Gas Gas win in Wales!!
By TMX Archives on 21st Jul 08
GAS GAS factory rider Christiphe Nambotin won the E3 class on day 1 !
The 24 year old French EC300 rider was in awesome formin the wet conditions and proved to the world that when the conditions are thisbad one of the best Enduro bikes out there is a GAS GAS EC300!
He won E3 by a massive 1 minute and 10 seconds fromSebastian Guillaume on the Husky. He also finished 3rd 'Scratch' behind Enduro'gods' Salminen and Knigher... If you look at the test times you will see thaton the superb Enduro Test he was pulling over 1 minute on his E3 rivals on thistest. Infact he was also 20 seconds quicker than Knighter on this test on thefirst lap and 12 seconds quicker on the second lap!
This is NAMBOTINs first year in the main E3 Class afterriding in the Juniors last year. You may not have heard much about this frenchrider but if you saw him ride at the weekend i think you'll know himnow!
On the dryer Sundays race Christophe was dissappointedto finish 4th, 17 seconds behind the winner Gulliame. Numerous crashes stoppedhim repeating his previous days performance.
My two British Team GG riders Wayne Braybrook and JuanKnight gave 110% and were neck and neck all weekend. Both riders also armed withEC300s rode round together for two days and Juan just got the better of Wayne.Juan was 13th on both days and Wayne was 14th Saturday and 15th Sunday. Waynewas fuming when he got stuck on the big hill on the Enduro test on Saturdaywhich shows how tough this test was!
GG Rider Robert Wrayford (EC300) was unlucky not tofinish on the Saturday when the tiny waterpump drain screw came out and lost hiscoolant in the tight check. 'Rabbit' looked awesome on the tests though and hadsome real good times. Rob finished a respectable 20th in E3 on Sunday.
In E2 the Factory GG rider Nicolas DEPARROIS finished12th on his FSR450 4-Stroke on Day 1 and 13th on Day2.
This guy must be the shortest rider in the paddock andim amazed he still isnt stuck in a rut somewhere! His speed is fast but reallylacks long legs when the going gets tough especially on a fourstroke. I thinkthis guy would be better in E1 on the new improved "09 EC125 than the big 4T inE2..... Nevertheless i thank him because he proved the reliability of the GGFSR450 in these extreme Welsh conditions.
Bradley King (K4 GAS GAS EC250) was 'timed out' on Day 1in the Juniors and finished 24th on Sunday. Brad is improving well this year andis learning all the time. Bradley and his family are fully commited to Endurosand his determination and dedication impresses me. Enduro is a sport that 99%commitment is not enough so i expect good things to come fromBradley...
I must finish my Press Release by CongratulatingEVERYONE at the Hafren Dirt Bike Club for organising this awesome event. Thoseof you that were there will agree and can appreciate the scale of organisingsuch an event is huge. The attention to detail was superb regarding the Paddock,all three superb tests and the course. All the 'true' Enduro Riders loved theevent and only a few people were moaning about the condtions which is normal.This event was a round of the WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP which is supposed to betough! The weather on the Saturday was bad so you always gets a few'lightweights' when the weather turns bad. So another BIG CONGRATS to everyoneconcerned.
For those that were not there....you should havebeen it was awesome!
regards
Shirty