60 Second Update: ISDE – Day 1
With Johnny Aubert, Pela Renet, Antoine Meo, and Jeremy Joly among the top 12 overall riders, France have already opened up more than a one-minute advantage over the United States. Third in the World Trophy class is Australia, followed by Italy, Spain and Great Britain.
Helping Australia hold down the runner-up spot in the World Trophy competition was Yamaha mounted Daniel Milner’s overall day one winning result. Just over one-second faster than newly crowned Enduro 2 World Champion Alex Salvini, Milner has again showed that he’s one seriously fast dude, just as he did in Germany last year.
Salvini could well have topped the overall, and E2, class results on day one were it not for a weird injury he picked up mid-way through the day. Getting a thorn stuck in his left forearm Alex finished the day struggling to pull his clutch lever in. With five days of racing ahead of him, picking up an injury is the last thing Alex, and Italy, want.
In the Junior World Trophy competition France sit at the top of the result, ahead of Italy and the USA, Great Britain and fourth, with one-minute and 15 seconds separating the top four teams. Australia lead the Women’s World Trophy ahead of Sweden with defending champions France (who had a rider retire today) third.
Antoine Meo ‘took things steady’ first time out on Christophe Nambotin’s 300cc KTM. He still managed to top E3 a placed third fastest overall. Just under six seconds adrift of Milner you can expect Meo to increase his pace as the week progresses.
Following the heavy overnight rain conditions were pretty much perfect for riders during the opening lap. But it didn’t take long before the dust arrived with a vengeance. With a 600-plus rider entry competitors are heading into the special tests at 20-second intervals, which isn’t enough.
Dust will be an increasing problem as the days roll by. Australian Matt Phillips knocked himself silly but managed to finish the day. Knowing that his score would be dropped the Enduro Junior World Champion simply ensured he got to the end of the day, and is fired up to get stuck in again come day two. He’ll be feeling well and truly beaten up come tomorrow morning.
The special test winners on day one were Daniel Milner, Daniel Milner, Matthew Phillips, Antoine Meo, Antoine Meo, and Taylor Robert.