Opening his 2020 season with a double victory in France last weekend, five-time world champion Holcombe
was eager to continue his winning ways in Italy. A home round for Beta Factory Racing, motivation was high to put his Beta RR Racing 4T 350 on the top step of the podium once again.
However, a slow start to the opening day of racing put Holcombe on the back foot during Saturday. Riding too smoothly in the technical Italian terrain, time lost on the opening two laps proved impossible to recover. Despite regrouping for a test win on the final lap, he had to be content with second place in EnduroGP, while also winning the Enduro 2 category.
Knowing his pace in the latter stages of Saturday was fast, Steve determinedly hit the ground running on
Sunday to set the fastest time in the opening special test. Despite rain making things extra challenging, he
pushed on. Pulling clear of the field at the midway point of the day together with team-mate Brad Freeman, one final push in worsening weather saw Steve pull clear to secure a 24-second margin of victory.
Steve Holcombe: “It’s been a weekend of two halves, for the result and how I rode. I’ll hold my hand up and say I rode too smooth on Saturday and any chance of fighting for the win got away from me. When we sorted things, Brad was too far gone to challenge him. On Sunday we turned it around a lot. I attacked from the word go and was able to step my pace up when I needed to throughout the day. I had a strong opening lap and pulled a gap on third. From then on it was down to Brad and me for the win. I really wanted it and seemed to step it up again on the final lap and bring the result home. Conditions were tricky today with the rain, so proving the 350F in the mud with a victory is awesome.”
STORY: Holcombe Gains Points Lead At Rain Soaked Italian Championship (October 2020)
STORY: Holcombe begins 2020 EnduroGP campaign with double win in France (September 2020)
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