Cody Webb Takes Daytona GEICO EnduroCross Opener
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Photo: Drew Ruiz[/caption]
Cody Webb kicked
off the defense of his GEICO EnduroCross AMA Championship in style
by taking the win at the opening round inside the Ocean Center in
Daytona Beach, Florida. The FMF/RPM/KTM Team Maxxis rider had a
back-and-forth battle with Kyle Redmond
on the Factory Beta early in the race and survived a crash and a
bad start to take the win. Redmond eventually had a few crashes and
battled back to finish third. Rockstar, Lucas Oil Husqvarna-backed
Colton
Haaker rode a steady race to take second.
Mike Brown had
the top gate pick by setting the fastest evening Hot Lap and took
advantage of that to rocket into the lead and take the Nexen Tire
$500 holeshot award. Brown led the first lap but then had the first
of several crashes on lap two and eventually finished sixth.
Webb quickly recovered from a bad start to get into third on lap
two and take the lead on lap three. He appeared to be on his way to
an easy win but Redmond, who took over Webb's place on the Factory
Beta for 2015, kept the pressure on and Webb went down. Redmond led
for a few laps and the two battled until a mistake pushed Redmond
back. From the mid way point in the fifteen lap main, Webb steadily
opened his lead on Haaker and eventually finished with a 13 second
lead to take the win and the points lead.
"Honestly, a win's a win but that one sucked," Webb said after the
race. "I made a lot of mistakes there in the beginning and bent my
lever up but I recovered and everybody one else had their troubles
so I got the victory. Now I am looking forward to going to Salt
Lake in a few weeks."
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Photo: Drew Ruiz[/caption]
Haaker had a great debut on his Factory-backed Husqvarna finishing
a solid second position despite coming into the series injured. "I
came into the night with three broken ribs and a lacerated spleen
from a crash two weeks ago," Haaker said. "I asked Fly to send me
out a chest protector so I could try to race and do my best. The
track tonight was different than we've ever had with the crazy
coffee grounds-like dirt. So, I'm super excited to start the series
off in second after all that."
SRT Racing-backed Cory
Graffunder had a great ride for his new team to take fourth. He
was in contention for a podium position but got stuck behind lapped
riders multiple times and fell as far back as seventh before moving
forward again. Beta USA's Max Gerston
survived a lot of carnage and an off track excursion to finish
fifth.
Brown was sixth ahead of Bobby
Prochnau. Kevin
Rookstool battled inside the top five and eventually finished
eighth. He will be racing the Daytona Supercross on Saturday and
the opening round of the GNCC series on Sunday for a Bike Week
trifecta like no other.
Ty Cullins
finished ninth in his first pro EnduroCross race on the Factory
Beta. Destry
Abbott rounded out the top ten on his Kawasaki.
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Photo: Drew Ruiz[/caption]
In the Women's class, Morgan Tanke
took the win in her first race for the Factory Beta team. She
survived a last lap battle with Shelby
Turner and Tarah Geiger
who finished second and third, respectfully.
All of the EnduroCross events also include support classes and
Cooper Abbott took the win in the Open Amateur class over Quinn
Wentzel and Steve Deines. Canada's Stephen Foord won the Vet class
ahead of former top GNCC racer Jason Raines. Jonny Barber took
third. Ty Cullins had a great battle with Quinn Wentzel to take the
TrialsCross class win and Chris Venditti took third.
The next round of the GEICO AMA EnduroCross series will take place
at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday,
March 21st.
2015 AMA EnduroCross Daytona Image Gallery
(Click for full size images)
2015 AMA EnduroCross Daytona Results
- Cody Webb - KTM
- Colton Haaker - Husqvarna
- Kyle Redmond - Beta
- Cory Graffunder - KTM
- Max Gerston - Beta
- Mike Brown - Husqvarna
- Bobby Prochnau - KTM
- Kevin Rookstool - Suzuki
- Ty Cullins - Beta
- Destry Abbott - Kawasaki
- Ty Tremaine - KTM
- Nick Thompson - KTM
- Cooper Abbott Kawasaki
Source: EnduroCross
