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UPDATE: HAMISH MACDONALD - ROUND 5 & 6 WORLD ENDURO GP

“Hey guys! Just wrapped up round five and six of the Enduro GP in Estonia. It’s been a good race for me landing on the podium both days and achieving 6th overall! Brutal but Rewarding!”

The tests were super physical - 8:30 minutes in a long deep sand Enduro test. 7:30 minute on the hard pack “extreme” test and a 4:00 minute motocross track as the cross test! I started Saturday off slow, I didn’t have the best feeling but dug deep in the last lap to come back from 5th in class onto the podium! I was fast in the Enduro test and putting out consistent times all day, but it wasn’t easy.

On Sunday the track got soo rough, I can’t even explain. Some holes exiting the corners where at least 1m deep! Once again the Enduro test was my strong point, laying down top 3 times and having solid times in the extreme as well helped my result overall! I worked my way up to 4th coming into the second lap.

Unfortunately, I crashed in the Enduro and lost 10-15 seconds. Then I pushed hard in the next laps but when you push hard in these conditions you are bound to crash. Riding on the limit in the sand isn’t nice to do when you are tired, one small mistake and you will go down hard, and that’s what happened while I was battling in the final Enduro test with Wil Ruphert (Aus) for 2nd position in the E2 class.

I had caught the rider in front of me, the dust was so bad and hit some rollers wrong in about 3rd gear. I started to swap out and that’s all she wrote. Picked myself up, a bit of confusion with what had happened, just imagine some one had tipped a bucket of sand over your head. Sand every where, inside my goggles in my eyes, all inside my gloves. But I picked myself up and charged on. I knew I was faster than Wil in this test. I had lost my buffer and he was now leading by 0.06 coming into the final “super test”. I was pushing - bad luck happened - throwing my chain while going through the matrix, so that was my chance gone!

But overall I’m happy with how I’m riding, finally starting to find that grove and feel at one with my bike!! Thanks to the team for the great support and motivation during the day. Heading back to Sweden for rounds 7&8 for track walking. The racing starts on Thursday night with the SuperTest and Friday/Saturday tests.

Thank you Fab, Thomas, all the Sherco Team, my sponsors and supporters.

Thanks to all - Hamish Macdonald #76





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