The opening of the 2022 SuperEnduro season was most spectacular with very intense finals contested in each category but also the European Championship. Here are the little news that you missed, but the beautiful perfs of the evening that we wanted to highlight.
PRESTIGE
Cody WEBB (USA-Sherco): The American certainly didn't have the dream night he had imagined for his return to competition on a global scale. The Californian scared himself during the first free practice session. Falling several meters high after wrongly negotiating the jump from the finish arch. More fear than harm for Cody, but the Sherco driver has certainly lost some spontaneity after this incident. In the race, he experienced brake pad issues which the team tried to resolve between heats, but to no avail. Victim of several falls, the last of which with Taddy BLAZUSIAK (POL-Gas Gas) and Will HOARE (GBR-Gas Gas) at the start of the last final, WEBB preferred to stop their Polish GP there. He swore that from Israel the great Cody would be back.
Jonny WALKER (GBR-Beta): The Englishman did not hide his concern to start his 2-stroke Beta in the middle of a bunch of madmen riding their powerful 4-stroke machines. It turns out he kept up the pace of the competition perfectly even though he had a rather quiet and anonymous evening.
The big moment of the evening which somewhat spoiled his opportunity to perform better was during the Akrapovic Super Pole. WALKER indeed fell at the exit of the stone section. Most crippling was that he was let go by his injured knee some time ago. Jonny pushed his limits to score a P3-P3 and P5 in Poland. He has a few weeks left to repair his knee and tackle the next round without a physical problem.
Tim APOLLE (GER-Beta) and Diego HERRERA (CHL-TM): the two men stood out during the free practice with spectacular figures above the handlebars of their machine. We could have rewarded them with “the plank of the day” for APOLLE and the “face plant of the day” for HERRERA. Despite these misadventures the two men suffer for this great first and for the return of SuperEnduro. The German gave up in the first final, but came to his senses in the next two as he finished 10th in the 2nd heat and 8th in the last final. For the Chilean, the return to SuperEnduro was difficult. HERRERA has to be satisfied with two 11th positions and his first Top 10. He is nevertheless satisfied and draws positive lessons from this first evening of racing at world level.
Will HOARE (GBR-Gas Gas) and Diogo VIEIRA (Por-Gas Gas): were combative but are still a little short against the level of the 6 leaders. But progress is important for the two pilots and their Gas-Gas. HOARE has managed to climb into Super Pole Akrapovic. In the race, the starts were a bit chaotic for the British rider, he lost several places each time the starting ramp was going down. He will fight on the track like a lion to regain these lost positions. He will stand up to Taddy BLAZUSIAK and Jonny WALKER for 4th place in the first final. In the second final, he managed to stay just outside the top 5. He finished 6th in this final just like for the first. Collateral victim of the fall between BLAZUSIAK and WEBB in the last final, the 2019 Junior champion manages to climb to 7th place. For the Portuguese, never too far from HOARE, the pace in the race continued to increase, often in good brawls, VIEIRA was unsuccessful. He is 7th overall after this promising opening of the season just behind HOARE 6th. Both boys can aim higher in Israel.
JUNIOR
In Junior, the fight for the final podium was good between Dominik OSZLOWY (POL-Gas Gas), Leon HENTSCHEL (GER-Gas Gas) and Milan SCHMUESER (GER-Sherco). There were some great performances which did not go unnoticed. We think in particular of the beautiful races of the Frenchman Fabien POIROT on his Husqvarna. The tricolor fails at the foot of the final podium after having signed a very successful evening (P6-P4 and P3). He fought much of the evening against Dan MUNDELL (GBR-Beta) who ended up in 5th position overall behind the French. Too bad the friendly Briton isn't planning to make the full season, his encouraging results from Poland could change his mind.
EUROPE CUP
The night of the European Cup was largely dominated by the Italian Sonny GOGGIA on his very unique Rieju. The transalpine did not do half measures since he scored as many points as possible on this Polish weekend. He was accompanied on two occasions by the same competitors in the top 3. The Frenchman Aurélien ADDESSO on his Sherco was very comfortable all evening, he finished second twice. Oskar KACZMARCZYK (POL-GasGas) carried by the Polish public also transcended by finishing twice third.
Note the good performance of these European heats with only one abandonment to deplore during the heats, the unfortunate Grzegorz KARGUL (POL-Husqvarna) did not start the second race. The next appearance of the European Championship competitors will be in 2022 in Budapest, Hungary.
