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All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
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The best for the guests... European Enduro Championship Round 1 At the opening round of this year's European Enduro Championship in Castel die Tora, Italy, two riders, who normally do not compete in the European Championship, won: Italian Thomas Oldrati and his team mate Theophile Espinasse from France were also at the start with the Honda factory team from the World Championship. They used the competition "on their doorstep" to train under competitive conditions, because it is still two months before the World Championship starts. Promptly, the two Honda factory riders won first and second place. And actually, it could have been the first three places, but the third rider, the Finn Roni Kytönen, has had, by his own admission, "a stupid crash", which had thrown him back to fourth place. But the name Roni Kytönen brings to mind that the Finn had actually become European champion in the overall classification two years ago and then moved up to the Enduro World Championship. However, the three guests do not get points for the European Championship and so the best rider in the European Championship is the Italian Diego Nicoletti on his Husqvarna. Only six seconds behind is his compatriot, junior Enrico Rinaldi. Rinaldi placed ahead of Krystof Kouble, the rider from the Czech Republic who had even been fighting for the overall title until his injury two years ago. Kouble finished the day in eighth and fifth place respectively in the European Championship. Maurizio Micheluz turned out to be a true old master: As the reigning champion in the small two-stroke class, the Italian once again won his class and moved up to sixth and third place respectively in the overall standings, directly behind Kytönen. A total of 132 riders competed - a considerable number in view of the various international Covid requirements, as some riders had to stay at home involuntarily. Day 2 On the second day of the opening round of the European Enduro Championship in Castel di Tora, Italy, the competition was shortened to two instead of three laps - due to the weather conditions in the last hour, no rider was unhappy about this afterwards. In fact, during heavy thunderstorms, partly with sleet and snow showers, the track became particularly slippery and challenging to ride. Many riders were unable to keep the set times and some got totally left behind. All this did not affect the Honda factory team from the World Championship, which started as guests, and the riders Thomas Oldrati from Italy, Theophile Espinasse from France and Roni Kytönen from Finland took places 1-3 in the overall standings. Best rider in the European Championship standings on the day was Italian junior Enrico Rinaldi. The GasGas rider thus takes the lead in the European Championship. Yesterday's winner Diego Nicoletti is tied on points with the reigning champion of the 250cc two-stroke class, Maurizio Micheluz, in second place. Micheluz, already 38 years old, again won his displacement class on both days: "It was to be expected that the Italians would feel at home on this terrain," the already 38 year old tried his hand at being a low con man. But there is more than a grain of truth in that, because the stone-strewn ground in the mountains around the lake is familiar fare for the Italians, especially as they also regularly race championship races there in the region. Only in fifth place in the championship standings comes Krystof Kouble from the Czech Republic, the first "foreigner" at this opener. Only in three classes no Italian is currently leading the championship: French Justine Martel won the women's class again, as she did the day before, even without time penalty points, and thus proved to be unbeatable. In the large four-stroke class, Jaromir Romancik leads the championship standings after his second day's victory there, and in the large two-stroke class it is the Frenchman Thibaut Passet who also steers his Beta on a championship course with two day's victories. The next round of the European Enduro Championship is three and a half months away in the Czech Republic. By then, completely different riders could be standing at the top of the podium... More information and schedules, results and links, there are always up to
date and right on the official website:
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