Incredible Thomas Oldrati and Rony Kytonen dominate in Slovakian spectacle

Honda Racing RedMoto World Enduro Team had a great race at the Grand Prix of Slovakia with the extraordinary victory of Thomas Oldrati at the end of the epic challenge in E1 class with Verona and the first position of Rony Kytonen in EJ1 and Junior Overall.

The battle for the fifth round of the Enduro World Championship took place in Gelnica and riders completed 77 kilometres: from the start, competitors first headed to the Extreme Test (1.5 km) before reaching the Cross Test (6 km) and a very demanding and spectacular Enduro Test of 8.5 km: 17 stages including the Super Test of Friday evening. 

The rain of Friday night and for the most part of Saturday made the race even more selective, especially the last four special stages, where numerous riders slipped.

After the excellent second place and sixth overall on Saturday, on Sunday Oldrati had a great day, winning in E1 and racing his way to fourth overall. In the challenge with Verona he gave the show up to the last stage, conquering a very special success and returning to victory just where in 2010 he won his first race.

Victory for Rony Kytonen too: third on Saturday due to a few mistakes, on Sunday he won in EJ1 and Junior Overall setting excellent times in all stages with four best times. 

Good performance for Nathan Watson, who faced this race with an injured finger. The British came close to the podium in E2 on both race days, but good times allowed him to score two excellent top ten in the EnduroGP.

From Slovakia the team moves to Hungary for the sixth and next to last round of the World Championship.

Thomas Oldrati

"I’m so happy with this victory, which is s special for me because it comes right here in Slovakia twelve years after my first success. It was a tough race, very physical, with mud, but I liked it because it was my style. Thank you to the whole team. Now a few days off and then Hungary awaits us”.

Nathan Watson

“It has been a really long weekend. I came into this week with no training because I had an infection to my finger. So, I had a lot of pain and the bad feeling made me crash many times. I struggled throughout the weekend”.

Rony Kytonen

"On Saturday I struggled because I didn't feel the feeling and I couldn't ride the way I wanted. On Sunday I started slow, but from the second lap I improved by pushing and I won. I’m very happy with this result”.

Matteo Boffelli

"A very tough race in real enduro style. Oldrati proved to be a great rider with an excellent race on Saturday and a beautiful victory on Sunday ahead of a very strong Verona. Excellent performance by Kytonen with the victory on Sunday in the Junior Overall. Good race for Watson too, whose performance was penalised by a problem with a finger. It’s a growing season for us, with successes in all classes: we are showing all our potential".