Garcia, Holcombe Splint EnduroGP Wins
S
pain's Josep Garcia and Great
Britain's Steve Holcombe
traded wins in round two of the
FIM EnduroGP Championship
in Portugal, April 13-14. Garcia
came out swinging Saturday
morning to top the first loop and
go on to win day one (Saturday),
while Holcombe, second on
Saturday, rebounded on day two
to take the victory.
With 12 tests on the menu,
Saturday was not only a test of
speed but also a test of stamina.
Garcia led the way after the first
lap on his factory-backed KTM
and never looked back.
Holcombe, who won the first
test of the day on his Honda-
RedMoto CRF250RX Enduro,
had his hands full with GasGas
rider Andrea Verona, who was
breathing down his back all day.
Holcombe, however, was up for
the challenge and held on for
second place on the day. The
Italian, Verona, was third (and
first in the Enduro2 class).
Great Britain's Brad Freeman,
on the Beta, was fourth and New
Zealand's Hamish MacDonald
was fifth on the Sherco.
"It was a long day and very
physical," Garcia said. "The pace
at the top of EnduroGP is super
high. I made a mistake on the
second enduro test and really
had to push to overcome that. In
every test we were fighting, there
was nowhere to rest out there!"
Fast out of the blocks on Sun
-
day, Holcomb built up a 10-sec-
ond early lead in lap one of three.
With a long way still to go in the
race and the pace among the top
three riders proving fierce, the
Honda rider remained calm and
cool under pressure. Holding his
rivals at bay, he won both the
overall EnduroGP category as
well as the Enduro1 class.
"Signing off this first block of
racing with the leader's plate in
both EnduroGP and Enduro1 is
WIND
IN THE
P62
Steve Holcombe went 2-1
in round two of the FIM
EnduroGP Championship,
which was held in
Portugal for the second
week in a row.
