{"id":38360,"date":"2017-07-23T20:40:10","date_gmt":"2017-07-23T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enduro.nl\/?p=38360"},"modified":"2017-07-23T20:40:10","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T18:40:10","slug":"steve-holcombe-jamie-mccanney-victorious-on-day-two-of-polisport-gp-of-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/38360\/steve-holcombe-jamie-mccanney-victorious-on-day-two-of-polisport-gp-of-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"STEVE HOLCOMBE & JAMIE MCCANNEY VICTORIOUS ON DAY TWO OF POLISPORT GP OF PORTUGAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christophe<\/a>Day two of the\u00a0Polisport EnduroGP of Portugal<\/strong>\u00a0was one for the Brits as\u00a0Jamie McCanney (Yamaha)<\/strong>,\u00a0Steve Holcombe (Beta)<\/strong>and\u00a0Brad Freeman (Beta)\u00a0<\/strong>respectively topped the Enduro 2, EnduroGP and Enduro Junior podiums. Another long, hot, dusty and demanding day in the saddle, there was plenty of drama with notable retirements in all classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Day two of the GP of Portugal was building towards a three-way fight in the\u00a0EnduroGP\u00a0<\/strong>class between eventual winner\u00a0Steve Holcombe (Beta)<\/strong>,\u00a0Christophe Charlier (Husqvarna)<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nathan Watson (KTM)<\/strong>. But on the second extreme test Watson\u2019s hopes of challenging for victory were ended when a broken gear lever left him stranded inside the extreme test. Forced to fit a new lever, he lost precious minutes and ended the day 10th. Winning only two of the day\u2019s special tests, consistency paid off for\u00a0Holcombe\u00a0<\/strong>who completed a strong opening lap before claiming his third day win of the season and also extending his championship lead. \u201cI really wanted to have a good first lap today<\/em>,\u201d explained\u00a0Holcombe<\/strong>, \u201cand try and make things a little more straightforward for myself. And I think it worked. I knew the rougher tests would suit me better, and I also removed the mistakes I made on the extreme test on day one. It was a tough day, three or four of us were really pushing hard. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll see too much more dry and dusty conditions in the world championship now, so I\u2019m excited to start preparing for my home GP. We\u2019re one step closer to the end of the championship, but there\u2019s still a lot of racing to do.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Finishing as runner up to\u00a0Holcombe<\/strong>,\u00a0Christophe Charlier (Husqvarna)<\/strong>\u00a0earned his best result of the season to date. Less than four seconds from the top step of the\u00a0EnduroGP\u00a0<\/strong>podium,\u00a0Charlier<\/strong>, who returned to competition having ridden a bike just once in the past four weeks, managed to stay ahead of a hard-charging\u00a0Matt Phillips (Sherco)\u00a0<\/strong>who rounded out the podium in third. Crashing in the final enduro test\u00a0Loic Larrieu (Yamaha)<\/strong>\u00a0finished fourth, just five seconds behind\u00a0Phillips\u00a0<\/strong>with\u00a0Jaume Betriu (KTM)\u00a0<\/strong>again delivering an impressive performance to place fifth.\u00a0Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha)<\/strong>,\u00a0Mathias Bellino (Husqvarna)<\/strong>,\u00a0Giacomo Redondi (Honda)<\/strong>,\u00a0Denny Philippaerts (Beta)<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nathan Watson (KTM)\u00a0<\/strong>rounded out the top 10. On day two\u00a0Christophe Nambotin (KTM)<\/strong>,\u00a0Alex Salvini (Beta)\u00a0<\/strong>and local favourite\u00a0Diogo Ventura (Honda)<\/strong>\u00a0were all forced retire.<\/p>\n

