Garcia closing in on Ruprecht. But
after the second Acerbis Cross
test, Ruprecht was pulling clear,
now with an 18-second lead. It
was then, however, that disaster
nearly struck. A major mistake by
Ruprecht nearly lost him the lead,
as he yielded almost 15 seconds to
Garcia. Only a three-second gap
between the two put Garcia well
within striking distance in the final
tests of the day.
Ruprecht turned up the heat in
the next two tests, rebuilding his
time buffer over the KTM rider.
Garcia posted faster times in the
final two tests of the weekend,
but it wasn't enough for the overall
victory. The Spaniard had to settle
for second ahead of Verona.
The fight for fourth was one to
watch, as well, as riders Mikael
Persson (Husqvarna), Thomas Ol-
drati, Theo Espinasse (Beta) and
Alex Salvini (Husqvarna) traded
the position, with only seconds
spanning the gap between the
four. In the end, it was Oldrati who
emerged with the point, claiming
fourth ahead of Espinasse.
In their battle for overall su-
premacy, Ruprecht and Garcia
dominated the Enduro2 ranks
with Salvini rounding out the
class podium. Verona handily
won the Enduro1 division with Ol-
drati and Espinasse rounding out
the top-three in the small-bore
ranks. In Enduro3, it was Fantic's
Davide Guarneri who claimed a
memorable win ahead of Persson
and Beta's Antoine Basset.
In the Women's category,
Fantic's Jane Daniels swept all
special tests over both days of
competition to further extend
her championship lead. Rieju's
Mireia Badia took second while
Portugal's Rita Vieira ended her
home GP in third.
CN
EnduroGP
Day 1
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM)
2. Josep Garcia (KTM)
3. Andrea Verona (GG)
4. Thomas Oldrati (Hon)
5. Brad Freeman (Bet)
Day 2
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM)
2. Josep Garcia (KTM)
3. Andrea Verona (GG)
4. Thomas Oldrati (Hon)
5. Theo Espinasse (Bet)
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 20 MAY 17, 2022 P45
KTM's Josep Garcia
gave chase on both
days, nearly closing
in for the win on
Sunday afternoon,
but he ultimately had
to settle for second.
Andrea Verona rode
to a solid third place
overall, also claiming
the Enduro1 win.
