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All content © Bob MuIIins | ||
 
Phillips wins GP of Portugal Day 1!
Super Test The 2nd round of the 2016 FIM Enduro GP World Championship headed north this weekend to Gouveia in Portugal. Heavy rain and cold weather left the riders walking the tests in anoraks and bobble hats like a lost tribe of trainspotters. The Supertest kicked off at 7.00pm local time on Friday night. As the racing started the rain stopped - swelling the crowd to 3000 plus. The National riders were first away; Joaquim Rodrigues set the fastest time ahead of Goncalo Reis and Diogo Veira. Jose Pinto set a record for the quickest retirement when he looped out and ripped off his subframe. Jack Edmondson broke a bone in his hand in Morocco but Lee Sealey was a worthy replacement in the Youth class. He finished 3rd behind Jean-Baptiste Nicolot and Valerian Debaud, All 3 were mounted on Yamaha.
6 times SuperEnduro Champion Taddy Blazusiak - in full factory KTM wellies - made his annual visit to the EWC, He went head to head with local hero Luis Oliveira (Yamaha) and after an exciting duel, both riders clocked the same time to finish 9th. The final heat of the night - between Mathias Bellino (Husqvarna) and Matthew Phillips (KTM) - was an anti-climax as Bellino proved his mastery of this type of test. He was fastest overall while Phillips was 12th. Alex Salvini (Honda) was 2nd and Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) was 3rd. Steve Holcombe (Beta) was 4th. Nathan Watson was 13th. Danny McCanney 17th and Jamie McCanney was 25th Day 1 The day began with the 5km Enduro test. Alex Salvini posted the fastest time - 7 seconds ahead of Mathias Bellino. Steve Holcombe was 5th but on the wet MX test Steve was in his element and he set the quickest time to climb the leader board into 2nd - 5 seconds adrift of Salvini. As expected the wet Extreme Test was a challenge. Salvini dropped over half a minute. Mathias Bellino was smooth and he re-took the lead - 3 seconds ahead of Steve Holcombe. Matthew Phillips was 3rd. Jamie McCanney had worked his way up into 11th. Nathan Watson was 12th and Danny McCanney was 17th. Josep Garcia. Giacomo Redondi and Diogo Ventura topped the Juniors. Josh Gotts was 11th. Valerian Debaud led the Youths with Lee Sealey in 4th.
With the rain eroding the course, the organisers cut the last lap. Matthew Phillips was the winner. Mathias Bellino was runner up and Steve Holcombe was 3rd and the best E3. Jamie McCanney finished 10th - runner up to Eero Remes in the E1 class. Nathan Watson was 3rd and Danny McCanney was 6th. Josh Gotts. "It all came down to the last extreme test and I went for it,” explained Phillips after the race. "It was pretty much a battle ground so I took some completely different lines and gave it everything, and it worked. It's great to get on top of the podium in these conditions. It was a tough day for everyone. Day two's going to be interesting.” Giacomo Redondi was the best Junior. Diogo Ventura was 2nd and Josep Garcia was 3rd. Garcia was leading going into the final test but he lost nearly 2 minutes in the deteriorating condition. Josh Gotts finished in 11th. The best Youth 125 was Valerian Debaud. JB Nicolot was runner up and Lee Sealey was 4th. Day 2
Continuing to impress in his first season of senior class competition, Steve HOLCOMBE (Beta) claimed his first overall EnduroGP win of 2016 on day two of the GP Polisport of Portugal. Showing that he had the speed to win on day one, Steve remained mistake free during the second day of competition to place just under seven seconds ahead of Finn Eero REMES (TM) with enduro rookie Nathan WATSON (KTM) an impressive third. "I'm made up with this result. I got close to winning on day one so to finally get the job done and a first EnduroGP win to my name is great,” enthused HOLCOMBE. "I enjoyed the day. The tests were pretty tough in places but the organisers did a great job in working on the track over night. I just kept pushing on all tests and everything went well.” Showing that as well as topping the Enduro 1 class podium he's also more than a match for the bigger bike riders in the EnduroGP class, 250f TM mounted Finn Eero REMES pushed Holcombe hard though out the day. Also 250f mounted, Nathan WATSON enjoyed a good day. Despite his lack of enduro experience he again showed impressive speed to place just 15 seconds behind winner HOLCOMBE. Behind WATSON US rider Taylor ROBERT (KTM) excelled in conditions that were anything but familiar. Unable to repeat his day one winning result Matt PHILLIPS (Sherco) placed in sixth with Mathias BELLINO bringing his Husqvarna home in ninth following a day full of mistakes.
Just four days into his first ever season of EnduroGP competition Taylor ROBERT enjoyed his first winning result, impressively topping the Enduro 2 class aboard his KTM. Riding well throughout the day he placed ahead of Matt P¨HILLIPS with Alex SALVINI (Beta) joining them on the podium. "All-in-all it's been a really good day for me,” explained TAYLOR. "I lost some time to Phillips early on but seemed to come good in the middle of the day. I had a good crash in the final extreme test as I was pushing hard to try and get onto the overall EnduroGP podium, but luckily I didn't lose too much time and managed to get the win in Enduro 2.” Loic LARRIEU (Yamaha) finished closer to the Enduro 2 podium than on any previous day of the series so far, finishing just over five seconds behind third placed SALVINI. Separating Yamaha team mates LARRIEU in fourth and Cristobal GUERRERO in sixth was Mathias BELLINO. Enduring a difficult day the Frenchman placed 35 seconds behind winner ROBERT.
In the Enduro Junior class Italian Giacomo REDONDI (Honda) claimed a sizeable win, placing more than one minute ahead of Diogo VENTURA (Gas Gas). Winning the day's first special test Josep GARCIA (Husqvarna) was an early retirement as the Spaniard was forced to withdraw with a technical problem. Third went to Swede Albin ELOWSON (Husqvarna). Erik APPELQVIST (Yamaha) was the day two winner in the 125cc Enduro Youth class, placing 25 seconds ahead of British rider Lee SEALEY (Yamaha). Rounding out an all-Yamaha podium Jean-Baptiste NICOLOT placed third. The EnduroGP championship now heads to Greece on May 20-22.
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Giacomo Redondi (Honda) was the best junior. Teammate Davide
Soreca was the runner up and Josep Garcia (Husqvarna) was 3rd. Josh Gotts
(TM) made a much
better start than his 19th in Morocco with an 11th.
As
a result of their strong overall performances Eero REMES and Nathan WATSON
placed first and second in the Enduro 1 class with Jamie MCCANNEY (Yamaha)
third. With just under nine seconds separating REMES and WATSON, MCCANNEY
battled his way to a podium result more than one minute behind WATSON.
Jamie's brother Danny MCCANNEY (Husqvarna) enjoyed his best day of the
championship so far finishing fourth while Pascal RAUCHENECKER (Husqvarna)
and Gianluca MARTINI rounded out the top six.
