As riders rest after an exciting day of racing, probably trying to sneeze out the buckets of dust they no doubt inhaled from the crazy tracks, amazing ‘face shot’ photos are spreading through the media. Argentina is delivering in every way and the racing looks set to go to the wire today. Richie Rude and Cecile Ravanel are again showing their dominance, but in such loose conditions a time-consuming error is always only a heartbeat away, so it’s not over yet. Here is the action from Day One, direct from the EWS team.
In perhaps the wildest conditions the series has ever experienced, riders tackled three stages of loose, knee deep dust that threw up an incredibly tight first day of racing. Mechanicals, crashes and some new faces at the sharp end got the second race of the year off to an electric start.
Much like last weekend in Chile, Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Shox) and Cecile Ravanel (Commencal Vallnord Enduro) finish the first day of racing in the lead. However, whilst Cecile has a comfortable 39 second lead over nearest rival Isabeau Courdurier (SUNN), Richie will be very aware that Martin Maes (GT/Factory Racing) is chasing him down and only has 4.4 seconds to make up.
Casey Brown (Trek Factory Racing) and Tony Ferreiro added some fresh blood to the top three – with both sitting third at the end of day one. Incredibly this is Casey’s first race – she sat out last weekend’s race in Chile due to illness. And even more impressively she lost her chain on the final stage of the day and still took third on the stage.
Meanwhile Spanish rider Toni only gained his spot through the EWS Wild Card entry system. Another notable new face was Lewis Buchanan (BMC Factory Racing) who was sitting in third place after the first two stages, until a spectacular over the bars on stage three saw him drop back to fifth place.
There was few riders that had three clean stages today, with the insane levels of dust claiming most riders at some point during the day. Special mentions should go to Damien Oton (Devinci Enduro Racing), Greg Callaghan (Cube Action Team) and Katy Winton (Trek Factory Racing) for some of the most impressive crashes the series has ever witnessed.
With three stages left to race on Sunday, and no rain forecast to dampen down the dust, there’s plenty more of excitement left in this race.
Words: Trev Worsey and Enduro World Series Photos: Duncan Philpott
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