With the second round of the championship being held in one of the most southerly parts of Spain it brought with it some dry and at times extremely dusty conditions for competitors to deal with. With organisers laying on three laps and a total of nine special tests to contend with, it would prove to be a long and tiring day in the saddle for all.
In Enduro 1, Spain’s Lorenzo Santolino (Husqvarna) made it a successful race as he topped his class. Taking control of E1 from the beginning of the day, Santolino would finish his day with a 50-second winning margin while also finishing fifth in the overall classification. Behind Santolino, Goncalo Reis (Gas Gas) finished second. Continuing to impress on his new Gas Gas EC250F, Reis comfortably placed ahead of Victor Guerrero (KTM) in third.
After a close battle it was KTM Enduro Factory rider Cristobal Guerrero that eventually got the better of Gas Gas mounted Ivan Cervantes. With the duo leading the way after the opening two special tests, Guerrero trailed Cervantes by less than two tenths of a second with KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak four seconds behind in third. By mid distance the leaders had stretched out a sizeable advantage over the rest of the field. However in the final Extreme test, Cervantes hit the ground hard allowing Guerrero to sneak through for victory. That crash also allowed Blazusiak to inherit an unexpected second place pushing Ivan back to third.
The race for honours in Enduro 3 was a close one as Husaberg teammates Oriol Mena and Joakim Ljunggren fought for victory. At the end of the opening lap it was Mena who controlled the advantage by three seconds over Carro Bernandez and Ljunggren. As Ljunggren began to improve his pace on the rocky terrain he soon took control of E3 to claim his second win of the series and finish third in the overall classifications.
Taddy Blazusiak (KTM): “I’m really pleased with my second place result. It was a great race, very dry and dusty and pretty hot, about 30 degrees. Cristobal always goes well on hard-pack terrain, which makes finishing second to him even better. I made a few mistake on the first two laps, nothing big, but was generally consistent and riding like I knew I could. Cervantes made a big mistake on the final enduro test, which allowed me to get the runner-up result. The extreme test didn’t have much extreme stuff on it, so I didn’t have any big advantage here. It’s been a great day.”
Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas): "It was a shame to fall in the final test because I felt I was riding strong all day. My times were good and I was setting a fast pace. Unfortunately there was a stone that I didn’t see in the dust and when I hit it I crashed really hard. It was a disappointing end to a good day".
Danny McCanney (Gas Gas): “This was a tough enduro, we were eight hours riding and at no point was the terrain ever anything less than difficult. All the same I felt strong and I’m getting better and better at reading this continental hard-pack type of terrain. I was so happy to be leading the class and challenging for an outright podium, so to fall and lose all that time was devastating."
Goncalo Reis (Gas Gas): "I’m very happy with how it went this weekend and I have to thank the whole team. They have done a great job with the bike and I felt very well despite it being a very tough race. Hopefully I continue with these results.
Spanish Enduro Championship
Round 2
Enduro 1: 1. Lorenzo Santolino (Husavarna) 38:58.310; 2. Goncalo Reis (Gas Gas) 39:47.500; 3. Victor Guerrero (KTM) 40:08.090; 4. Terradellas Sola (Yamaha) 40:39.510; 5. Andres Barbero (KTM) 42:31.740
Enduro 2: 1. Cristobal Guerrero (KTM) 37:43.870; 2. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 38:26.610; 3. Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas) 39:05.830; 4. Joan Barreda (Husqvarna) 39:39.690; 5. Marc Sola (KTM) 40:17.080
Enduro 3: 1. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 38:41.950; 2. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 38:55.020; 3. Carro Bernardez (KTM) 39:02.430; 4. Danny McCanney (Gas Gas) 39:33.820; 5. Jordi Figueras (Gas Gas) 40:23.450
