Compiled by Sue Middleton
Kyle has once again set off to take on the World Championship scene in Europe. I have compiled this report from his emails.
After landing in Barcelona on the 9th June, and a detour via the GasGas Factory in Girona, he moved on to Jordi Pascuet’s property, Tost, in northern Spain, just south of the Andorran border.
The new 300 Raga had just been completed that morning and was one of the first to leave the factory. The bike looks fantastic and is performing as well as it looks. Jordi has recently set up his property to include Enduro schools so there is a variety of riders coming and going, giving Kyle the opportunity to jump on a GasGas Enduro bike.
Kyle’s first World Championship Round for this season was held at Pobladura in north western Spain. This event includes a European Round the previous day. Although not official in this event, it provides an opportunity to ride the sections previously as a warm-up to the world round. After a 10 hour trip, co-driving the Jitzie van, he spent the next day looking at sections, shook hands with a few riders – Fuji, Gomez, Bruno, Gubian, and met up with all the Jitzie guys at dinner. Jitzie has been fantastic in supporting this part of the journey.
The area at Pobladura has watery sections and sections on a very steep hill. Half of the sections were in a very slippery creek and even the English referred it to a bit like the Scottish….Due to unforseen circumstances, he arrived without a pre arranged minder, and after having his photo taken with Kyle, the President of the club supplied a minder for the Euro round. Once again, a non English speaking minder with two English words – left, right! The bike was running spot on at this stage and the GasGas guys gave it a full service, just to be sure.
Saturday’s Euro round started out with a shaky first round score of 40. The minder, with his two English words, had helped set the sections so this was an advantage. Second lap was an improvement with 21 points. Overall he was not too happy with the day and was hoping on an improvement for Sunday.
Sunday’s sections had been altered slightly the previous night and the ride included some sections with scores of 0 and 1’s, a good result when some of the more experienced riders were getting 5’s. There was one section he opted not to do, as he had no minder at all, and was concerned about not being caught. Final lap scores of 29 and 28.
“The facilities at Pobladura were really, really good and developed just for trials. Absolutely amazing, and the people running the event were so proud and really nice. The commentators were always talking about the Australian rider without a minder and at the end the President said the town wanted me to be their son, which apparently is an old Spanish tradition!”
Then a long drive back to Tost, not much time for a break, and back into the training for next weekend. This round in the main township of Andorra, Sant Julia de Lora, only about half hour drive, very close to the 2008 Trials des Nations site.
Readers can keep up with Kyle’s updates on his website www.kylemiddleton.com.au or www.facebook.com/pages/Kyle-Middleton-Fan-Page/131023016953468