In dry conditions, the weekend saw competitors face a three-hour Cross-Country race on Saturday and then back it up with Sprints on Sunday and it proved to be a real challenge for many riders with the sandy conditions making it hard work on bikes and bodies. Will Dennett came out firing on the opening lap of the Cross-Country event to grab the lead and hold it for the opening two laps. He created a bit of a gap between himself and his rivals but the pace he generated couldn’t be sustained and series leader, Daniel Milner, reeled him back in on lap three.
But Dennett stayed strong and settled into a consistent pace for the remaining five laps to grab a well-earned second place in the Pro Enduro division as well as second in E2 (450cc), finishing within a minute of Milner and fifteen seconds clear of the rider in third.
The riders then fronted up on day two and this time it was the Sprint format. With many already drained from the three-hour Cross Country, round six was tough on many riders.
Dennett didn’t quite match the pace he set in the Cross- Country, but did prove he is very handy in the sand with another strong ride. He took fifth in the Pro Enduro class and third in the E1 division and possibly could have been better, but some crashes proved costly.
At the halfway stage of the Australian Enduro Championships, Dennett holds down fifth in the Pro Enduro class, just a few points from the podium and then fourth in the E2 class and well within striking distance of a podium finish for the championship.
“It was a good weekend in some tough conditions,” Dennett begins. “I like riding in sand but it’s much harder when the sand is really dry and it moves so much and there is no traction if you don’t work the bike through it.
“I had some good pace going on each day but looking back, I would alter the way I raced the Cross Country. I think I wouldn’t push so hard on the opening laps but rather let the race come to me a little and just save some energy as three hours at that pace, I simply couldn’t sustain.
“Thanks to everyone on the ShopYamaha Team as well as my dad for his help. The bike was awesome all weekend and I feel like I’m getting back to my best, so really looking forward to the back half of the year,” he ends.
The weekend was a tough one for championship contender, Wil Ruprecht. It was the first time in five years Ruprecht had contested a Cross Country and it showed on Saturday afternoon.
Ruprecht started the day strongly and was running at the pointy end of the field for the opening few laps. After five laps and two hours of racing, he was maintaining second place, but it was soon about to unravel.
His hands were taking a beating. And as the field charged off again on lap six, Ruprecht’s hands were blistered, just hanging on was causing pain. He soldiered on but not at the speed he was early in the race as he went into survival mode to make the finish line.
By race end, he dropped back to sixth place in the Pro Enduro division and fourth in E2, but the pain he was in was evident in his face and in his hands, as he removed them from his blood-soaked gloves. But the worst was yet to come as he was only halfway through the weekend.
He and his team did what they could to assist with the blistering, but it was always going to be an uncomfortable day for him and trying to hang onto his thundering WR450F was going to be hard work.
Built as tough has nailed, and his hands taped up like an Egyptian Mummy, he charged into Sunday as best he could be but clearly hampered by his lack of grip strength as well as the pain caused by his exposed hands. He battled on to finish eighth in E2 and thirteen Outright, putting a serious hole in his 2025 Championship aspirations.
He currently sits second on both the Pro Enduro and E2 classes. He is twenty-seven points from the lead in the Pro Enduro division and just nine points from the lead in E2.
“It wasn’t the weekend I was hoping for, and I really wanted to do better. I knew I needed to be better at riding in sand, so I spent plenty of time in the lead up to the weekend riding in sandy conditions and making sure I was prepared but just after halfway, I was struggling to hang on.”
“When my hands started tearing up, I couldn’t ride like I would normally and tried to settle into a pace I could sustain until the end. I was able to do that, but it just wrecked my Sunday. I simply couldn’t ride with any authority and was just trying to make the day.”
