Colton Haaker, Cody Webb and Taddy Blazusiak met for the final round of the 2019 FIM SuperEnduro Championship this weekend in Bilbao, Spain. It would be one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the sport. In the end, Colton Haaker literally crashed over the finish line to earn third in the final heat, and that was enough to take his third world Championship, even though Webb had the better score for the night.

After a restart in the first heat, Haaker found it difficult to keep up with Webb who seemed unbeatable out of the gate. That would be Webb’s first win of the night ahead of  Blazusiak and Haaker. After this dramatic opening race just 6 points separated Haaker from Webb.

In heat two, Haaker took the lead after 3 laps, and then managed to control the chasing pack for the entire race. Behind him, Webb made a small mistake which saw him lose contact with the Husqvarna rider. With this victory, Haaker added another three points over Webb. Third in the second race of the night was Blazusiak, who was forced to accept that a 7th World SuperEnduro title had now slipped from his grasp.

Webb dominated the final race while Haaker could seem to do nothing right. A few corners from the end of the race, Haaker made a mistake and lost some positions. Webb would therefore have enough points to win the 2019 title. But it turned out that Alfredo Gomez, the teammate of Haaker, was going to play a role in the outcome. The Spanish rider, playing to team orders, allowed Haaker to finish third in the final, which was what Haaker needed to take the title. Gomez was later disqualified for this action, although it was not explicitly against the rules. In a final shocking twist, Haaker suffered a huge crash over the finish line and lost consciousness, waking up to find his team around him, congratulating him.

Haaker: “It was all on the line for the final and I did what I needed to do on the first few laps. But then the arm pump kicked in again and I stalled my bike so many times. With about a lap to go I got things together again and put everything I had left into that lap and won the title. It wasn’t pretty, but it doesn’t matter, we’re world champions and it feels awesome.”

 Webb: “Obviously I’m disappointed with the final championship result tonight, I felt I rode really good out there today and deserved the title. The night started off well with a good time in superpole and then in the restarted first final I took my time, rode smooth and took the win by a good margin. I am kicking myself now for the mistakes I made in the second final, I got caught up in traffic a few times, but still got second – I knew then I would have to really go for it in the last one. I got off the line well in the third final and set about catching Colton. After I got past him, I just stayed smooth and could see he was struggling. I’m happy because I did my best, won that third final and believe the championship should have been mine. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I’ll learn from it, and come back even stronger next time.”

Prestige Class :

Heat 1 : 1. Cody WEBB ; 2. Taddy BLAZUSIAK ; 3. Colton HAAKER ; 4. Alfredo GOMEZ ; 5. Pol TARRES ; 6. Kevin GALLAS ; 7. William HOARE ; 8. Diogo VIEIRA ; 9. Xavi LEON SOLE ; 10. Blake GUTZEIT…

Heat 2 : 1. Colton HAAKER ; 2. Cody WEBB ; 3. Taddy BLAZUSIAK ; 4. Alfredo GOMEZ ; 5. Pol TARRES ; 6. Blake GUTZEIT ; 7. William HOARE ; 8. Kevin GALLAS ; 9. Jose Maria JUAN BERNABEU ; 10. Diogo VIEIRA…

Heat 3 : 1. Cody WEBB ; 2. Taddy BLAZUSIAK ; 3. Colton HAAKER ; 4. Kevin GALLAS ; 5. Pol TARRES ; 6. Xavi LEON SOLE ; 7. David LEONOV ; 8. Diogo VIEIRA ; 9. William HOARE ; 10. Blake GUTZEIT…

Super Pole Akrapovic: 1. Cody WEBB; 2. Colton HAAKER; 3. Taddy BLAZUSIAK…

Provisional Standings : 1. Colton HAAKER 263pts ; 2. Cody WEBB 259pts ; 3. Taddy BLAZUSIAK 234pts ; 4. Pol TARRES 155pts ; 5. Alfredo GOMEZ 145pts. 6. Diogo VIEIRA 124pts ; 7. Blake GUTZEIT 121pts ; 8. Kevin GALLAS 119pts ; 9. Xavi LEON SOLE 100pts ; 10. David LEONOV 74pts…