Tuesday May 10, 2011 at 1:10pm
ACU Under 23 Enduro Squad riders made the long trip to Poland last weekend to contest the first round of the above Championship, and for many it was their first taste of International competition.
Based in the modern football stadium of Kielcie in Poland, the 180 riders entered would tackle 3 laps of 65km for each of the two days in the surrounding countryside, with a MX and Enduro Special test on each of the laps.
Young Manxman, Danny McCanney has been recording some impressive results on his Gas Gas in the UK, and there was an expectation that he could be well placed in the European Junior E2/3 class in this first round.
Not only did Danny fulfil all expectations by winning this class on both days, he also actually won the entire event overall!
Fellow Manx rider Alex Rockwell (Husaberg) took 2nd and 3rd places in the same class to make the podium in Junior E2/3 look like an IOM and UK benefit.
Jonny Walker (KTM) claimed 6th spot in Junior E2/3 on Day 1, and despite a heavy fall in the MX test on Day 2 hung in there for 9th that day.
Ashley Wood (KTM) took 8th and 9th place and Lewis Belfield 1(KTM) 6th and 17th.
In the Junior E1 class, Jack Rowland (Husqvarna) is another young rider making rapid progress and turned a very good 6th place performance on Day 1 into an even better 4th place on Sunday.
Stuart Owen (Yamaha) was on a learning curve and going really well and despite some mechanical problems, claimed 27th place in this class on both days.
Some Senior riders also made the trip, and another Husqvarna rider, Jordon Rose, who is fairly new to the Enduro scene was 2nd in Senior E2 on the first day followed by 3rd place on Sunday.
Greg Evans (KTM) who was runner up in the 2010 overall European Enduro Championship last year, was suffering from a knee injury sustained at last week’s British Sprint Enduro, and had to settle for 3rd in Senior E2 on Day 1, but pulled out all the stops on Day 2 to win the group, and take the top podium spot in this class over the weekend, so again with Jordon and Greg on the podium at the presentation, the UK were brilliantly represented.
In the Veteran class, Julian Crimp (Gas Gas) rode well and after a steady 16th spot on Day 1, improved to take 15th and a Championship point on the last day.
As the riders, and the hard working support crews left for the long journey home, there was a great deal of euphoria that the British effort in this round had been superb.