Ahead, but only just. Graves leads going into day two.
Race day is done and the sun has set, day one of the Enduro World Series in Finale Ligure is over and what a day it’s been. Stages one to three ran smoothly for most but an accident on first stage prevented access to the fourth and final stage of the day, it was cancelled and the riders finished their day back in the square mid afternoon. If you missed the DirtTV videos so far then check out the practice edit here and Steve Jone’s race introduction here.
STAGE 1
Everyone thought (including us) that Fabian Barel had stage one wrapped up, that was until Junior charger Martin Maes came down and stormed into first place two seconds ahead of the Frenchman. Top five regulars were in the mix, Graves said he took it too easy and had more in the tank which showed when he twisted the throttle later in the day.
In the Women’s race Tracy Moseley put in a run that landed her 6.7 seconds ahead of Anne-Caroline Chausson and 22.2 in front of 3rd placed Cecile Ravanel. After she lost out to a time penalty in Val d’Isere Tracy has arrived in Finale with her eyes fixed on a win.
STAGE 2
The top five order was mixed up a bit with 4 staying up there whilst Fabian Barel was pushed back by Remy Absalon. Maes was on another flier but flatted near the finish and even though he lost time managed to hold 3rd position. Nico Lau held it together and finished almost 10 seconds up on World Champion Clementz. Graves finished 4th after picking his was down the stage and avoiding any of the mechanicals that dogged his early season.
Anne Caroline came back on the second but only managed to put just over a second into Tracy Moseley on this technical and physical stage. Cecile Ravanel is still in the mix but 14 seconds back on Anne Caroline for this stage.
STAGE 3
Stage 3 and the taps were opened for Graves, corners were smashed and the limits of grip tested as he belted down to take the stage win by a second and half over Jerome Clementz. Nico Lau maintained his top 3 run of results while Fabian Barel was pushed back to fifth by Florian Nicolai.
Anne Caroline maintained her pace and finished the stage just short of ten seconds up on Tracy Moseley. Again Cecile maintained her third position but was more than 20 seconds back on the two leaders.
DAY ONE OVERALL
With the stages done and the final one out of play all the times were pulled together for the overall results. The rules of Super Enduro include each rider passing through time control between stages, Nico Lau was late for this between stages 2 and 3 so received an equivalent time penalty.
Graves goes into day two ahead of Jerome Clementz by the slimmest of slim margins, 0.1 of a second divide the two riders. That gap increases back to third placed Barel who is 10.6 seconds back followed by Martin Maes and the ever consistent Remy Absalon in 4th. Graves is comfortably in second place, even if Barel clawed back those seconds and took the win he would still be short of Graves points total. No doubt they will all still race flat out!
The last day of the Enduro World Series 2013 is set to be a stormer, Jerome is clearly still racing and wants to finish on a high, Graves is flying and likes the last two stages but the rain that was predicted earlier in the week could make a huge difference to the racing. Nico Lau will have to work really hard to regain his position and Fabian Barel will be wanting to end his season as it began, on the top step of the podium.
Anne-Caroline Chausson leads Tracy Moseley by 5.7 seconds and that battle is still alight. Cecile Ravanel has a 53 second gap to Anne-Caroline but the overall position could well be where her focus lies. The gap currently stands at 255 points so if things stay as they are then Cecile would maintain her second in the overall. Tomorrow will be an interesting day for the ladies.
Keep an eye on the Dirt website for more from the pits and updates about what’s going on throughout the day. DirtTV will have more Parkin gold for you too!
