France’s Christophe Nambotin was the fastest rider outright on Day 1. The KTM E2 class rider finished five seconds ahead of the Sherco rider, despite Phillips setting the quickest times in the first half of the day. “It feels great to ride like I know I can,” explained NAMBOTIN at the finish of the day. “It’s been a tough year for me, and I will have a knee surgery very soon, so to show that I can still win is very important. I liked the conditions and felt good. Things started well with the win on the Super Test, which doesn’t happen too often. I made a few small mistakes but it was a good day. It’s good to win again.”
Beta’s Steve Holcombe rounded out the overall top three.
Day 2 brought bad luck for Phillips. The EnduroGP Championship leader was forced to retire due to mechanical problems opening the door for others looking to close the championship points gap.
Beta’s Steve Holcombe claimed the outright EnduroGP class victory on the day, and with his third place result on Day 1 took out the round win. “All GPs are important but to be able to give my team a winning result at their home round of the series is great,” explained Steve. “I was pleased with my day one result, but knew I could ride better. As much as I liked the slippery conditions I also enjoyed the drier conditions, and had a really good day. The enduro test was great and I just kept pushing as hard as I could. It was fun battling with Remes, but I managed to get the win.”
TM’s Eero Remes capitalised on Phillips’ DNF and finished second overall, closing the points gap between himself and the Australian to 15 points.
The series now breaks for one month before heading to France for the final round of the Championship on September 10.
