EnduroGP results: Garcia does the double in Portugal

Day two results from EnduroGP World Championship in Portugal where a titanic fight for victory between Josep Garcia and Brad Freeman narrowly went the way of the Spaniard who does the double – Albin Norrbin claims the first World Championship crown of 2021 in the Youth 125 class.

EnduroGP of Portugal day 2 in a nutshell:

The day was characterised by beaten up tests and transfers where the whooped and chopped out sandy course made it a physically hard day for all.
“I need to do something different” said Brad Freeman after finishing second and almost a minute down on Josep Garcia on day one of the Portuguese GP. The championship points leader was true to his word and came out swinging on day two to create yet another super-close fight for the overall win during this electric season.
When Garcia nabbed the last two tests of the day by 2.6 and 1.1 seconds respectively, it was enough to swing it in the Spaniard’s favour by 2.76 seconds overall. “I crashed in test one but after that, Brad and me were really pushing on the limit all day and in every test,” explained Garcia who repeated his Estonian GP double win from earleir in the season (he must like the sand).
Freeman meanwhile says he had “a different mindset” to start day two and though he was disappointed to lose the overall in the last test, reckons “there was nothing in it all day, it was good fun and we’ll try and reverse it next week in France!”
The EnduroGP overall points situation is now 197 to 184 in favour of Freeman over Garcia – that lead is comfortable but Brad cannot afford to relax while Garcia is riding like this as we head to France and finale next weekend.
If we heaped praise on Nathan Watson’s return to EnduroGP yesterday, we make no apology for it again today. Third scratch, second in E2 behind Garcia and fighting all day with riders who’ve been racing the world championship all season (and some also the ISDE) is not too bad a comeback. “I didn't expect it if I'm honest.” Says the RedMoto Honda recruit. Neither did anyone else!
The E1 scrap between Andrea Verona and Davide Guarneri went the way of the GASGAS pilot today but once again, only just. Not for the first time this season Andrea nabbed the class win in the last test after Davide made a small mistake and cost himself a couple of seconds.
With that class win, and fourth overall, Verona moves up to third in the EGP scratch championship, despite admitting he, “was a little out of control but in the end we got the E1 win so I cannot complain.”
Verona goes third because Wil Ruprecht had a weekend to forget. P8 yesterday was not where we’re used to seeing the Aussie but things went from bad to worse today as his TM quit the job, while he was lying outside the top 10, in the penultimate test.
Ruprecht is joined on the notable retirement list by Theo Espinasse, Christophe Charlier and Dan Mundell.
TM’s Junior duo of Matteo Pavoni and Lorenzo Macoritto faired better though and resumed their season long dual. Champinship points leader Pavoni went one step higher today with victory, 7.6 seconds ahead of his teammate. Roni Kytonen backed-up his day one win with third scratch.
Any guesses who won in Youth 125 class again today? Yup, the Fantic D’Arpa rider Albin Norrbin who notched up another day win to seal the Youth 125 World Championship, making him the first champion to be crowned this 2021 season. He sure earned it.
Max Warenghien took the Open class victory again on day two with a repeat podium scratch alkongside Mark Szoke was second with Kaiya Brouwer third.