The Wall Extreme Enduro Race 2016
Red Bull KTM’s Alfredo Gomez was in form in Italy in the challenging “The Wall” Extreme Enduro" in Northern Italy on Saturday to pick up another trophy for his growing collection. Gomez was the overall winner with his KTM teammate Ivan Cervantes in second. Italian Thomas Oldrati took the third podium place.
The two–part competition in the Metzler Offroad Park in Pietramurata started in the late morning with a series of tests more akin to regular Enduro competition. Alex Salvini of Italy emerged the winner with Ivan Cervantes second in a competition format that suited him as a regular competitor in the EnduroGP World Championship series. Alfredo Gomez, an extreme specialist was back at tenth after the initial competition and went into the night event with a deficit of more than two minutes.
But it was over the more extreme terrain in the night race that Gomez took the prize on his niw KTM 300 EXC with a time of 1:18:04.60 hours. Cervantes finished 25.69 seconds behind him.
Gomez: “It’s been a difficult day but I’m happy with the win. The cross test in the morning was okay for me, but the long Enduro test didn’t really have any extreme parts, so I was losing 10 to 20 seconds to the EnduroGP regulars every time out. I knew the night’s extreme test would change things and I did my best to get back the time lost. I was doing great until the moment I had a huge crash in the very last lap. It was in a rocky downhill section, where I lost the front and ended up hurting my finger. Luckily I didn’t lose much time and still managed to get the win. It’s an important victory for us. The plan is to get back to work now, in order to battle for victory at the Red Bull Megawatt in September.”
Cervantes was also happy with his second place, particularly as it is some time since he raced an Extreme Enduro event. “The result came as a surprise to me,” he commented. “I think the race has a pretty good format. Things were much closer to what I’m used to in the prologue. I pushed a lot and managed to claim second. But the night race was a totally different story. I crashed hard twice in the final lap and lost loads of time, so decided to take it easy. I just wanted to avoid mistakes and make sure I made it to the finish. I’m also happy I chose the 300 EXC for this race. It’s an amazing machine and probably the best bike for events like this. Congrats to Alfredo, he rode a great final and deserved this win.”
Results The Wall Extreme Enduro Race 2016
1. Alfredo Gomez (ESP), KTM, 1:18:04.60 h
2. Ivan Cervantes (ESP), KTM, +25.69 sec
3. Thomas Oldrati (ITA), Husqvarna, +1:40.47 min
4. Mario Roman (ESP), Husqvarna, +1:48.17
5. Oscar Balletti (ITA), Honda, +5:04.25
