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All content © Bob MuIIins | ||
 
EEC Italy Updates The opening round of European Enduro Championship (EEC) kicked off in Donoratico on the west coast of Italy south of Pisa. On the first day the weather was cool but bright. There were 191 starters including a strong British presence with 15 UK riders taken part. Nicolas Pellegrinelli (KTM) soon warmed to his task to take the first Extreme test from Matteo Rossi (Kawasaki) and Patrik Markvart (KTM). Brad Freeman (Colwyn Bay KTM) was the best placed British rider in 4th and Joe Wootton (Husqvarna) was 9th. Sherco riders Jake Subachus and 2015 Champion Tom Sagar were just outside the top ten in 11th and 12th, Jamie Lewis (ORE Yamaha) 14th. Fraser Flockhart (KTM), 46th Jake Gowan (Beta) 53rd, Frazer Norrie (Sherco) 66th, James Dent (Beta) 86th, Luke Flack (Sherco) 90th, Alex Walton (KTM) 103rd, Hayden Maller (Sherco) 124th, Jane Daniels (Husqvarna) 142nd, Paul Armstrong (KTM) 163rd and Veteran Julian Crimp (Beta) 180th. The Italians dominated the Enduro test with five riders in the top 6 headed by the leader Nicolas Pellegrinelli, then Matteo Rossi and Andrea Verona. Joe Wootton posted a 7th and Tom Sagar 9th - placing them 6th and 7th in the overall. Brad Freeman was 14th fastest, Jamie Lewis 26th, Jake Subachus 32nd, Jake Gowan 54th, Fraser Flockhart 58th, James Dent 66th, Frazer Norrie 67th, Luke Flack 98th, Alex Walton 106th, Hayden Maller (Sherco) 123rd, Jane Daniels 142nd, Paul Armstrong 183rd and Veteran Julian Crimp 185th.
At the end of the first lap Nicolas Pellegrinelli led from Brad Freeman with Patrik Markvart in 3rd. Tom Sagar was 7th and he led the E2 Senoirs with Jamie Lewis in 3rd. In E1 Seniors Frazer Norrie was 5th, In the E1 juniors Jake Subachus was 6th and Luke Flack 13th. E2/3 juniors Brad Freeman 2nd, Fraser Flockhart 10th, Jake Gowan 11th, James Dent 14th, Joe Wootton 16th. Jane Daniels had a lead of almost 2 minutes in the Womens class On the 2nd lap Tom Sagar found his rhythm and he set the fastest time on the 2nd Extreme test. The win moved Sagar up to 5th on the leader board. Nicolo Mori was runner up to Sagar and Brad Freeman was 3rd. Brad Freeman was the quickest on the 2nd Enduro test reducing the margin with Pellegrinelli to 17 seconds and he went on to take the 2nd MX test to shave off 2 more seconds. At the end of the 2nd lap the top ten were 1st Nicolas Pellegrinelli, 2nd Brad Freeman, 3rd Romain Dumontier, 4th Maurizio Micheluz, 5th Patrik Markvart, 6th Nicolo Mori, 7th Tom Sagar, 8th Erik Ljungberg, 9th Matteo Pavoni and 10th Emanuale Facchetti Pellegrinellki was the overall winner. Last year he lost the Junior title after an injury at the last competition – now he is back, stronger than ever: “With the KTM 250 2-stroke I found the right bike for me,” said the 22 year old rider after the race. Brad Freeman has had his injury problems but he had also put them behind him and he took 2nd, The well known Maurizio Micheluz took the third in the overall: The Italian was multi E1 Champion and Overall winner in the past he is now riding in the E3 class. The reigning champion Tom Sagar was 6th in the season opener: “I have to get used to my new bike – I never ridden a Sherco before but I will get better with every competition.!” Despite heavy rain in the week before, the track was rideable but there were many stones and rocks made it very demanding and strenuous. The Junior E1-class was won by the Italian Guido Conforti in front of the german Andi Beier and the Swiss Jonathan Rosse. In the E2-class the French Romain Dumontier took the victory in front of the reigning champion Tom Sagar and the German Marco Neubert. The Italian Maurizio Micheluz won in his new E3-class ahead of his compatriot Nicoli Mori and Rannar Uusna from Estonia. The veteran winner was Werner Müller from Austria. Jane Daniels won the Womens race by an incredible 15 minutes. Day 2
