|
|
||
All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
|
Gouveia
is Go The opening round of the 2017 European Enduro Championship took place this weekend in Portugal The event centred around the Parque Nossa Senhora Dos Verdes - a superb resort facility 5 miles from Gouveia.- that last year hosted a round of the World Enduro Championship. There was a strong British entry in the Juniors including Daniel Mundell (Ktm), Alex Walton (Beta), Lee Sealey (Yamaha) , Luke Flack (Sherco), Tom Ellwood (Sherco) and Jay Thomas (Husqvarna). In the Senior there was Jamie Lewis (Yamaha) , Roger Holland (Ktm) and Adam Extance (Ktm). Saturday morning dawned bright and clear but there was a forecast of showers. The riders had 3 laps of 50 kilometres with an enduro and MX test on each lap. Nathan Bererd and Jan Allers were the first two Junior riders on the road - flagged away at 9.01. Half the field were Juniors. Thirty four minutes later they were kicking up the dust of the first Enduro Test. France's Theophile Espnasse (sherco) set the fastest time ahead of fellow Frenchman Anthony Geslin on a Beta.
At the end of the first lap Theophile Espnasse held the overall leader and he was the best Junior. Dan Mundell had moved up into 7th in class - still one place ahead of Jay Thomas. Lee Sealey was 18th and a dragging hydraulic clutch wasn't helping, Tom Ellwood was 24th. Alex Walton 27th and Luke Flack 45th. Anthony Geslin led the Seniors with Jamie Lewis in 9th, Roger Holland 23rd and Adam Extance 43rd. At midday a refreshing shower of rain passed over but it didn't cool the pace of Theophile Espnasse who won with 5 out of 6 tests. Anthony Geslin was riding well in second until he suffered a mechanical problem and a dropped minute dropped him to 14th, Oscar Balletti and david Abgrail moved up into 2nd and 3rd. In the junior E1 class Jeremy Miroir won ahead of the Italien Matteo Rossi and the Czech Kristof Kouble. Reigning Senior-E1-champion Guido Conforti only made 5th position on the day. The Swede Andreas Linusson with his KTM took the first position in front of Edgars Silins from Latvia and Daan Bruijsten from the Netherlands.
Reigning Senior-E3-champion Maurizio Micheluz was beaten by his countryman Oscar Balletti. Early day leader Geslin dropped down to third position because of his penalty. After a long time without racing, the German Arne Domeyer won the day in the veterans: Reigning champion Sebastian Krywolt from Poland took third position behind Juha Puotsaari from Finland. In the women-class Yamaha-rider Jessica Gardiner took the days win in front of Hanna Berzelius from Sweden an Marita Nyqvist from Finland. Sunday The forecast heavy rain arrived overnight blown along on a cold front. The day 2 format was the same as day 1. The environmental shears had come out to protect the land and the riders and sadly the rocky climb over looking the tests didn't make the cut. Without the dust Italian Oscar Balletti from the senior E3 class took the overall win in front of the reigning champion of the senior E3 class, his countryman Maurizio Micheluz. On the third place in the overall ranking was a rider, who was still a junior at least last year. On the first day, Swede Oliver Nelson had big disadvantages through the dust. "I had to start behind, because I have had no success upto now in this class. That's why I quickly ran into the slower riders before me, but I could not overtake in the dust. "But at the next competition, on the 8th / 9th of July in Estonia, he can start from third position. The Swede Andreas Linusson, who has had switched from the 300 2-stroke to the 250 4-stroke KTM, won the senior E1 class. He also took the lead in the championship, ahead of the Frenchman Luc Breban and the reigning champion of the class, the Italian Guido Conforti, who took second place on this second day.
Once again won the German Arne Domeyer the Veterans class with more than a minute in hand. He took the lead in the championship ahead of the reigning champion Sebastian Krywult from Poland. Krywolt took the second place in front of the Finnish Mika Paavola. Another clear victor was Jessica Gardiner in the Women's class. There was no chance for the Swede Hanna Berzelius and the Finnina Marita Nyqvist. Theophile Espinasse, who won the overall at the first day took a double victory in his junior E2 / E3 class. There he is in front of his French countrymen Hugo Blanjoue and Jean-Baptist Nicolot. In the junior-E1-class Matteo Pavoni won in front of Kristof Kouble. The young Czech rider switched from motocross to enduro and became the best Czech result this weekend. KTM-rider Calle Johansson took the victory in front of the 17 years old Daniel Mundell but Mundell from Great Britain won the first day and took the lead in the championship in front of the Swede Johansson. Other notable British results came from Lee Sealey who posted a 4th and a 6th to finish 5th in the Junior E1 class. Jay Thomas and Tom Ellwood are tied in the Junior E2/3 class with 8 points. Adam Extance also collected 8 points in the Senior E1 class. Alex Walton is 8th in the Under 20s. The second of the four competitions for the Enduro European Championship takes place on the 8th / July in Paikuse / Estonia The day before the competition the FIM Europe-Kommission and the FIM Europe-Vice-President Michal Sikora had invited all Federations and Teams to discuss the future of the European-Championship. On today's showing the future looks good.. More information and schedules, results and links, there are always up to
date and right on the official website:
|
Dan Mundell was the quickest British rider in 14th overall - one place ahead
of Jay Thomas who was fired up by winning both days in the Experts class at the
opening round of the BEC in Scotland. Jamie Lewis was 28th. Lee Sealey 32nd.
Alex Walton was 48th with Army rider Tom Ellwood in 49th at the end of a tough
week that started with him scoring World Championship points in Spain. The
Gouveia landscape is littered with massive boulders from some pre-historic
glacial age and Roger Holland from the House of Stone was at home amongst the
rocks. He was 54th. MRS Racing's Luke Flack was 81st and speedway specialist
Adam Extance was 106th in his first Enduro. 
Marco
Neubert, the reigning Senior-E2-champion took the early lead until he crashed
in the 5th test and lost nearly 30 seconds allowing KTM rider Nicolas
Pellegrinelli - the reigning junior-champion- to take the victory. Jamie Lewis improved all day he finished 2nd in the Senior E2 class
behind Nicholas Pelligrinelli and 11th overall, Dan Mundell topped the Under 20
125 2t class in front of Italien Claudio Spanu and Neels Theric from France with Alex Walton in 7th. Lee Sealey was 24th and Jay Thomas 29th
overall. Tom Ellwood 39th and Roger Holland 66th. Adam Extance finished clean
on time and made the top
100.
With his fantastic performance in the overall ranking, Oliver Nelson also
won his senior E2 class. First day winner Nicolas Pellegrinelli was fighting
with several technical problems and came home only fourth place, behind the
British Jamie Lewis and reigning champion Marco Neubert. After the 2 days Jamie
Lewis leads the Senior E2 class by 1 point from Nicholas Pelligrinelli. Roger
Holland Finished well both days and gathered up 7 Championship points.