The EnduroGP World Championship this weekend from 30 June to 2 July made a stop in Gelnica, Slovakia, to contest the fifth round of the seven in this 2023 season.
The Slovakian GP unfortunately got off to a tragic start due to a terrible accident that occurred during the usual Friday evening Super Test and cost the life of a Slovakian rider in the Open 4T class.
The race was immediately suspended and the joy and enthusiasm of the large crowd and the whole big family of world enduro racing immediately gave way to dismay and grief at the tragic accident.
The teams and riders express their deepest condolences to the family of the deceased rider and are close to her at this time of great sorrow.
On Saturday 1/7 the race got underway regularly and our ridershave faced for the entire race weekend a highly technical and treacherous 58-kilometre course featuring four special tests to be repeated three times a day for a total of twenty-four PS during the entire race weekend.
The challenging race course, skilfully designed by the GL Moto Team in collaboration with Track Inspector Maurizio Micheluz, comprised in order a natural Extreme about 600 metres long located near the Paddock, a very technical 5.4 km long Cross Test with counter slopes, jumps and motocross-style banks followed ,after the CO at the Paddock ,by a first very technical Enduro Test (EnduroTest1) of 5.5 km inside a woods with soft, muddy terrain and numerous roots, and at the end of the lap a second Enduro Test (EnduroTest2) on the same terrain as the previous special Enduro1 test.
Jed Etchells remains the leader of the Junior and Junior 1 classes at the end of the long Slovakian weekend. The British rider collected two second places in the Junior class and two first places in the Junior 1 class. On Saturday Jed Etchells had a good race in the Junior class, recording good times in the Extreme and Cross Test but losing several seconds in the two Enduro Tests. In the Junior1 class the British rider dominated, recording nine best times and distancing his rivals considerably. Also on Sunday Jed Etchells dominated the Junior 1 class and struggled in the Junior class, failing to win it by a handful of seconds.
An excellent performance also for Harry Edmonson in the Slovakian GP, the son of art collected an eighth place in the Junior class and a fourth place in the Junior 1 class. On the following day, the reigning Youth class champion took another fourth place in the Junior 1 class and almost bettered his result in the Junior class by again finishing eighth about three seconds behind seventh place.
The Enduro Circus will now stop for more than three months before returning with the big season finale on the last weekend of September (29/9 -1/10) and the first weekend of October (6 -8/10) with the double trip to Portugal that will close the 2023 season of the top Enduro World Championship.
Team Manager Matthew Savi
“A complicated but positive weekend for our two riders. Jed Etchells suffered a bit in the Junior class but collected some good results and is still the leader, while in Junior 1 he won two more days of competition, literally dominating. Harry Edmondson on the other hand ran a very good race and is improving from GP to GP. In addition to two fourth places in Junior 1 our reigning Youth champion collected two eighth places in Junior.”
Jed Etchells
“In Gelnica we arrived with the intention of returning to Italy with the leader board of the Junior and Junior 1 classes still in our hands, and so it was. In Slovakia the organisers packed a real enduro race and I encountered some difficulties in the two Enduro Testo where I could not express myself at my best. Now a long break to recharge our batteries and then it’s off to Portugal where we will have the last two GPs of the season.”
Harry Edmondson
“I am happy with the results here in Slovakia, not only those in Junior 1 where I came close to the podium on both race days but also for the results in the Junior which gave me great satisfaction. I would like to congratulate the organisers for the real enduro race they designed.”
