SUPERENDURO

published at 09.12.2012 / created by Marcia Hill

Red Bull KTM factory rider Taddy Blazusiak dug deep and drew on all his inner strength on Saturday to emerge the winner in the opening round of the 2012-2013 SuperEnduro in Lodz, Poland. Blazusiak finished with a 1-2-1 result in the three finals to top the podium ahead of KTM teammate Jonny Walker of the UK.

Riding in front of 12,000 vocal Polish fans in his one appearance at home, Taddy Blazusiak proved his hero status riding with his shoulder heavily strapped after a training accident eight days ago left him with two torn ligaments in his right shoulder and a broken collarbone.

KTM team boss Alex Doringer, in Lodz with the team: “Taddy was in a huge amount of pain. It was quite remarkable to see him go out and ride like that but he didn’t want to disappoint his Polish fans. We’re calling him Brave Heart.” Doringer confirmed that Taddy will have surgery on his shoulder next week and will be able to recuperate over the Christmas period and ahead of Round Two.

Taddy rode his KTM 350 EXC-F and Jonny Walker was on the KTM 300 EXC 2-stroke machine. "Everything went well on the night. The team delivered a great job and we had no technical issues at all," Doringer confirmed.

Blazusiak is looking to defend his FIM SuperEnduro World Championship title once again after successfully reclaiming the US EnduroCross title in the USA in November. He got his bid off to a good start in the opening race in the city’s Atlas Arena before the team’s young Extreme Enduro pretender Walker claimed victory in the second race. Blazusiak grabbed the holeshot in the decider and had to fend off challenges by David Knight (Honda) while Walker finished third to claim the second podium place on the final podium.

The ‘Taddy effect’ was also evident in the Junior class with local KTM rider boy Pawel Szmkowski on top of the podium. Danny McCanney (GasGas) was second and Italy’s Giacomo Redondi (KTM), who has come off a great year in the junior ranks of the World Enduro Championship finished third. The competition format involves three final races and points are accumulated to reflect the end result.

Overall Results SuperEnduro Lodz
1. Taddy Blazusiak (PL), KTM , 57 points
2. Jonny Walker (UK), KTM, 51
3. David Knight (UK), Honda, 41
4. Alfredo Gomez (E), Husaberg, 31
5. Kormel Nemeth (H), KTM, 29

Overall Results Junior Class SuperEnduro Lodz
1. Pawel Szymkowski (PL), KTM, 37 points
2. Danny McCanny (UK), GasGas, 30
3. Giacomo Redondi (I), KTM, 28
4. Johan Edlund (S), Husaberg, 27
5. Magnus Thor (S), KTM 18

Highlights SuperEnduro Lodz (PL)