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Mike Brown debuts Enduro GP with a Supertest win

The Moto Club of Spoleta hosted the 3rd round of the Enduro World Championship in Italy this weekend. The Friday night Akrapovic Supertest was in the BPS Municipal Stadium under the walls of the Rocca fortress and bathed in evening sunshine. 

Dan Mundell (KTM) set the 2nd fastest time in the Youth class - 6/100th of a second behind Spain's Alex Iscla (KTM). Italian Andrea Verona (TM) was 3rd..

French Army rider Jean-Baptiste Nicolot (Yamaha) looked to have had the Junior class sewn up until Spain's Kirian Mirabet (Sherco) set a quicker time at the last moment. Brad Freeman made a steady start in 11th.

Josh Gotts was an early leader in the E2 class but he dropped to 15th. Danny McCanney (Rockstar Husqvarna) won the the E2 class with the 3rd fastest time overall. Aussie Dan Sanders (KTM) was the runner up and Spain's Josep Garcia was 3rd. Jamie McCanney was 7th.

In the GP class MX rider Alex Snow kept the Honda upright over the logs and tyres. Guest Mike Brown made himself at home in his first Enduro GP and the JET rider won the overall by 3 seconds. Italian Alex Salvini (Beta) was runner up and Steve Holcombe was 3rd.

Saturday

Christophe Charlier set the fastest time on the opening Extreme test ahead of Matthew Phillips, Nathan Watson and Steve Holcombe but Alex Salvini took the overall lead with his Supertest bonus. The perilous climbs on the Extreme test would prove to be a crucial factor in the race. 

Salvini topped up his lead on the MX test with Steve Holcombe moving up into second on the steeply cambered hillside. Steve holcombe then moved up again to take the overall lead at the end of the first lap with a lightning 7.5km Enduro test. Alex Salvini was runner up and Matthew Phillips was 3rd. Nathan Watson was still struggling with tendinitis in 10th and Alex Snow was 13th.

In the E2 class Jamie McCanney won all three tests on the first lap to rest the lead from Josep Garcia. His times equaled 3rd in the GP class. Danny McCanney struggled on the Extreme test in 16th but he regrouped to finish the lap in 5th. Josh Gotts was 21st. 

Matteo Cavallo led the Junior class from Mikael Persson and Albin Elowson with Davide Soreca 4th and Brad Freeman 5th. 

Alex Iscla topped the Youth class ahead of Andrea Verona with Dan Mundell recovering from an average Extreme test to finish the lap in 6th.

On his 2nd Extreme test Alex Snow dropped a minute on the fastest rider Christophe Charlier while the Beta team of Steve Holcombe and Alex Salvini topped the leader board. The home crowd raised Alex Salvini's spirit on the MX and he took the overall lead. Nathan Watson had a problem and he finished last. Steve Holcombe retook the lead on the 2nd Enduro test and entered lap 3 with a margin of less than half a second over Alex Salvini. Jamie McCanney slipped back into 2nd place behind Josep Garcia. Pushing hard for a podium finish Brad Freeman was 5th in the Juniors and Dan Mundell was 5th in the Youth class.

Alex Salvini took the lead on the last lap but Steve Holcombe had the line on the last test and he took the win. Alex Salvini was runner up and Loic Larrieu was 3rd. Nathan Watson in 9th and Alex Snow in 16th have had better days... So has Matthew Phillips who retired. 

Josep Garcia managed to defend his E2 lead from Jamie McCanney. Danny McCanney salvaged a 6th and Josh Gotts made the top 20.

Davide Soreca won the Juniors ahead of Albin Elowson and Mikael Perrson. Brad Freeman just missed a podium finish in 4th. Dan Mundell also had to do with points and no prizes when he finished 4th in the Youth class. Andrea Verona was the winner. Ruy Barbosa was runner up and Alex Iscla was 3rd.  

Sunday 

Frenchman Loic Larrieu (Yamaha) has become the second rider to claim a first EnduroGP win of 2017 at the GP of Italy, claiming victory at the end of a long, hot and demanding second day of competition in Spoleto. Just as Steve Holcombe (Beta) did on day one, Larrieu earned his first podium topping result of the year by heading the second day's result and placing 33 seconds ahead of his closest challenger – day one winner Holcombe. In the Enduro 2 class KTM's Josep Garcia completed a perfect GP, adding victory on day two to his winning result on day one to move to the top of the Enduro 2 championship standings. British rider Brad Freeman (Beta) comfortably topped the Enduro Junior class while Andrea Verona topped the results in the 125cc Enduro Youth category.

