Beta’s Steve Holcombe and TM Racing’s Loic Larrieu nailed a win each on the opening weekend of the Italian Assoluti d’Italia Enduro Championship.

Riding in his first Italian Championship and making his TM Racing competitive debut Loic Larrieu won the first day after an incredible battle with Matteo Cavallo (Sherco), Danny McCanney (TM Racing), Steve Holcombe (Beta Factory) and Alex Salvini (Honda Redmoto). However, Salvini took a tumble and injured his right knee which hampered his weekend.

Holcombe turned things around on Day two. He dominated the overall classification from the very first special test, with Loic Larrieu and Christophe Charlier battling for second place.

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However Charlier faded late on and slipped to sixth overall. In front of him were team-mates Thomas Oldrati and Alex Salvini with Daniel McCanney third overall on the day.

Victory on day two means Holcombe becomes overall championship leader after the opening weekend’s action although he and Larrieu are on 37 points each. The Italian championship returns to action in Arma di Taggia on March 31.

Steve Holcombe: “It’s been a really strong start to the 2019 season for me. I had a good ride on Saturday to finish second and then with some improvements to our setup I was able to take the win on Sunday, which is a real boost.  I honestly didn’t expect to hold this sort of pace so soon in the year as this race is part of my training plan towards the Enduro World Championship.

“Overall, it’s been a great result for us as a team and one that will keep us pushing hard as we head towards round one of EnduroGP in Germany at the end of this month.”

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