Wales, according to Giovanni Sala
By TMX Archives on 26th Jul 07
Among the 200 riders competing in the Hafren Dirt Bike Club organised British Enduro Championship opener, two weeks ago, was 44 year-old, five-time World Enduro Champion, Giovanni Sala from Italy. Now retired from full-time competition the official WEC course inspector was invited to compete inorder to give the HDBC some feedback ahead of their provisional' round of the '08 World Enduro Championship.
T+MX: Firstly Gio, what were your initial impressions of the Putoline Hafren Enduro?
Sala: ''I was really surprised about the style ofthe race. I mean, there was a really friendly atmosphere around thepaddock and there didn't seem to be many people in the organisationteam who were running the race that weren't also involved in the racethemselves. In Italy many of the motor clubs have a lot of people thatdon't ride.
''The way the riders in the British Championshipthink is very different to the way riders in, for example, the Italianchampionship think. There was a lot of mud but no one was complainingabout it. Maybe British riders are used to it but if the race was inItaly and the paddock was muddy and the track difficult in places, manyriders would complain.''
T+MX: Did you enjoy the event?
Sala: ''Yes I did, very much. It was fun. I am notused to racing in such muddy conditions but I did enjoy it. Obviouslythere was no pressure on me to get a good result and I found that itwas a real enduro. It was a great track for me because there were somereal challenges. Some events now are quite easy with the controls justjoining the special tests together.''
T+MX: WEC series promoter, Alain Blanchard, hasvisited Llanidloes to see for himself where the proposed event would berun, as well as having raised some concerns about the paddock etc. Whatwere your thoughts about the course?
Sala: ''There are some things that need to bechanged if the club want to run a world championship race, but not somany things. The lap and the check points were good but I think that itis very important to have more workers on the special tests, to repairthe track marking if the plastic tapes get damaged. I also think thatthe tests need to be a little wider.
''It is also important to think about the public alittle more. It was very difficult for the public to follow the racebecause the enduro test was a long way from the start, but I think thisis because of the last minute changes that had to be made. In any case,the quality of the race was very good.''
T+MX: Good enough for a world championship race?
Sala: ''Yes, of course. A lot of people think thata world championship race has to be much, much harder or somehow be amuch, much higher level event than a national enduro race, but a goodworld championship event, to me, is a race that has an interesting andchallenging course, great special tests and an enthusiastic and hardworking club. I think the Hafren club have everything that is needed,even if the event doesn't fit the template that world championshipevents are supposed to fit now.''
For full story and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, July 27, 2007.