After a lengthy forced-stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic, Beta Factory Racing’s Steve Holcombe gets
back to competitive action at this weekend’s Italian Enduro Championship opener in Carpineti.
• Steve returns to racing following COVID-19 lockdown
• He will compete on the Beta RR Racing 4T 350 for the first time
• The Italian championship opener takes place in Carpineti
A date Steve has been patiently waiting for, round one of the Italian series will see the five-time Enduro World Champion make his debut on the Beta RR Racing 4T 350. Winning five consecutive titles on the Beta RR Racing 2T 300, Steve has decided to seek a new challenge for 2020 by competing on a four-stroke for the first time in his professional career.
Steve’s participation in the Italian Enduro Championship opener forms part of his preparations for the five-round 2020 FIM EnduroGP World Championship, which is scheduled to begin in France on September 18-20.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Steve has gelled well with his new machine in training and now looks forward to getting some serous race miles under his belt as he builds towards the EnduroGP World Championship start, which is due to kick off in September. With travel restrictions easing, Steve recently visited the Beta Racing headquarters in Northern Italy to complete some final testing, which marked his first trip to the race shop since early March. Spending the last few days in Carpineti readying himself for the Italian series opener,
Steve has been impressed with what he has seen so far. With the event featuring a long, high-speed enduro test, a super-technical extreme test and a grass track cross test, Steve knows that the next two days will deliver a serious workout, and likely be a bit of a shock to the system!
Steve Holcombe: “Like everyone, this is a weekend I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. Due to the coronavirus lockdown we’ve been away from the buzz and thrill of racing for a long time. But with racing back on the calendar I can get into that racer’s mindset and get back to what I enjoy doing best – racing enduro bikes. The time away from racing has, in a sense, done me good, too. Although this break has been a lot longer than we all expected it to be, I feel like I’m coming back with a fresh take on everything and a renewed sense of motivation – I really want to push on and see what we can achieve. It’s going to be my first race on the Beta RR Racing 4T 350, which I’m looking forward to a lot. The aim this weekend is to ease back into things and enjoy
being back at the races as we finally begin building towards EnduroGP starting in September.”
See you on August 1 and 2 in Carsoli (AQ) for the next appointment for the Assoluti d’Italia-IMF Cup / Italian Cup,
Ph. Future7media