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IN THE WIND P34 SWEDES RULE WESS GOTLAND GRAND NATIONAL S wedish riders hogged the podium at the Gotland Grand Na- tional off-road race in Gotland, Sweden, October 27. The 35th running of the race was round seven of the World Enduro Super Series (WESS), which is still headed by Billy Bolt (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), despite the Brit finishing 13th after overcoming a few difficulties during the muddy race. The winner was Albin Elowson (Husqvarna), and fellow Swedes, Robert Kvarnstrom (Yamaha) and Ken Begtson (Husqvarna) joined him on the podium. The riders who are used to racing at higher speeds had the ad- vantage over the technical riders in this race, but some of the hard enduro specialist did well, such as WESS regular Taddy Blazusiak (Red Bull KTM) who placed fourth. Other WESS title contenders, like Spain's Josep Garcia and Manuel Lettenbichler, managed to hold their own. Garcia actually gained a few precious points on Bolt by one spot ahead of him. Lettenbichler was headed for a top finish before crashing on the last lap and dropping back to 43rd at the finish. With just the final round of the WESS championship remain- ing, Bolt extended his advantage over Lettenbichler to 275 points. Garcia, in third, closed to within 445 points of the second placed Lettenbichler. Blazusiak's fourth place result at GGN sees him move up to fourth overall, but more importantly he now sits just 25 points behind Garcia as the race to become this year's "Ultimate Enduro Champion" soon moves to The Netherlands for the Red Bull Knock Out season finale, November 10. "I'm so happy to take the win here in Gotland," winner Elowson said. "I knew I had the speed before the race, but you never know what can happen around here, especially in these conditions. I got a decent start and tried to make some passes in the early chaos. I had a good fight with Robert Kvarnstrom but after the first pit stop I was able to open up a small gap and managed to maintain that lead for the whole race. I went through a lot of goggles—that's one of the main things at this race, you have to keep your eyes clear in order to ride properly." "To finish fourth for my first time riding this race and in these conditions is a result I'm pleased with," Blazusiak said. This is a unique race and one the Swedish riders clearly excel at. With the weather turning bad, it was always going to be difficult to match their experience in this type of mud. But I feel we did a good job." "I had a tough first lap," points leader Bolt said. "Another rider crashed in front of me and I managed to stop, but then some- one else crashed into me from behind and we were all stuck in a mud puddle. I got going again but got mixed up in another crash and went down again—that's when I broke my throttle tube. I made the mistake of stopping to try and fix it and lost so many places as a result. After the first pit stop I was able to push on a bit more and regain some places. I'm a little bit disap- pointed not to have finished higher—I think without the problems I could have—but importantly I have stretched my lead at the top of the standings as we now look towards the final round in Holland." CN OVERALL 1. Albin Elowson (Hus) 2. Robert Kvarnstrom (Yam) 3. Ken Bengston (Hus) 4. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 5. Sebastiean Martensson (Hus) 6. Johan Carlsson (Hus) 7. Calle Bjerkert (Hus) 8. Joakim Ljunggren (KTM) 9. Oskar Ljunstrom (Hus) 10. Marcus Gothenberg (Hus) Sweden's own Albin Elowson won the Gotland Grand National, the penultimate round of the new World Enduro Super Series. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RED BULL CONTENT POOL