Repeating his day one victory to close the gap at the head of the Enduro 2 class to just six points,\u00a0Jamie McCanney (Yamaha)\u00a0<\/strong>earned the first double class win of his career following a consistent day-long performance. Winning five of the day\u2019s tests yet taking things cautiously on the extreme test\u00a0McCanney\u00a0<\/strong>placed just under 12 seconds ahead of\u00a0Garcia<\/strong>.
\n\u201cToday was really tough,<\/em>\u201d explained\u00a0Jamie<\/strong>. \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t ease off at all, not even in one corner. Like so many times this year things were so tight between myself and Garcia \u2013 it was certainly intense. I was a little too cautious in the extreme test but, yeah, we pushed each other really hard right the way to the end of the day and I\u2019m so pleased I was able to get the win \u2013 my first double win. I took a few more points back in the championship as well so I\u2019m really excited about the final two rounds of the series.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving everything in the hope of beating\u00a0Jamie<\/strong>,\u00a0Josep Garcia<\/strong>\u00a0in turn placed 45 seconds ahead of\u00a0Eero Remes (TM)<\/strong>.\u00a0Pascal Rauchenecker (Husqvarna)\u00a0<\/strong>improved on his day one result to finish fourth on day two, while\u00a0Manuel Monni (TM)\u00a0<\/strong>also improved his result to place fifth.\u00a0Thomas Oldrati (Husqvarna)<\/strong>,\u00a0Danny McCanney (Husqvarna)<\/strong>,\u00a0Henric Stigell (Husqvarna)<\/strong>,\u00a0Rudy Moroni (KTM)\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Jonathan Barragan (Gas Gas)<\/strong>\u00a0rounded out the top 10.<\/p>\n

ANDREA VERONA CROWNED 125CC YOUTH WORLD CHAMPION<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Enduro Junior class it was all-change at the top of the results as day one runner-up\u00a0Mikael Persson (Yamaha)<\/strong>\u00a0was forced to retire while\u00a0Brad Freeman (Beta)<\/strong>\u00a0replaced\u00a0Albin Elowson (Husqvarna)<\/strong>\u00a0as the day winner. Struggling during the opening day\u2019s competition due to a catalogue of errors on all special tests, on day two\u00a0Freeman\u00a0<\/strong>found his rhythm and eliminated the costly mistakes. Battling with\u00a0Elowson\u00a0<\/strong>throughout the day, the duo were separated by just 11 seconds at the finish with placed\u00a0Davide Soreca (Honda)<\/strong>\u00a0a distant third. \u201cI\u2019m not at all pleased with the way I rode on the first day, but I am pleased that I was able to turn things around for day two,<\/em>\u201d admitted\u00a0Freeman<\/strong>. \u201cI didn\u2019t make any changes, only that I didn’t crash on the second day. I don\u2019t feel like I rode that well, but others made mistakes and I stayed consistent. As far as the championship goes it\u2019s very much game on. I\u2019m looking forward to the next round in the UK, I\u2019ll be working hard during the coming weeks<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 125cc Youth class the first title of the 2017\u00a0Maxxis FIM EnduroGP World Championship<\/strong>\u00a0was awarded as Italy\u2019s\u00a0Andrea Verona (TM<\/strong>). While\u00a0Leo Le Quere<\/strong>\u00a0took the day win by two seconds, in securing the runner-up result\u00a0Verona\u00a0<\/strong>collected enough points to wrap-up the title despite the fact that four days of the series remain. Joining\u00a0Le Quere\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Verona\u00a0<\/strong>on the podium in third was Chilean\u00a0Ruy Barbosa (Husqvarna)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Organising their first ever world championship enduro event, the\u00a0Escuderia de Castelo Branco<\/strong>\u00a0ensured a highly exciting and professionally organised GP.<\/p>\n

The 2017\u00a0Maxxis FIM EnduroGP World Championship\u00a0<\/strong>now takes an extended nine-week summer break before firing back into life with the\u00a0EnduroGP of Great Britain<\/strong>\u00a0at the iconic\u00a0Hawkstone Park\u00a0<\/strong>on September 23\/24.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day two of the\u00a0Polisport EnduroGP of Portugal\u00a0was one for the Brits as\u00a0Jamie McCanney (Yamaha),\u00a0Steve Holcombe (Beta)and\u00a0Brad Freeman (Beta)\u00a0respectively topped the Enduro 2, EnduroGP and Enduro Junior podiums. Another long, hot, dusty and demanding day in the saddle, there was plenty of drama with notable retirements in all classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ekwk","category-persberichten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}