Sherco’s Wade Young snatches Extreme XL Lagares from KTM riders Jonny Walker and Alfredo Gomez
Starting out as first place in the Portuguese hard enduro, Alfredo Gomez placed a solid start on the in the prologue of Extreme Lagares together with teammate Jonny Walker and Alfredo Gomez.
“An amazing feeling,” told Young at the end of the physical five-hour race. “It was brutal out there, easily one of the most difficult courses so to pull off the win, considering I’m not a true trials specialist, is pretty special.”
After Saturday’s Porto prologue won by Gomez, the night endurocross race in Lagares saw Gomez pick up another win and move closer to claiming his Lagares hat trick.
Passing through clean, Gomez had held on an early lead but Wade Young have some other plans to win and caught up with Spain’s Gomez in the first major riverbed section of the race.
After running into some bike issues off the start, Mario Roman (Sherco) was on a charge too and quickly gained ground on the leaders. From down in 15th he worked his way forward and onto leaders Young, Gomez and Walker’s tail.
Taking the lead midway on lap two, Roman was putting in a charge and with Young going with him, it was a Sherco breakaway over Gomez and Walker.
Gomez hits some problems there as he broke clutch perch, obliging him to stop to a pit. As he stopped to a pit, he dropped back lifting Walker up to third.
On lap three it all changed again as Roman dropped out with a faulty kill switch. With a near 10-minute buffer, Young kept it all together on the third and final lap to claim a much-deserved win.
Picking up the pieces, Walker brought his KTM home in second while Gomez — with his clutch repaired regrouped for third.
“That was hard, really hard in places,” told Walker. “Wade and Alfredo went off fast at the start. It was my first time here and I was a little unsure of the terrain so didn’t want to go with them. By lap two I felt better and started to improve.
“Hats off to Wade though, he rode great today and 100 per cent deserved that win. I’ll take second today.”
After an eventful ride, Gomez claimed third…
“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my Lagares hat trick but it’s ok. I started well but then broke the clutch and had to ride about 40 minutes like that before I could repair it in the pits.
“I tried to come back but the pace was so high today that it made it tough. Considering the problem, getting on the podium is still a good result.”
Getting better and better in hard enduro, trials rider Pol Tarres (Beta) claimed one of this best results to date. Fighting well with the leading quartet in the early stages, he kept it all together to grab fourth overall at the finish.
Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) put in a strong ride to compete the top five.
In the Expert class the race was won by British rider Sam Ludgate (Beta).
