Husqvarna UK rider Si Wakely has made a positive start to his participation in the 2010 European Enduro Championship placing third on Day 1 of the competitive Senior Enduro 1 class at the opening round of the series staged in Boussac, central France.

Following on from his impressive results in both the British Enduro Championship opener and the first four rounds of the British Enduro Sprint Championship, Wakely finished Day 2 in Framce in 4th place which means he now sits equal third in the Senior E1 championship standings.

Despite previous events held in and around Boussac being anything but easy the first round of the 2010 EEC wasn’t a particularly challenging one despite light rain during the start of day one. With three special tests each lap – one enduro, one motocross and one extreme – a total of five laps on day one and four laps on day two ensured competition was close in all classes. Claiming his best result on day one Si placed third on his TE250 behind Frenchmen Sylvain Lebrun and Adrian Metge.

With strong competition at the top of the Senior E1 class fierce, Si managed to finish ahead of Enduro World Championship regular Goncalo Reis from Portugal, as well as several other world championship riders. Despite dropping one position on day two and finishing fourth in class Si again rode well throughout the day. With a broken rear security bolt slowing his pace slightly towards the end of the day Si missed third by 27 seconds.

Performing consistently throughout the day’s 12 special tests, Wakely also finished 11th overall and ended the event pleased with his performances. Si’s next event will be the second round of the British Enduro Championship, the Grampian Enduro, held in Scotland this coming weekend.

Si Wakely: ‘Finishing third in class on both days would have been great but third on day one and fourth on day two is a brilliant start to the championship. It was a really good weekend. Not the hardest race, but I enjoyed it. The European championship seems to be stronger than ever this year, which is great. I didn’t have any big problems during the event but I broke a security bolt on day two, which slowed me down a little towards the end of the day. I made a few mistakes on some of the tests, but it seems most riders did. All in all it’s been a fantastic event.’

Results – European Enduro Championship 2010 Senior Enduro 1 class – day 1:
1. Sylvain Lebrun (Honda) 2. Adrien Metge (Honda) 3. Si Wakely (Husqvarna UK) 4. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 5. Maurizio Gerini (Husqvarna)

Results – European Enduro Championship 2010 Senior Enduro 1 class – day 2
1. Adrien Metge (Honda) 2. Sylvain Lebrun (Honda) 3. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 4. Si Wakely (Husqvarna UK) 5. Alessandro Zanni (Yamaha)