Sherco rider Matt Phillips had the hot throttle hand at round two of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship, the GP AMV Seguros of Spain in Puerto Lumberas, Spaun, by making it two EnduroGP class wins in two days, April 22-23.
Dust was a factor in Day 1 of the event as Phillips kept Beta’s Steve Holcombe at bay to take the EnduroGP class win and post the fastest overall time of the day.
Phillips got off to a good start by posting the fastest time in the first test to begin lap two of three in the lead. Holcombe and KTM’s Nathan Watson were also in the mix, and Holcombe rode well to finish on top of the trio in the second enduro test. However, Phillips was back on top in the very next test, beating Holcombe by a scant three seconds. Watson finished only seven seconds off of Phillips time to keep the battle for the day’s win wide open. It wasn’t until the 10th and final test that Phillips was able to eek out the overall win by 2.5 seconds over Holcombe. Watson struggled in the final test and finished 27 seconds behind Holcombe, which was still good enough for third place. KTM’s Christophe Nambotin was never quite in the hunt for the win, though he still finished fourth, ahead of Yamaha’s Loic Larrieu.
If Day 1’s final time margins were close, then Day 2’s were downright anorexic. In what proved to be an awesome battle all day, Phillips landed his second win of the weekend by a mere 29 hundredths of a second over Nambotin. Holcombe, finished almost as closely, just 88 hundredths of a second behind Nambotin for third.
Holcombe won the first test of the day by three seconds over Nambotin, Larrieue, Phillips and Watson, and he extended his lead to just over four seconds in the next test while Watson was forced to pull out while suffering from the effects of tendinitis in his left wrist.
Phillips fought back to move up to third after topping the second cross test, which put him back to within three seconds of Holcombe. Nambotin then won the third test to take the lead. Holcombe fought back with a win in the next-to-last test to secure a slim one-second advantage, but although Larrieu set the fastest time in the final test, Phillips’ third-fastest time sealed the class overall win.
Round three of the FIM Enduro World Championship, the GP of Italy, is scheduled for May 26-28 in Spoleto, Italy.
Your Privacy Choices