The juicy bits from day one of the Enduro World Championship in Portugal…
Antoine Meo got the job done in Enduro 2… again. Nursing a sore wrist and ankle from his numerous dirt samples in Catalunya, it took a while for him to loosen up. Once he did it was game on – much to Pela Renet’s annoyance. This time Renet couldn’t hold him back and Meo won.
Eighteen seconds up on Meo after test seven – Renet’s got to be pissed to end up four seconds down after the 12th and final test.
Salvini is getting stronger. Still on the come back trail from injury the Italian won’t back down and finished third in E2. Hopefully that taste of champagne will do wonders for his confidence and he’ll soon be fighting with Meo and Salvini.
Tip of the hat to Brit Jamie Lewis. It’s only the Husky privateer’s second ever start in the EWC – his first coming last weekend in Catalunya – and he’s already knocking on the door of a top five result with seventh in E2.
With tougher terrain in Portugal it was probably a tall ask for Jonathan Barragan – fourth in E2 on day two in Catalunya – to repeat that form in Vale de Cambra. But with more lines to follow on day two the former GP racer might just surprise us all again.
Ivan Cervantes let Mathias Bellino and Matt Phillips go at it for the win early on in Enduro 3. But once he figured out where to go fast he showed them who’s boss, bagging his third straight win. Old (ish) guy 3 – Young Guns 0
Matti Seistola was PISSED at the end of day one. Crashing into the rear of a stranded Mathias Bellino on the extreme test and with no option but to turn around and try and find an alternate line, Matti finished sixth tenths of a second shy of third position. Bellino got third!
Winning in Enduro 1 is not enough for Nambotin. Despite coming home 25 seconds clear of everyone else it’s figuring out how to win outright that’s busting his balls. Eighth overall in the unofficial Scratch classification just won’t do for the Frenchman.
Factory supported Beta trumps factory backed Beta in the Enduro Junior class as Danny McCanney beats Giacomo Redondi for the win.
Jamie McCanney third in EJ – that’ll do nicely! Still working his way back from injury, after battling his way through the championship opener Jamie got himself back on the box… next to big brother Danny.
Meo unofficially topped the overall from Renet and Salvini with Johnny Aubert fourth. Cervantes was next best in fifth.
Seems there’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned tough extreme test to sort the men from the boys with crashes and carnage aplenty. What would have been a pretty straightforward test was made seriously tough because of ‘the hill’. Despite three different lines, it proved to be quite a problem for a lot of riders.
A mud hole on the enduro test caught a few out, too. Being fast but clever was the order of the day.
Did we mention KTM won all three senior classes… again!
