Beta Factory Racing’s Steve Holcombe has been crowned overall Italian Enduro Champion following a double win at the final round of the series in San Giovanni Bianco, Bergamo. Despite not competing in the opening round of the series, Steve entered the closing two-day event of the 2018 championship with six consecutive day wins to his credit. In winning the final event he rounded out his participation in the series having won each and all of the eight days in which he competed.
With the event falling just days before the final round of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship in Germany
(where Steve holds a 30-point lead at the top of the EnduroGP championship standings), while focused on
rounding out his Italian Enduro Championship season with the best possible results Steve was also very much
competing with a ‘no unnecessary risks’ frame of mind.
EnduroGP of Germany held in Rüdersdorf, Germany on October 12-14.
Making a strong start to the first day’s racing, Steve pushed hard to open up a strong lead before managing and maintaining his advantage and taking the win. Unable to open up an early lead on day two, Steve battled
countryman Brad Freeman and Italians Matteo Cavallo and Alex Salvini during the opening laps. With Freeman crashing out Steve pushed to the finish, topping the day by an eventual 19 seconds.
Steve Holcombe: “Becoming overall Italian Enduro Champion is something really special, and something that myself and all the team have worked hard to secure. Winning the title was the absolute goal this weekend but having won each of the previous six days of the series I also wanted to do all I could to end the series unbeaten, which I managed. I pushed hard during the opening lap on day one to open up a good advantage and then held that lead to the end of the day. Knowing that the final round of the world championship is just over a week away meant I couldn’t overstep the mark and take any big risks, but day two also went well. It was hard to get a real advantage as a few of us were really close on time. It came down to the third lap really, but I wasn’t really comfortable pushing as hard as I needed to put in the fastest times on the enduro test. I came through the second half of the day with no crashes or mistakes and was able to get the win. Now it’s on to Germany…” (source: future 7 media)
Results – 2018 Italian Enduro Championship Standings (Classifica Assoluta)
1. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 160 points
2. Alex Salvini (Husqvarna) 148 points
3. Brad Freeman (Beta) 99 points
4. Matteo Cavallo (Beta) 97 points
5. Thomas Oldrati (Honda) 84 points
photos (c) Dario Agrati