The first round of the World Indoor Enduro Championship was held in France on Saturday at the Arena Stade Couvert in Liévin.
The Rieju Factory Team was once again represented by Alfredo Gómez, who was accompanied by Polish rider Dominik Olszowy, both competing in the top Prestige class.
Once the qualifying rounds were completed, the Superpole was held, a race in which Dominik Olszowy already shone in a special way by achieving an excellent third best time. For his part, Alfredo Gómez suffered a fall in practice, which made it difficult for him to get into the rhythm.
In the first of the three afternoon finals, both Alfredo Gómez and Dominik Olszowy were very competitive on their MR PROs, fighting among the top five. Olszowy surprised with a direct confrontation with Lettenbicher to finish in a brilliant third position, while Gómez crossed the finish line in sixth place.
In the second final, where the front riders start from the second row of the grid, Alfredo attacked intensely, recovering the feeling, to quickly move up to second position; after an intense battle throughout the race, Gómez finished third. Olszowy lost positions due to some mistakes, finishing tenth.
Third and last final of the night, where Dominik returned to the attack, refining his performance and fighting in the top five again; after holding off the attacks of his opponents, he finished in a good fourth place. With the sum of the three finals, Dominik Olszowy achieved in this first race the fourth position, demonstrating that he has the technique and speed to fight against the main drivers of the World Championship.
Alfredo Gómez, overcoming some problems, finished the third round in seventh position, completing some good races to place fifth in the final classification in France.
The next qualifying race for the 2024 SuperEnduro World Championship will be on 9 December at the Polish GP in Krakow, where the two Rieju Factory Team riders will once again be present.
Statements:
Alfredo Gómez:
"We have finished the SuperEnduro of France, the truth is that it went quite well; in the training sessions it was quite hard for me, I had a fall and it took me a bit to recover, but after the first race I started to feel better, I lowered my time and in the second race we were third overall, I knew it would be very difficult to hold on, but well, my goal was to finish fifth and we finished fifth, so very happy."
Dominik Olszowy:
"Finished the first race of the World Championship in France, I am quite happy, third position in the first final and fourth overall, which is a very good start, very excited and I will continue on this way."
Final standings Prestige class:
1st Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 63 points.
2nd Jonny Walker (Beta) 53 points
3rd Will Hoare (Beta) 39 points
4th Dominik Olszowy (Rieju) 35 points
5th Alfredo Gómez (Rieju) 34 points
