VOL. 55 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 30, 2018 P105
ship; this is not a real enduro
championship," Curvalle
said. "Too many extreme
races… just an extreme rider
can win this championship."
The WESS organizers tout
the diversity of its events,
which KTM sees as a strength
of the series. "From our side,
the WESS has streamlined
and focused our enduro
efforts into one team rather
than splitting or diluting the
focus with the sub-disci-
plines of enduro," Doringer
said. "By having a series
that incorporates the tough-
est hard enduros with the
fast 'classic' enduro races,
we are competing in the best
of everything."
But again on the opposing
viewpoint, Sherco's Curvalle sees
it as a negative, pointing to the
results of Trefle Lozerien, one of
the five French classic enduros,
which served as round three of
the WESS. Normal front-runners
in extreme races, such as Taddy
Blazusiak and Graham Jarvis, fin-
ished with very lackluster results,
highlighting the marked difference
in the skillset required to race a
classic enduro format.
"What is the purpose of a fac-
tory to send pilots like Blazusiak
to finish 20th… Jarvis 44th?"
said Curvalle. "We have a junior
rider who ended second overall
The nature of
extreme enduros
has created a
highly specialized
class of riders.
PHOTO
BY
RED
BULL
CONTENT
POOL
PHOTO
BY
YAMAHA
PHOTO
BY
RED
BULL
CONTENT
POOL
(Right) "I think that
the Enduro World
Championship is
listening to change but
the problem is deeper
today," says Yamaha's
Alexandre Kowalski.
(Below) Sherco rider
Wade Young has been
winning WESS races,
but it has not changed
the company's view
of what they call
"not a real enduro
championship."
