Sherco’s Wade Young has won the Extreme XL Lagares ahead of KTM Enduro Factory riders Jonny Walker and Alfredo Gomez.
Young battled with Gomez and Walker for most of the event bad lucky would strike Gomez and Young would ultimately come away with the overall at the Portuguese hard enduro event.
Regarded as one of the toughest hard enduro courses on the calendar, the Portuguese race mixed urban city racing with slippery rocky mountain terrain over two days.
Saturday’s schedule saw racing get underway with the spectacular prologue around Porto’s narrow cobbled streets, followed by a SuperEnduro style night race in Lagares. Sunday’s main event was a gruelling three-lap race in the mountains surrounding Lagares.
Young’s victory put an end to Gomez’s hat trick ambitions, with the KTM rider going for his third-straight victory in the event.
Jonny Walker
Leading out the main event, Gomez spent the majority of the first two laps in a three-way battle for victory. But a small mistake on a technical, rocky riverbed saw him damage clutch perch. Forced to ride another 40 minutes before being able to pit for a quick repair, Gomez lost ground on the leaders. Regrouping well, he then charged his way back to third overall.
“I’m a little disappointed not to win today, I really wanted to get a hat trick of wins here at Extreme XL Lagares,” said Gomez.
“Everything started out really well. I won both qualification and the race in the Porto prologue. I flowed well with the track and made up some really good time. I carried that across into the night race and won too. I lead off the start of the main race but made a mistake and Wade passed me. I got back in front shortly afterwards but the fight was intense and we swapped positions a lot. Dropping down a waterfall section on lap two I crashed and damaged my clutch perch. I had to ride maybe 40 minutes before I could fix it, so to come back to third after that is something I can be happy with.”
Results — Extreme XL Lagares 2017
1. Wade Young (Sherco)
2. Jonny Walker (KTM)
3. Alfredo Gomez (KTM)
4. Pol Tarres (Beta)
5. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM)