IN
THE
WIND
P40
NAMBOTIN, HOLCOLMBE TOP
ITALIAN WORLD ENDURO
T
he FIM Enduro World Cham-
pionship might have been
winding down at the penultimate
round in Fabriano, Italy, but the
drama was still heating up. An
exciting Acerbis GP of Italy, July
16-17, saw the return of Red Bull
KTM's Christophe Nambotin,
who battled with Sherco rider
Matt Phillips for top honors on
day one. "Nambo" took the win
over Phillips, while Beta's Steve
Holcombe finished a modest
third on Saturday. Holcombe
rebounded to take the overall
win on Sunday ahead of Eero
Remes and Loic Larrieu while
Phillips saw his fortune take a
sharp turn as he was forced
out of Sunday's contest with a
mechanical issue.
Holcombe proved to be the
star of the weekend. The young
Brit hit the ground running on
day two to top the opening test,
and while he didn't win any fur-
ther tests, he remained fast and
consistent to stay on top for his
fourth win of the season.
"All GPs are important but to
be able to give my team a win-
ning result at their home round
of the series is great," Hol-
combe said. "I was pleased with
my day one result, but I knew I
could ride better. As much as
I liked the slippery conditions
(of day one), I also enjoyed the
drier conditions (on day two),
and had a really good day. The
enduro test was great and I just
kept pushing as hard as I could.
It was fun battling with Remes,
but I managed to get the win."
Holcombe moved himself
Christophe Nambotin
made his return to the
Enduro World Champion-
ship a winning one, taking
his first victory of the
season on day one of the
GP of Italy.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KTM