WEC report - Gas Gas
 

GAS GAS FACTORY RIDER CHRISTOPHE NAMBOTIN WON THE E3 CLASS ON DAY 1 !

The 24 year old French EC300 rider was in awesome form in the wet conditions and proved to the world that when the conditions are this bad one of the best Enduro bikes out there is a GAS GAS EC300!

He won E3 by a massive 1 minute and 10 seconds from Sebastian Guillaume on the Husky. He also finished 3rd 'Scratch' behind Enduro 'gods' Salminen and Knigher... If you look at the test times you will see that on the superb Enduro Test he was pulling over 1 minute on his E3 rivals on this test. Infact he was also 20 seconds quicker than Knighter on this test on the first lap and 12 seconds quicker on the second lap!

This is NAMBOTINs first year in the main E3 Class after riding in the Juniors last year. You may not have heard much about this french rider but if you saw him ride at the weekend i think you'll know him now!

On the dryer Sundays race Christophe was dissappointed to finish 4th, 17 seconds behind the winner Gulliame.. Numerous crashes stopped him repeating his previous days performance.

My two British Team GG riders Wayne Braybrook (left) and Juan Knight (right) gave 110% and were neck and neck all weekend. Both riders also armed with EC300s rode round together for two days and Juan just got the better of Wayne. Juan was 13th on both days and Wayne was 14th Saturday and 15th Sunday. Wayne was fuming when he got stuck on the big hill on the Enduro test on Saturday which shows how tough this test was!

GG Rider Robert Wrayford (EC300 right) was unlucky not to finish on the Saturday when the tiny waterpump drain screw came out and lost his coolant in the tight check. 'Rabbit' looked awesome on the tests though and had some real good times. Rob finished a respectable 20th in E3 on Sunday.

In E2 the Factory GG rider Nicolas DEPARROIS finished 12th on his FSR450 4-Stroke on Day 1 and 13th on Day2.

This guy must be the shortest rider in the paddock and im amazed he still isnt stuck in a rut somewhere! His speed is fast but really lacks long legs when the going gets tough especially on a fourstroke. I think this guy would be better in E1 on the new improved "09 EC125 than the big 4T in E2..... Nevertheless i thank him because he proved the reliability of the GG FSR450 in these extreme Welsh conditions.

Bradley King (K4 GAS GAS EC250) was 'timed out' on Day 1 in the Juniors and finished 24th on Sunday. Brad is improving well this year and is learning all the time. Bradley and his family are fully commited to Enduros and his determination and dedication impresses me. Enduro is a sport that 99% commitment is not enough so i expect good things to come from Bradley...

I must finish my Press Release by Congratulating EVERYONE at the Hafren Dirt Bike Club for organising this awesome event. Those of you that were there will agree and can appreciate the scale of organising such an event is huge. The attention to detail was superb regarding the Paddock, all three superb tests and the course. All the 'true' Enduro Riders loved the event and only a few people were moaning about the condtions which is normal. This event was a round of the WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP which is supposed to be tough! The weather on the Saturday was bad so you always gets a few 'lightweights' when the weather turns bad. So another BIG CONGRATS to everyone concerned.

For those that were not there....you should have been it was awesome!

From http://www.enduronews.com/wec.htm

I hope Gassers new management have the common sense to hang on to Nambotin after losing Guillame & Guerrera (sp?)

It's all about the $$$$$
maybe they would have like to keep the other riders but were out bid by better financed/capitalized operations??