MANUFACTURERS DISCUSS WORLD ENDURO CROSSROADS
P106
Feature
in Trefle, just 20 years old, [Theo
Espinasse] but I will never send
him to Erzberg to finish 40th.
What will they do in a beach race?
Now all the riders are focused and
specialist: SuperEnduro, extreme
enduro, traditional enduro."
Another sharp rebuke came
from Beta. The Italian manufac-
turer remains firmly planted in the
EnduroGP World Championship
with little interest in the WESS,
also citing the diversity of events
as problematic.
"The WESS is not really an
Enduro World Championship
because it is not recognized by
the FIM," said Beta Race Team
Manager Fabrizio Dini. "It is only
an enduro series with five ex-
treme races, two 'normal' enduro
races and one beach race. Some
[WESS] races have different
rules—the rules of traditional en-
duro are not respected—and for
this reason, it makes no sense to
call it an enduro championship."
For all its criticisms, Sherco is
actually a top contender at the
extreme events with riders Wade
Young and Mario Roman. Sherco
has proven to be one of the only
brands capable of beating the
ever-dominant Austrian firms of
KTM and Husqvarna at the ex-
treme enduros. Young rode to an
impressive overall victory at Red
Bull Romaniacs and also won the
Red Bull Megawatt 111 (WESS
rounds four and five). Despite not
racing the non-extreme races in
the series (Trefle Lozerien clas-
sic enduro and Hawkstone Park
Cross Country), Young is current-
ly in top five of the WESS point
standings. But Young's standing
in the championship doesn't
seem to hold much meaning
to Sherco or to Curvalle, who
defiantly stated, "We won the
Romaniacs. Not a WESS event."
THE GRAY AREA
Not all the factories have taken
up such polarized positions. Ya-
maha and GasGas remain in the
gray area, and both are in a wait-
and-see holding pattern during
the first year of WESS. Yamaha,
considered one of the "Big 5" in
"THE WESS IS NOT REALLY AN
ENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
BECAUSE IT IS NOT RECOGNIZED
BY THE FIM." -Fabrizio Dini, Beta
Wade Young enjoys
the win at Red Bull
Romaniacs.
Graham Jarvis is a
dominant force in
extreme enduros, but
the highly specialized
rider didn't fare nearly
as well in a classic
enduro format like
Trefle Lozerien.
PHOTO
BY
HUSQVARNA
MOTORCYCLES
