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2013 British
Extreme Enduro Championship, Round 1
Gas Gas UK’s Danny
McCanney has claimed another excellent third place finish in an extreme enduro,
this time at the first round of the British Extreme Enduro Championship at Tong,
near Bradford in Yorkshire.
McCanney, riding his
2013 Gas Gas EC 300 Racing, was able to beat many of the UK’s top extreme
riders, despite this again being a training exercise for his Enduro World
Championship season. The conditions in the grounds of Tong Hall were suitably
extreme, with the rapid thaw after recent snow putting all the streams in full
spate, while the clay and root banks that typify the grounds proved treacherous.
McCanney nonetheless found he could deal with the challenges well, finishing the
two-hour race feeling fresh and fit.
Gas Gas UK team-mate and
trials ace Alexz Wigg at last had a good run in an extreme event, fully
demonstrating his potential in placing 4th, eight minutes behind McCanney. Jack
Lee, who’s getting back to fitness after recent injuries, finished 12th. Juan
Knight, former British Enduro Champion long since retired from regular
competition, made a one-off outing to claim 13th place – this despite riding
with a knee injury after a collision on the first lap.
Danny
McCanney: “I don’t even
feel tired after that, I didn’t struggle one bit physically. It was still a
tough race as I lost the back brake not long after the start. I was going down
the hills with the front brake only, which was fine until the last half hour by
which time I’d worn the front brake pads out. So then I rode with no brakes at
all! I could have gone a lot better I think, but I couldn’t push, things like
the double-jump near the start I couldn’t do because I wouldn’t get stopped
after.
“With all this
experience riding extreme I now feel very confident on the new EC 300, it feels
so good – all the hard work is helping. If there’s a wet EWC all this experience
is going to help a lot.”
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