KTM Enduro Racing Team rider Daniel Sanders and former World Enduro Champion Matthew Phillips completed a memorable KTM 1-2 at Sunday's gruelling running of Australia's toughest hard enduro, the Wildwood Rock Extreme.
Completing an exciting 2015 that has included winning the E3 championship at the ISDE in Slovakia, 21-year-old Sanders took the lead on the first lap, relinquished it in the second to English visitor Ben Hemingway, then took over for good on the third, powering away to a near five-minute win over Phillips, with another former winner, Mitch Harper, third.
‰ÛÏIt's the hardest race in Australia, a good challenge, and somehow I had fun out there, just because of the challenge aspect." Sanders admitted. "It's not really a race, you just soldier on through it.
"There were some big names there so it was good to beat them, and see that my fitness was right up there. I‰Ûªll keep working on it over the off-season, it helped me to know where my weaknesses are and it will help the next year I reckon.
"I was winning it from the start, then Ben Hemingway led from the second lap, and then I passed him just before the third, so it is good to lead from there. I just had to concentrate so hard, and then the sun ended up coming out and started cooking my brain. A tough race.
"The bike was unreal, straight off the four-day Mick and Grabbo had to build it up, with all the protection, radiator braces and pipe guards disk protectors. And boy did I test the crash protection today, it went through hell today, she was upside down at times, everyone had some carnage at some point, and on the nasty hill you could be off the bike five times in 50 metres!‰Û
