KTM Enduro Factory riders delivered a great weekend in Italy when the WEC FIM Enduro World Championship returned to the heartland of the sport in Rovetta in the Province of Bergamo. Matthew Phillips came away with a 1-1 result in E3 from the two-day event and teammate Antoine Meo finished with 2-1 in the highly competitive E2 title fight.
The race weekend in Italy was Round Five (of seven) in the 2015 World Championship.
Riding with an injured knee, the third member of the factory team Christophe Nambotin still pulled off a very competitive 2-3 in E1. Nambotin is now second in the standings by a single point from current leader Eero Remes. Meo has a 13-point lead in E2 over arch rival Pela Renet and Phillips has narrowed the points gap to E3 to be 16 behind leader Matthias Bellino.
Day One action
Team Manager Fabio Fairoli said after Day One that Phillips had delivered an unbelievable ride. “He was very fast and very impressive,” he said. “In E2 both Meo and Renet were also very fast and delivered a big fight but Meo got stuck in the Extreme test. In E1 Nambotin made a mistake in the Extreme test, but conditions were difficult. Riders had to cross the face of a hill diagonally and this was hard for Nambotin because riders had to put their foot down and he wasn’t able to put any weight on his injured knee,” he added. Nambotin was competing this weekend with his knee heavily strapped.
Speaking after Saturday, Nambotin said he had made a good Super Text on Friday but managed only second on Saturday because of two big mistakes. “This cost me lots of seconds and I made many mistakes,” he added.
Phillips said it had been a difficult but very enjoyable weekend. “For sure this is the best event of the year,” he said. “It was a great atmosphere and many Enduro fans came out to support us. We’re right in the center of enduro sport here in Bergamo. Today we had a tight checkpoint and that made the difference. Today the race was won in the Extreme test and yesterday in the Enduro test,” the Australian rider added.
Meo also came away satisfied. “ It was a big fight and a long day today. But my results were good for the championship and I’m very happy. It was a very hard but it was the same for everybody. It was a great race.” Meo was also the overall winner this weekend.
Phillips and Meo will contest the next round of the Italian Championship next weekend and the team will now prepare for the next round of the World Championship at Belgium (July 11-12), where riders will be back on grass and in the forest. Ivan Cervantes, Phillips’ teammate in E3, is currently recovering from surgery on knee ligaments.
Enduro World Championship, Round 5, Stage 2 at Rovetta, Italy
E1 Results
1, Lorenzo Santolino, ESP, Sherco, (4 – 1)
2, Eero Remes, FIN, TM, (1 – 2)
3, Christophe Nambotin, FRA, KTM, (2 – 3
4, Simone Albergoni, ITA, Kawasaki, (6 – 4)
5, Daniel McCanney, GBR, Husqvarna, (3 – 5)
Other KTM
8, Edward Hubner, GER, KTM, (10 – 8)
E1 Standings after Round 5, Stage 2
1, Remes, 181
2, Nambotin, 180
3, D. McCanney, 129
4, Santolino, 128
5, Marc Bourgeois, ESP, Yamaha, 110
Other KTM
10, Hubner, 55
E2 Results
1, Antoine Meo, FRA, KTM, (2 – 1)
2, Pierre-Alexandre Renet, FRA, Husqvarna, (1 – 2)
3, Alex Salvini, ITA, Honda, (3 – 3)
4, Jaume Betriu, ESP, Husqvarna, (4 – 4)
5, Loic Larrieu, FRA, Sherco, (5 – 5)
Other KTM
8, Tommaso Montanari, ITA, KTM, (11 – 8)
11, Nicolo Mori, ITA, KTM, (6 – 11)
12, Bernhard Schoepf, AUT, KTM, (13 – 12)
13, Gerard Salavedra, ESP, KTM, (14 – 13)
15, Matteo Zoppas, ITA, KTM, (16 – 15)
DNF, Rannar Uusna, EST, KTM, (9 – DNF)
DNF, Victor Guerrero, ESP, KTM (DNF – DNF)
E2 Standings after Round 5, Stage 2
1, Meo, 188
2, Renet, 175
3, Salvini, 157
4, Betriu, 111
5, Larrieu, 109
Other KTM
8, Mori, 72
9, V. Guerrero, 68
12, Uusna, 35
E3 Results
1, Matthew Phillips, AUS, KTM, (1 – 1)
2, Mathias Bellino, FRA, Husqvarna, (2 – 2)
3, Antoine Basset, FRA, KTM, (4 – 3)
4, Luis Correia, POR, Beta, (8 – 4)
5, Manuel Monni, ITA, TM, (7 – 5)
Other KTM
6, Jeremy Joly, FRA, KTM, (6 – 6)
7, Oscar Balletti, ITA, KTM, (5 – 7)
10, Andrea Belotti, ITA, KTM, (DNF – 10)
12, Mattia Cargnel, ITA, KTM, (13 – 12)
E3 Standings after Round 5, Stage 2
1, Bellino, 177
2, Phillips, 161
3, Matti Seistola, FIN, Sherco, 131
4, Aigar Leok, EST, TM, 129
5, Correia, 99
Other KTM
8, Joly, 79
12, Balletti, 31
13, Ivan Cervantes, ESP, KTM, 26
EJ Results
1, Steve Holcombe, GBR, Beta, (2 – 1)
2, Jamie McCanney, GBR, Husqvarna, (1 – 2)
3, Giacomo Redondi, ITA, Beta, (3 – 3)
…
5, Matteo Bresolin, ITA, KTM, (4 – 5)
EJ Standings after Round 5, Stage 2
1, J. McCanney, 183
2, Redondi, 155
3, Holcombe, 141
Youth Cup
1, Mikael Persson, SWE, Yamaha, (1 – 1)
2, Josep Garcia, ESP, Husqvarna, (8 – 2)
3, Michele Marchelli, ITA, Husqvarna, (3 – 3)
Youth Cup Standings after Round 5, Stage 2
1, Persson, 151
2, Garcia, 142
3, Jack Edmonson, GBR, KTM, 95