All change for Gas Gas WEC
By TMX Archives on 18th Jan 07
GAS GAS will field a team of three-riders in this year's World Enduro Championship, each new to the Spanish brand and two new to enduros.
There was much speculation as to which riders Gas Gas would sign for the WEC campaign after their top rider in 2006, World Enduro Junior Champion in 2005, Cristobal Guerrero, signed for the Italian UFO Course team. Manager Pepe Pou revealed that the Gas Gas assault will see riders compete in the Enduro 3, Enduro 2 and Enduro Junior classes on a mix of two-stroke and four-stroke machinery.
Opting to sign ‘new blood' rather than existing WEC campaigners, former motocross world champion Freddy Bolley will compete aboard a 300cc two-stroke in the E3 class and will be joined by another former GP motocross rider, Patrick Caps, who will contest the Enduro 2 class aboard a 450 four-stroke.
The team's third rider will be Frenchman Christophe Nambotin, who will contest the Enduro Junior class aboard a 250cc two-stroke.
Bolley has recently raced Supermoto for Italian company, Aprilia, and it had been rumoured that he would develop an Aprilia 250cc four-stroke during 2007. Now, though, he will follow French motocross rider Johnny Aubert into the world enduro scene.
Gas Gas has previously always fielded teams of either experienced or up-and-coming enduro riders, so the decision to sign two riders with no previous WEC experience means a change in thinking.
If either Bolley or Caps can adjust to enduros as quickly as Yamaha-mounted Aubert did last season, it could be a good year for the Spanish company.