The final round of the World Indoor Enduro championship staged at the Palau Sant Jordi stadium, Barcelona marked one of personal improvement for former trials ace Robert Crawford. Having missed the previous round in Vigo, Spain due to personal commitments the KTM rider was hopeful of a strong showing in Barcelona to finish out the season. More from Crawford.
Phoenix, AZ – Husaberg Factory rider Nathan Woods ran inside the top ten for the majority of his first race on his new Husaberg FX450 and eventually finished out the day in 13th overall at the first round of the WORCS at Speed World MX Park.
Woods got a great jump off the start and put his Husaberg in 6th position around the first turn. He dropped back one spot on the end of the first lap and then maintained that position for the first half of the race. By the first gas stop, Woods was sitting in 10th overall when he rolled into the pits.
This round marks the first race for Woods in nearly a year after sitting out most of the 2009 season with injury. “I have only been on the bike for four weeks and I knew that my endurance would be lacking. Overall, I felt pretty good but my hands started blistering pretty bad at the end and I know it is just going to take more training and time on the bike to get to where I need to be,” remarked Woods.
With about three laps left, Woods caught up to the 7th, 8th and 9th place riders and began dicing back and forth with that pack. At one point he had moved into 8th position and was maintaining his pace. With two laps remaining, he came into the EnduroCross section and made a mistake that caused him to crash. He recovered and made it into the pits for one last splash of fuel. When the checkers flew he crossed the line in 13th overall for the day.
“I am glad that Nathan got the first race out of the way. He struggled a little today with his endurance but each race will be an improvement for him and we know that by the end of the season he should be a top five contender,” commented Husaberg Team Manager Antti Kallonen.
