French Enduro Championship – Round Two
Antoine Meo, Pela Renet and Christophe Nambotin survivde the torrential rainfall at round two of the French Enduro Championship to secure a double win in their respective classes…
With extreme weather conditions greeting competitors for round two of the French Enduro Championship, organiser worked tirelessly to ensure the race went ahead. Adapting the route and bypassing many of the water logged sections of the course, the event carried on.
Day One
Enduro 1
In the Enduro 1 class, KTM’s Antoine Meo started his day badly allowing both Yamaha’s Marc Bourgeois and Honda’s Jeremy Joly to battle for the lead on the opening lap. However, on lap two Meo began to up his pace and quickly whittled away the 20-second lead the duo had over him. In the end, it was Meo who secured the win on day one with Joly placing just three seconds behind as the runner-up with Bourgeois a further 10 seconds behind in third.
Enduro 2
Despite holding the lead on lap one, Sherco’s Julien Gauthier was no match for Pela Renet (Husaberg) in the latter stages of the day. With Renet relishing in the conditions, the Husaberg overhauled Gauthier to claim a 38-second margin of victory in the Enduro 2 class. Gas Gas’ Nicolas Paganon capitalised on a mistake by Antoine Basset (Yamaha) to take third.
Enduro 3
The expected battle between Christophe Nambotin (KTM) and Matthias Bellino (Husaberg) did not take place. In the very greasy conditions Christophe was untouchable and won with more than two minutes ahead of Matthias, winning all the special tests of the day. Behind them, Manu Albepart (Beta) took third place.
Enduro Junior
In the Enduro Junior class Kevin Rohmer (Yamaha) started his day fast by claiming the first two special tests. But it was short lived as Husaberg’s Loïc Larrieu gained the upper hand in the second round. Despite a crash on the penultimate test, Larrieu held on to claim the race win ahead of Rohmer. Rohmer’s teammate Jeremy Mirror (Yamaha) recorded his first podium result of the season.
Day Two
Enduro 1
On day two, Meo set the pace from the opening stages and dominated the day to claim his second win of the weekend. Unable to challenge Meo, Joly ended his day as the runner-up with Bourgeois completing the top three.
Enduro 2
Feeling right at home on the muddy special tests Renet stamped his authority on the Enduro 2 class. With no answer for the charging Husaberg rider, Gauthier settled for second place. Antoine Basset (Yamaha) improved on his day one result of fourth and placed third.
Enduro 3
On day two Nambotin won all the special tests and comfortably secured his second win of the weekend. Finishing two minutes behind Nambotin, Bellino was second with Albepart in third.
Junior Category
Avoiding falls, Larrieu won all of the special tests to claim a two-minute margin of victory over Rohmer. Behind them, a great battle was played out between Sylvain Fournier (Sherco) and Guillaume Gagnoud (Yamaha) with Gagnoud beating his rival.
The French Enduro Championship continues with round four on August 31.
Championship Standings (After round two)
Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo – 80 pts 2. Jérémy Joly – 66 pts 3. Marc Bourgeois – 60 pts
Enduro 2
1. Pierre-Alexandre Renet – 80 pts 2. Julien Gauthier – 68 pts 3. Antoine Basset – 58 pts
Enduro 3
1. Christophe Nambotin – 80 pts 2. Emmanuel Albepart – 64 pts 3. Matthias Bellino – 64 pts
Enduro Junior
1. Loic Larrieu – 80 pts 2. Kevin Rohmer – 59 pts 3. Jeremy Mirror – 41 pts
© Mathias Bellino