Sherco rider Matthew Phillips, 23, of Tasmania made history by becoming the inaugural FIM EnduroGP World Champion while American Taylor Robert scored his first career EnduroGP win at the final round of the FIM Enduro World Championship Series, the AMV GP of France in Cahors, France, Sunday.
The two-day event marked the end of the eight-round World series, which featured a new category this year, the premier EnduroGP category. EnduroGP combnes times from all the classes to crown an overall event winner each day and crown a single overall Enduro World Champion in addition to handing out World titles in the individual classes. On Sunday, Phillips’ name became the first to adorn the record books in that regard.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Matthias Bellino claimed the EnduroGP win on Day One of the event. However, Red Bull KTM’s Robert showed a hint of things to come when he trailed the Frenchman by little more than 4 seconds on the timing chart. In fact, about 8 seconds separated top three as France’s Loic Larrieu finished third, just 4 seconds behind Robert.
“It was a perfect day for me,” Bellino said. “After winning the Super Test last night I had a great start, topping the overall standings in the opening two tests. That helped create a bit of a gap to the rest of the field, so I spent the rest of the day trying to make sure I stayed on top. I’m really happy with the overall win today and even happier it came in front of my home crowd. The French fans were incredible today.”
With Phillips finishing fifth on the day, Bellino remained alive in the hunt for the 2016 EnduroGP World Championship title, which would be decided on Day Two.
Not a threat for a title, Robert nevertheless wanted to finish what could be his last ride in the series on a high note, and he went to work in the hot, dry and dusty French countryside, winning two of the day’s special tests and running consistently enough to claim the EnduroGP win by 8 seconds over an almost equally consistent Larrieu.
“To get the overall win feels great,” Robert said. “I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end my season. At the beginning of the summer I had a few rough races, so it means a lot to come back and get an overall win. Finishing second overall yesterday I knew I could get the win today. I was battling all-day long with Larrieu and was so nervous coming into the final test with just five seconds separating us. I let it all hang out and got the win.”
After a freak mishap in which he could not unlock his motorcycle in the parc ferme, Nathan Watson came back on Day Two and put together a solid ride to finish third in EnduroGP.
The 2016 FIM World Championship class winners include TM rider Eero Remes of Finland in Enduro 1, Phillips in Enduro 2, Beta’s Steve Holcombe in Enduro 3, Laia Sanz in the Women’s class and Giacomo Redondi in Enduro Junior; Redondi had already clinched the class title prior to the final round. Jack Edmondson is the 2016 FIM Enduro Youth World Champion.
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