Weekly Debrief #1
It’s been a busy old week in the world of enduro, many ups and downs, ins outs and arounds but most importantly for enduro on Irish soil it marked the beginning of the 2011 Irish Enduro championship on Sunday May 15th… so lets start there!
Paul McLoughlin
The ’11 Irish Enduro Championship finally got off to a flying start with the opening round held at it’s traditional home of Glendalough, with the venue starting and finishing near Aughavanna, Co Wicklow. Alan Leccie and his band of helpers set out a top notch course (over 60km long) with a bit of everything thrown in to keep most on their toes and majority out of the saddle at least one point in time during the day! With the rain doing its level best to hamper play we were lucky such a long course was laid out, leaving mist and rain out on the mountain and brief glimpses of sunshine down in the gullys of the forestry floors. Luckily the special test was played out in the latter part allowing conditions to remain tacky and intact for the duration of the day. Leaving the forestry gate at the end of the day, it was Paul McLoughlin that carried the biggest smile as the defending champion got his defence off to the best possible start with a win in the Experts. Richie Leonard, finally found form on his Husaberg and rocked his way to a convincing win in Seniors. His first (as far as I’m aware) but not doubt there’ll be many to follow. Jonny Mercier bagged his hat-trick of enduro wins this season (having won the first two rounds of the Southern Centre) and continues to remain undefeated in Clubman… the bookies favourite for top honours this year, no doubt.
The other biggest talking point of the Irish Enduro results came in the aftermath of Sunday when our very own forum board exploded with scandal. Though we’ll not divulge it any further here, hopefully what does come of it is the realisation that our Irish Special tests are too open for interpretation and more attention will be needed to ensure everyone can stick to the path of least resistance! Although it will take more tape and time to make sure boundary lines are clear it will bring with it greater competition within our sport.
"Nambo" stuck it Ahola in E3
Out on the world scene saw the third round of the Enduro World Championship. Held on the island of Sicily off the coast of southern Italy, the hot, dry and dusty conditions tested the world’s best to their very limits. Juha Salminen and team mate Matti Seistola ensured Husqvarna rode away with a double win in E1. E2 turned out to be a French double victory as Jonny Aubert and Antoine Meo shared a win apiece. With David Knight out of action for the remainder of the season due to his hip injury, Christophe Nambotin took the E3 battle to Mika Ahola by winning on Day 1 though Ahola got the last laugh with victory on Day 2 as Nambotin followed him home.
Only days after the GP of Italy just when KTM’s season was looking to get back on track, news filtered through of how it turned to bad again. After dealing with their double DNF at the opening GP of Spain when Aubert’s KTM 350 EXC-f failed to finish and then David Knight had to surrender his E3 title defence due to injury, now we find out that Jonny Aubert has hit the injury sidelines too. A badly broken ankle was the diagnosis and with less than a month until the GP of Turkey can he recover in time??
"Irishman" Reevesy
Finally to round out this week’s debrief, we wish those travelling to the British Enduro Championship at Harwood North York the best of luck. With new kid on the block, Jordan Scott aiming high in Expert E1 on his Electraction TM, Seamus “Shamur” Muldoon flat out on his HTM ‘Berg and our honorary adopted Irishman Andrew Reeves representing us in Expert E3 we should be in good steed for a tidy result.
Until next time, keep it lit!
Ps. We couldn’t let the Queen’s visit pass without notice… Everyday she’s shuffling!!