John Dowd (Suzuki) took an exciting win in tonight’s Maxxis Endurocross at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, defeating Nathan Woods (Kawasaki) in a battle that went down to the last lap.
Dowd and Woods each won their respective heat races, as did defending Endurocross champ David Knight (KTM). At the start, Dowd and Woods were both out front, with Knight a few spots back in the pack. Unfortunately, the KTM rider was quickly tangled up in a pileup that, while it didn’t put him on the ground, allowed numerous riders to get in front of him before he could get going again.
By the time Knight battled his way to third place, Dowd and Woods were well ahead, and Knight was unable to make up the gap. Dowd and Woods battled for the lead, with Dowd having a small crash that handed the lead to Woods, only to remount and catch back up to re-pass Woods for the final time.
It all came down to the last lap, and Woods was right on Dowd’s tail. The Kawasaki rider made an all-or-nothing pass attempt that nearly succeeded, but instead put him on the ground while Dowd pulled ahead for the win. Woods remounted in time to retain second place, with Knight finishing third.
In a surprising turn of events, former Endurocross champ Ryan Hughes had a dissapointing night, crashing several times in his heat and failing to make the main.
