Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1045181
MANUFACTURERS DISCUSS WORLD ENDURO CROSSROADS P102 Feature In December of 2017, the all- new World Enduro Super Se- ries (WESS) was announced. A newly formed organization out of Austria announced it was stringing together a group of the popular events to form a new world championship—a mix of extreme races, classic enduro, cross-country and even a beach race. Despite not carrying a sanction from the FIM, WESS boldly posi- tioned the eight-round con- test as "a premium off-road championship" that will "bring together the world's best and most visible events and will annually crown the ultimate enduro champion." PHOTO BY ENDUROGP.COM PHOTO BY KTM IMAGES "We're not reinventing the wheel," stated WESS Managing Director Philipp Stossier in the company's first press release. "We're bringing together well- established enduro competitions, run the way they've always been run, onto a larger communication platform to ensure enduro sport receives the focused, global expo- sure it deserves." WESS Racing Manager Winfried Kerschhaggl echoed the statement in the release. "We believe this is a key moment for enduro sport. Over the last decade enduro has evolved hugely, resulting in many highly popular standalone events but also an increasingly divided scene for competitors, media and industry. WESS 2018 brings both well-established, decades old and very traditional races together with relatively young events that embrace a very different dynamic in terms of race format—together with beach racing and cross- country these competitions all fall under the umbrella of modern day enduro. All are important and are united under the World Enduro Super Series umbrella." THE BIG QUESTIONS The presence of two premier championships has presented the factory teams with a challenge: where do they put their factory ef- fort? We contacted representatives from Sherco, Yamaha, KTM, Gas- Gas and Beta (Husqvarna Motorcy- cles did not offer a response) and asked the same four questions: 1. What are your thoughts on the World Enduro Super Series? 2. What are your thoughts on the Enduro World Championship? 3. In the last few years it seems the EWC has responded to input from teams and sponsors regard- ing changes/improvements to the championship; do you feel it has grown in positive ways? 4. Between WESS and EWC, where do you think it is more valu- able for your brand to be? (Right) According to Beta, there is only one Enduro World Championship that matters, and they got it in 2018 with Steve Holcombe. (Below) "All in all, we are confident that this can only be positive for the future," said KTM's Alex Doringer about WESS racing.