2017 SuperEnduro Spain Results

Cycle News Staff | March 5, 2017

2017 SuperEnduro Spain Results – Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker survived a tough night at the office at the penultimate round of the FIM Maxxis SuperEnduro World Championship in Spain, March 4, to emerge with his point’s lead still intact. Admitting to being off form, Haaker ended his night third overall behind the KTM duo of Alfredo Gomez and Jonny Walker but still heads to the final round of the season will an 11-point cushion over Gomez in second.

2017 SuperEnduro Spain Results

“It was a bit of a rough night for me,” admitted haaker. “I did my best to salvage what I could but it certainly didn’t go the way I hoped it would. It’s hard to say exactly why things didn’t go so well for me – I’m normally fine on a more trials like track like this one.

“But third at the end of a ‘not so great night’ isn’t too bad at all. I’m still leading the championship with one round to go. I’ll work hard during the next two weeks and be ready for the final in France.”

With the series picking up speed again following a six-week break since round two in Germany in early January, all eyes were on the defending champion Haaker to see if he could make it two clean sweeps in a row. But faced with a motivated Gomez on home turf, and a track that was brutal in most places, it proved a long night for Haaker.

Laying down the fastest lap in the Akrapovic SuperPole, Walker too was keen to show he meant business having stepped up to the KTM 350 EXC-F for Spain. With the gate dropping on race one, Haaker got out front quickly. But with pressure coming from behind and the nasty rock garden corner grabbing his front wheel, he hit the deck allowing Walker and Gomez to escape, with the win falling Walker’s way.

The reversed start for race two again saw the trio hit the front almost immediately, this time Gomez held the advantage going on to take the win while Haaker rode steady for second.

In the third and final race more mistakes cost Haaker a shot at a race win forcing him to settle for third and ultimately third overall.

“I’m glad to come away from that one without too much damage,” continued Haaker. “I felt off tonight, granted the track was a bit of a beast but I should have been on it better. We’ve had bad weather in California. I’ve haven’t rode enough SuperEnduro and rode snow bikes and extreme stuff and two strokes. I’ve two weeks to prep for the final round to come back stronger.”

For Gomez however it was a night to saviour. Claiming two race wins and securing his debut overall podium, all on home turf, has put him right in the title fight with just one round remaining.

2017 SuperEnduro Spain Results

“It feels so good to get my first ever overall SuperEnduro win,” told Gomez. “In the first heat I was so nervous of crashing I was maybe a little too cautious and didn’t try hard enough to overtake Jonny (Walker). I came close on the last lap but I just couldn’t make it happen. I got a great start in the second heat – from the second row I got into the lead very quickly. I pushed hard then to open up a gap and just tried to be consistent to the finish.”

“It all came down to the final race for the overall, I knew I had to win. It’s an incredible feeling to get this win, and even more special because it’s here in Spain. In the past I’ve won some heat races but I never really thought that I had the speed to win a main event.”

Returning to top form, a switch to the 350F paid dividends for Walker delivering him his first race win of the 2017 series and a shot at the overall…

“I switched to the 350, which worked great, but in general I feel like I rode a lot better than at the earlier rounds. It came down to the final race between Alfredo Gomez and myself for the win, although it’s a little frustrating to get second overall I’m pleased. I landed on someone in the last race of the night, which kind of knocked me off my stride. After winning the first race I knew what I needed to do and I felt like another win was more than possible.”

Behind the top three, Mario Roman (Sherco) — boosted by a third place result in race two — ended his night fourth overall. Back in action having missed his home round in Germany, Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) competed the top five.

The SuperEnduro series concludes in France on March 18th for the fourth and final round.

2017 SuperEnduro Spain Results

Results – FIM SuperEnduro World Championship 2017, Round 3

Prestige class – Overall Event Classification

Alfredo Gomez (KTM) 59 points; 2. Jonny Walker (KTM) 53; 3.Colton Haaker (Husqvarna) 48; 4. Mario Roman (Sherco) 39; 5. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 35; 6. Xavier Leon (Husqvarna) 27; 7. Pascal Rauchenecker (Husqvarna) 24; 8. Jose Maria Juan Bernabeu (Beta) 20; 9. Aurelien Addesso (Beta) 19; 10. Eloi Salsench (Beta) 15…

SuperEnduro World Championship standings (After round 3 of 4)

Colton Haaker (Husqvarna) 165 points; 2. Alfredo Gomez (KTM) 154; 3. Jonny Walker (KTM) 146; 4. Mario Roman (Sherc) 98; 5. Pascal Rauchenecker (Husqvarna) 77…

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