On the Extreme test Joe Wootton took top honours ahead of Tom Sagar and Nicolas Pellegrinelli. Brad Freeman was 4th, Matteo Rossi 5th and Jamie Lewis 6th. Brad Freeman maintained his overall lead by a margin of 5 seconds from Pellegrineli and then he extended the gap to 17 seconds with a win on the 2nd MX test. At the end of the first lap the overall top ten was 1 Brad Freeman 2 Maurizio Micheluz 3 Nicolas Pellegrinelli 4 Joe Wootton 5 Tom Sagar 6 Jamie Lewis 7 Romain Dumontier 8 Tommy Sjostrom 9 Jaromir Romancik and 10 Jesper Bojesson, In E1 Juniors Jake Subachus was 6th, Luke Flack 8th and Hayden Maller 14th. In E2/3 Juniors Brad Freeman led from Nicolas Pellegrineli, Joe Wooton was 3rd. Fraser Flockhart 9th, James Dent 11th and Jake Gowan 14th. In E1 Seniors Andreas Beier led from Guido Conforti with Frazer Norrie in 11th. In the E2 Seniors less than a second separated Tom Sagar at the top of the leader board from Jamie Lewis in 2nd. Maurizio Micheluz led the E3 Senior class. In the Under 19 class Matteo Pavoni led from Lorenzo Macoritto with Alex Walton in 23rd. In the Vets Sebastian Krywult led from Werner Muller. 52 year old Paul Armstrong was 20th but Julian Crimp retired on the Extreme test. Jane Daniels continued to display her World class by establishing a 3 minute lead over 2nd placed Nina Klink. Lap 2 started well as the top 4 riders on the 2nd Enduro test were all Brits leaving Nicolas Pellegrinelli and Maurizio Micheluz sandwiched in 3rd and 4th on the leader board between 1st Brad Freeman 2nd Joe Wooton 5th Tom Sagar and 6th Jamie Lewis. Tom Sagar won the 2nd Extreme test easing up the leader board into 3rd in fact British riders won 7 out of 8 tests. Joe Wootton's day ended badly when he dropped 2 minutes on the 3rd Enduro test. Romain Dumontier crashed and broke a finger. Brad Freeman won the day. Nicolas Pellegrinelli was runner up and Tom Sagar in 3rd was the best E2 Senior. Maurizio Micheluz did not only win his class again, he also took the fourth place in the overall. While everybody in the E3 class uses light 2-stroke-maschines, the Italian won with the heave 4-stroke! The E1-class was won by the Italian Guido Conforti again in front of the German Andi Beier and the Swiss Jonathan Rosse like the day before. In the E2-class the reigning champion Tom Sagar took the victory in front of the German Marco Neubert and the Brit Jamie Lewis. Italian Maurizio Micheluz won the E3-class ahead of his compatriot Nicoli Mori and Rannar Uusna from Estonia. In the Women-class again won the British rider Jane Daniels: The Husqvarna rider took minutes off all her fellow competitors like Maria Nyqvist from Finland in second and Nina Klink from the Netherlands in 3rd. Hayden Maller had his share of problems. He got his times wrong on Day 1. On Day 2 he was pushing on the last lap when he crashed on a rocky downhill. He carried on to the finish but he lost a lot of blood from a gashed arm. He crossed the line and he went straight in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. 2016:Dates March 12th /13th Donoratico Italy - http://motoclubcostaetrusca.it/ March 26th /27th Brioude France - http://www.motoclubbrioude.fr/ July 30th /31st Ogre Lettland - http://www.lamsf.lv/ October 28th /29th Harfsen Nietherlande - http://mxharfsen.nl Photo MPS Racing
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On the MX test Brad Freeman launched the Colwyn Bay KTM to finish 2nd to
Pellegrinelli and he rocketed up the leader board into 2nd overall. MX
specialist Jamie Lewis was 17th fastest. Joe Wootton 26th and Tom Sagar
28th. 
On Day 2 the Brits came out firing on all cylinders with 4 riders in
the top 6. The course was reversed and the MX track was the first test
of the day, Brad Freeman was the fastest ahead of Maurizio Micheluz and
Nicolas Pellegrinelli. Jamie Lewis was 4th, Joe Wooton 5th and Tom Sagar
6th. 
