Taddy used the EWC Italy GP as a tune-up for Erzberg, and nearly podiumed on day one.
KTM Enduro Factory Team rider Taddy Blazusiak has proved that he’s fit and ready to challenge for a fourth consecutive Erzberg Rodeo title early next month having successfully finished both days of the Enduro World Championship’s GP of Italy. Using the event as training ahead of the gruelling Erzberg race, Taddy, who had originally planned on racing the opening two rounds of the ’10 EWC series before injury sidelined him from both events, showed impressive speed during both days competition, especially on day one.
Placing in seventh and sixth over the two days, and ahead of many experienced EWC riders, were it not for a one-minute penalty he collected for starting his bike too early on day one Taddy may well have placed third on day one. More than happy with his riding, although feeling a little tired on day two due to his lack of racing during the past six weeks, Taddy was extremely pleased to have performed well and will now step up his Erzberg preparations.
Taddy Blazusiak: ‘I’ve had a great weekend, despite my small mix up on day one. There’s a lot to take in at a world championship race and I made a mistake on day one when I started my bike a little early. That cost me a one-minute penalty without which I would have been really close to the podium in the E1 class. It’s a little disappointing knowing that I could have done that first time out, but anyways I really enjoyed it and most importantly my shoulder didn’t give me any major problems. I had to ride smooth on the second day because my shoulder was quite tired, and I don’t ride at my best when I’m riding smooth. I found it difficult to attack the special tests and had to back it off a little bit. I made some mistakes on the motocross test each lap, which cost me time, but I’m more than happy really. The most important thing was to finish both days so that I knew my shoulder would be ok for Erzberg. It was aching a lot at the end of the first day, and then again at the end of the second day, but I didn’t have any pain or real loss of power. I’m really looking forward to Erzberg now knowing that my fitness is good and that my shoulder is pretty much back to normal.’
2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of Italy – Day 1
Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 1.05:50.41; 2. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.07:33.80; 3. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1.08:07.92; 4. Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 1.08:24.74; 5. Maurizio Micheluz (TM) 1.08:42.19… 7. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM Enduro Factory Team) 1.09:13.50
2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of Italy – Day 2
Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 1.05:13.28; 2. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.05:37.03; 3. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1.06:25.73; 4. Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 1.07:13.36; 5. Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) 1.07:46.64; 6. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM Enduro Factory Team) 1.07:53.20
