Holcombe, Garcia Split Wins, Verona Crowned
S
teve Holcombe and Josep
Garcia traded day wins at the
FIM EnduroGP of Wales, August
3-4. Honda-mounted Holcomb
started off the weekend with Sat
-
urday's overall win, and Garcia
capped things off with Sunday's
overall victory.
It's been 15 years since the last
EnduroGP was held in Wales.
The local fans got what they
wanted to see on Saturday: a bat
-
tle of the Brits between Holcombe
and Brad Freeman on the Beta.
The two went head-to-head and
battled back and forth all day, with
Holcombe edging out Freeman by
just four seconds at the finish.
"I felt like I had a little pressure
on myself to perform this week
-
end," Holcombe said. "The Super
Test went great, and I put in two
solid laps today. The last lap, I
hesitated a bit too much in places,
but I was still able to take the win.
It's been awesome today—the
home crowd support is amazing,
and I can't wait for tomorrow!"
"I started on the back foot
after crashing in the Super Test,"
Freeman said. "But I feel like I
rode well to come back up to
second. I just had too many mis
-
takes towards the end, and Steve
rode better, so hats off to him. I'll
try again tomorrow."
KTM's Garcia was right there,
as well. The Spaniard took third
less than two seconds behind
Freeman.
"I missed a bit of feeling and
speed during the first two laps
and had some crashes," Garcia
said. "I tried to regroup, but Steve
and Brad were on it today to be
honest. I feel I matched their
speed on the last lap, so I feel
ready for tomorrow."
GasGas rider Andrea Verona
was fourth, and Sherco's Wil
Ruprecht was fifth.
On Sunday, Garcia nipped
Freeman by a scant fifteen-hun
-
dredths of a second, the clos-
est ever for a win in the sport's
history. Holcombe was just five
seconds back in third.
"I started out today pushing
to win," Garcia said. "We were
fighting a lot with Brad. On the
WIND
IN THE
P56
Josep Garcia won Sunday's
race by just fifteen-
hundredths of a second.