Removing the mistakes that prevented him challenging for the top step of the EnduroGP podium on day one, Loic Larrieu proved to be the rider to beat on day two in Spoleto. Winning six of the day's 10 special tests he earned both his and Yamaha's first winning result in the premier EnduroGP class. "It was a very good day for me today,” confirmed Loic. "The big difference was that I didn't make any big mistakes like I did on day one. The first lap ended well and I really pushed hard during the second lap, which worked very well. The last lap I was able to be a little more cautious so not to make any mistakes. It feels great to win.” Runner-up, but unable to match the pace of Larrieu, was day one winner Steve Holcombe. Fast and consistent throughout the day, Steve found himself battling with Christophe Nambotin (KTM) during the first half of the race, until Nambo' lost time in the extreme test following a mistake. Nevertheless, Holcombe's runner-up result saw him extend his lead in the EnduroGP championship standings to 21 points. "Larrieu was riding extremely well today, I wasn't comfortable pushing as hard as he was so I focused on securing the second place result. Getting more championship points was more important that taking big risks today,” admitted Holcombe.

Making a costly mistake on the second extreme test Christophe Nambotin rounded out the EnduroGP podium in third, proving like he did on Spain that he has the speed to. "You can't win if you make a mistake like I did today, but really Loic was too fast,” explained the Frenchman. "It's been a really good GP – typically Italian with two long, and tough days of racing.” Alex Salvini (Beta) placed as the highest finishing home rider in fourth, just four seconds adrift of Nambotin. Fifth went to Nathan Watson who made a notable improvement over his day one result of ninth – a result made all the more impressive considering he was forced to stay off a bike since the GP of Spain due to his wrist injury. Privateer Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero delivered one of the day's most impressive result to earn a well-deserved sixth. Back in action after being forced out on day one with a technical issue Matt Phillips (Sherco) placed seventh with Jaume Betriu (KTM), Giacomo Redondi (Honda) and Deny Philippaerts (Beta) rounding out the top 10.

Josep Garcia (KTM) and Jamie McCanney (Yamaha) battled it out for the Enduro 2 class win on day two. Garcia was the first to establish a lead, which he threw away when he crashed on his second run threw the extreme test. For the remainder of the day Josep and Jamie pushed one another to the limit with the Spaniard eventually wining by just under seven seconds. "I'm very, very pleased with my results here in Italy,” confirmed Garcia. "I made a really positive start to day two and managed to open up a small advantage at the top of the results. But I made a mistake in the second extreme test and lost 15 seconds. That made things very close between myself and Jamie McCanney. Thankfully, I managed to get the win again, to complete a perfect GP.” Despite finishing as runner-up Jamie McCanney was rightfully pleased with his runner-up performance on the second day. "Josep and myself have been pushing each other all day today. I don't think either of us could have gone any faster. Together with my second place result on day one I'm more than happy with how I've performed this weekend,” said Jamie. Rounding out the podium, and matching his third place result from day two, Pascal Rauchenecker finished comfortably ahead of Spain's Jonathan Barragan (Gas Gas) who in turn secured his best result of the series to date. Fifth went to Danny McCanney (Husqvarna) with Eero Remes (TM) managing to improve on his day one result to sixth. Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco), Thomas Oldrati (Husqvarna), Rudy Moroni (KTM) and Manuel Monni (TM) rounded out the top 10. The tough course failed to defeat Josh Gotts who finished 16th.

Competing in his first Italian GP Brad Freeman (Beta) claimed victory in the Enduro Junior class, just as he did on the second day of the GP of Spain. Finishing 30 seconds ahead of team-mate Matteo Cavallo (Beta), Freeman topped six of the day's special tests to climb to fourth in the Enduro Junior championship standings despite missing the season opening event in Finland. Finishing third and just three seconds behind countryman Cavallo, Davide Soreca (Honda) remains comfortably out front in the Enduro Junior standings – 37 points ahead of second placed rider Mikael Persson (Yamaha) who failed for finish day two.

In the 125cc Youth Cup Andrea Verona (TM) claimed victory ahead of Leo Le Quere (TM) with British rider Dan Mundell (KTM) placing third.

The Maxxis FIM EnduroGP World Championship now moves on to the GP Maxxis of Hungary on July 23-25.

Results

Three bikes were stolen on Thursday night. The bikes are 2 KTM 450 and 1 KTM 300 with new plastics without stickers Carter Black clutch with akrapovic exhaust ktm logo black saddles sewn steps.