Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team riders enjoyed consistent performances at round three of the World Enduro Super Series – France’s Trèfle Lozérien AMV. With the third stop of the mixed-discipline series coming hot on the heels of the Erzbergrodeo, riders switched from Hard Enduro to Classic Enduro. Round one winner Billy Bolt maintains his third-place position in the championship standings, while round two victor Graham Jarvis sits fourth.
Staged over three days, the Trèfle Lozérien AMV is France’s most-important Classic Enduro and due to its deceptively challenging grass-covered special tests is a uniquely specialist event. Determined to collect maximum possible points, the Husqvarna trio of Colton Haaker, Billy Bolt and Graham Jarvis faired well despite their unfamiliarity with the conditions.
Claiming the team’s best result of 17th overall out of 600 competitors, Haaker performed strongly on his Classic Enduro debut. Ending the opening day of racing just outside the top 20, he began to improve his pace as the event progressed. Moving up to 17th on day two, he backed that up with 15th on day three to secure an overall result of 17th.
For Bolt, his event started out strongly with 18th on day one. Despite struggling to find his rhythm on day two the British rider finished in 21st. Looking to recover time on day three, the 20-year-old impressed with the 11th fastest time on the second special test. Frustratingly, a technical issue cost him valuable time and ultimately dropped him to an unfortunate 38th overall. However, Bolt holds onto third in the WESS standings.
Winner of WESS round two – Erzbergrodeo – Graham Jarvis knew that the Classic Enduro format at round three would be worlds away from what he was accustomed to. Despite not having raced a traditional timecard enduro format event for many years, and with little time to recover from the demands of racing at Erzberg, Jarvis began the Trèfle Lozérien AMV with an open mind and hoping for the best. Chipping away at each special test and adjusting to the high speeds ensured he held a good pace throughout to record a top 50 result of 44th. In doing so he maintained his top five position in the WESS championship standings.
The World Enduro Super Series continues with round four at Romaniacs in Romania on July 24-28.
Colton Haaker: “With this being my first ever Classic Enduro it was for sure a whole new experience for me. I think I’m a well-rounded rider who can race Hard Enduro, SuperEnduro and Motocross, but racing slippery, grassy special tests is so unique and something I’ve never experienced before. It took me a long time to adapt to that new way of riding a bike. Day three was probably my best performance as they changed the starting order and that meant the top guys had a line to follow in the tests. I was more comfortable with the dirt sections than fresh grass. But overall I really enjoyed the experience and being taken out of my comfort zone like that. The Classic Enduro format is cool and I’d love to ride them more. All told, 17th overall against some very specialised riders in this type of competition is rewarding.”
Billy Bolt: “It’s been a fun weekend and definitely worlds apart from last weekend’s Erzbergrodeo. I have done a couple of Classic Enduro races in preparation for Trèfle Lozérien but this race is very unique in terms of the slippery, grassy special tests. I was happy with my riding on day one but struggled on day two to find a decent rhythm and so dropped a bit of time. I was recovering well on day three but had a small technical issue and lost a lot of places. Now I’m looking forward to getting back into Hard Enduro mode and preparing for Romaniacs in July.”
Graham Jarvis: “With this race coming a couple of days after the Erzbergrodeo I always knew it would be difficult. Winning Erzberg took a lot out of me both in terms of preparation and the race itself. I hadn’t raced Classic Enduro for many years either and had to ease my way into things. Despite a few small crashes there were no major dramas and although I’d love a better result I’m pleased enough – I always knew it would be difficult to do well here. Romaniacs is next on the list and of course the focus is to go there and win.”
Results: WESS Round 3 - Trèfle Lozérien AMV Overall Classification
1. Loic Larrieu (Yamaha) 51:05.319
2. Theo Espinasse (Sherco) 51:16.117
3. Josep Garcia (KTM) 51:16.819
4. Emmanuel Albepart (Yamaha) 51:18.943
5. Julien Gauthier (Yamaha) 51:21.246
6. Johnny Aubert (Gas Gas) 51:39.191
...
17. Colton Haaker (Husqvarna) 53:28.102
38. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 56:05.342
44. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 56:33.811
Provisional Standings - World Enduro Super Series (After Round 3)
1. Jonny Walker (KTM) 2130pts
2. Manni Lettenbichler (KTM) 1865pts
3. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 1830pts
4. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 1818pts
5. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 1445pts
6. Josep Garcia (KTM) 1425pts
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.