Matthew Phillips and Steve Holcombe split the EnduroGP class in Portugal, but American Taylor Robert scores his maiden World Championship win in Enduro 2.
Sherco Factory rider Matthew Phillips of Tasmania and Beta rider Steve Holcombe of Great Britain shared the spotlight during round two of the FIM Enduro World Championship, the GP Polisport Portugal in Gouveia, Portugal, over the weekend, with Phillips claiming his second EnduroGP win on Day 1, while Holcombe scored his first EnduroGP victory on Day 2.
With his second win in the series, Phillips surpassed Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider Matthias Bellino to take over the series points lead. Bellino finished second on Day 1 but had a rough time on Day 2 and finished down in the order. As a result, Phillips now leads Bellino and Holcombe in the World Championship standings with 66 points. Bellino and Holcombe are tied for second place with 61 points.
Day 1
Rain made the Gouveia course even more challenging than it might have been on Day 1, as the moisture made some parts of the course almost impossible to negotiate, forcing officials to shorten the day by reducing the number of loops from three to two and changing the special tests. Phillips and Bellino engaged in a terrific battle for the EnduroGP win, but Holcombe was in the mix for the entire day. It all came down to the final special test. Phillips used inventive lines to save time in the test, and that strategy proved to be a winner.
“It was pretty much a battle ground, so I took some completely different lines and gave it everything, and it worked,” Phillips said. “It’s great to get on top of the podium in these conditions. It was a tough day for everyone. Day two’s going to be interesting.”
Mistakes by Holcombe in the special test dropped him to third, behind the more consistent Bellino. American KTM rider Taylor Robert gave his countrymen a reason to cheer as he put together a fantastic performance on the unfamiliar Portuguese terrain to finish fourth, just seven seconds out of podium contention. Antoine Bassett of France was fifth. With their performances, Phillips claimed the Enduro 2 category win while Holcombe won Enduro 3. Finnish rider Ero Remes rode his TM to victory in Enduro 1. Honda rider Giacomo Redondi of Italy won the Enduro Junior category, and Valerian Debaud rode a Yamaha to the 125cc Enduro Youth class win.
Day 2
Holcombe had shown the speed to run with the elites in the battle for the EnduroGP win on Day 2, and the Brit showed more of that speed and style on Day 2, as he simply eliminated the mistakes from Day 1 to take the EnduroGP win by seven seconds over Remes and series rookie Nathan Watson as well as winning the Enduro 3 category.
“I’m made up with this result,” Holcombe said after being frustrated at not winning Day 1. “I got close to winning on day one, so to finally get the job done and a first EnduroGP win to my name is great. I enjoyed the day. The tests were pretty tough in places, but the organizers did a great job in working on the track overnight. I just kept pushing on all tests and everything went well.”
Remes had a great day on his TM250, keeping Holcombe honest en route to collecting his second straight win in the Enduro 1 category while finishing just 15 seconds off of Holcombe’s overall day-winning time. Meanwhile, both Phillips and Bellino struggled on Day 2, coming home sixth and ninth respectively in the EnduroGP results.
But the American Roberts was even more impressive as he rode to victory in the Enduro 2 category, topping Phillips and Beta rider Alex Salvini in what is Robert’s rookie season in the FIM Enduro World Championship.
“All-in-all it’s been a really good day for me,” Robert said. “I lost some time to [Matthew] Phillips early on but seemed to come good in the middle of the day. I had a good crash in the final extreme test as I was pushing hard to try and get onto the overall EnduroGP podium, but luckily I didn’t lose too much time and managed to get the win in Enduro 2.”
Redondi joined Remes as a double winner in his own category, finishing more than a minute ahead of Gas Gas factory rider Diogo Votura to win the Enduro Junior class. Erik Appelqvist won the 125cc Enduro Youth class.
The next round of the FIM Enduro World Championship is scheduled to take place in Grevena, Greece, May 20-22.
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