Enduro European Championship: round 2 in Hungary

Enduro European Championship:
round 2 in Hungary

Day 1

In Tamasi, Belgian Erik Willems won again ahead of Englishman Daniel Mundell and thus extended his lead in the Enduro European Championship.
But it was a long day, with particular problems for Willems: “I hadn’t eaten enough during the day. This gave me slight cramps at the end. We drove for more than eight hours, I’m not used to that. I still have to find the right balance”. 
His toughest rival was Daniel Mundel, but he could not keep up the Belgian’s pace in the cross test. In the end, after 12 special test, his gap added up to 30 seconds, just half a minute.
In the E1 class, reigning champion Maurizio Micheluz switched from the Husqvarna two-stroke to the four-stroke. Once more the Italian won the class and rode to sixth place in the overall standings.
In the senior category, the Italian Alessandro Rizza ruled again with the small 125cc against the more powerful bike.
In the women’s class, Nive Holmes from England was still able to make up for her crash in the cross test: “I fell down and had to fight my way back up there, which cost a lot of time”. But in the end of the day she was again 50 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Vilde Holt, who finished second for the first time in her life.

After the rain and mud of the previous days, it stayed dry for more than half of the competition, before the light rain made the track very slippery again. But the precautionary modifications of the track were successful and there were no problems because of that.
But because snow has even been forecast for Sunday, the organizers shortened the competition to three laps.

Day 2

Overjoyed, day’s winner Dietger Damiaens from Belgium received the victory trophy in Hungary.

Frenchman David Abgrall proved to be his fiercest adversariy this time: without any mistakes, he repeatedly steered his Sherco almost to Damiaens’ times, but in the end he was just 18 seconds off.

On the second day of the 2022 Borilli Enduro European Championship, the riders initially fought more against the weather than against the times: snow had fallen overnight in Hungary, making the track particularly slippery. In the end, almost a quarter of riders did not finish.

Previous day’s winner Erik Willems had a dragging front brake, which sometimes blocked at the most inopportune moment. But there was not much time to change the brake system: he finished sixth overall, defending his lead in the championship.

Right behind Maurizio Micheluz, the reigning champion of the two-stroke class. This time he started with a four-stroke bike, but even if he was not so happy with the choice, he admitted that the conditions had also been particularly difficult: “I also crashed in the first enduro test, which cost me a lot of time. The distance was shortened today, so there weren’t enough special tests to recover”.

In the seniors, the Italian Alessandro Rizzo proved to be uncatchable even with the 125cc: at the halfway point of the season he has won all days.

In the women’s category former motocross rider Nieve Holmes rode so strongly in the enduro test that she could compensate over one-minute of delay.

Now there is a two-and-a-half month break before the third round in Finland on 23^rd-24^th June.

Live results, information and standings: https://www.enduroeuropean.com/

2022 calendar

19-20 March – Italy – Pietramontecorvino (www.italianoenduro.com/)

2-3 April – Hungary – Tamasi

23-24 July – Finland – Sipoo (http://www.simk.fi)

28-30 October – Germany – Woltersdorf (www.novemberpokal.de)

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