Ruprecht Sweeps Slovakia EnduroGP
A
ustralian Wil Ruprecht won
both days of muddy racing
at the WPTGlobal FIM EnduroGP
World Championship in Gelnica,
Slovakia, July 29-31. Ruprecht
completed the perfect weekend
by finishing less than half a sec-
ond ahead of Steve Holcombe.
TM Racing's Ruprecht battled
GasGas rider Andrea Verona for
the win on Saturday. It all came
down to the last test that would
decide the day's winner. Verona
led Ruprecht by just three seconds
going into the final test of the day,
but a couple of crashes by Verona
ultimately gave Ruprecht the win by
approximately 12 seconds.
"I was fortunate to get the
win today," Ruprecht said, "but I
wasn't completely happy with how
I rode. After my crash at the GP of
Portugal [the previous round] my
bike time was a bit limited coming
into this race but, hey, I'll definitely
take a win if I can! It's also my first
win in the wet and mud, so that
was cool. Hopefully I can do it
again tomorrow."
Verona was still pleased with
his performance. "It's been a
good day," he said. "There were
some mistakes today, but that
was always going to happen in
these muddy conditions. Overall,
I was consistent, and I think I was
actually leading entering the final
test until I crashed twice. Hope-
fully tomorrow I can stay on two
wheels!"
Holcombe was third on the
day, followed by KTM's Josep
Garcia, who was returning from
injury, and Beta's Brad Freeman.
On day two and after a night of
rain, Ruprecht again had to fight
his way onto the top step of the
podium but this time he had to
deal with Holcombe, who made a
run on Ruprecht after getting off
to a slow start.
Holcombe trailed Ruprecht by
approximately 11 seconds going
into the final test. The Beta rider
gave it his all but came up four-
tenths of a second short!
IN
THE
WIND
P58
TM Racing's Wil Ruprecht stood
on the top step of the podium
after both days of the EnduroGP of
Slovakia.
PHOTOS: FUTURE7MEDIA
