Columnist: Paul Bolton - 'No more crutches, so it feels like progress at last'
By Team TMX on 11th Jul 19
Well the knee is on the mend and no more crutches, so it feels like progress at last!
Meanwhile I have been keeping myself busy and connected to the action in the World Enduro Super Series.
From Le Trefle Lozerian classic enduro, the WESS crew headed to Austria for my favourite race of the year. Although not on a bike, I went out to Erzberg to do the live commentary for Red Bull and had an awesome time.
It was quite surreal being on the other side of the fence and not racing. On the plus side, I could really take in what was happening around me, rather than being uber-focussed on track walking, prep and all of the mayhem that surrounds the iron giant!
You get kind of blinkered when you are getting into race mode. But it was great to meet fans, continue to film our Nuts and Boltons vlog for Red Bull TV and chat with riders and sponsors all without any pressure. That is apart from the looming day of live commentary of course!!!
The racing was as fierce and exciting as always, with two days of balls-to-the-wall qualifying up the iron road prologue, followed by the main race the ErzbergRodeo Hare Scramble.
It was the vintage cheddar G-Force Jarvis doing it again for the old boys, scoring maximum points in the WESS series, closely followed by my vlogging buddy Manuel Lettenbichler and Lagares winner Mario Roman in an impressive third.
From Austria the riders headed to Spain for Hixpania. With a mix of some fast and very technical days, its been a race on my radar. Unfortunately, yet again I have not had the chance to race it but will be there next year!
Watching from a far, the city prologue was very technical with the key to winning it being good decisions and zero mistakes. Alfredo Gomez did just that and wowed his home crowd.
Day 2 was the fast, cross country day with some tricky sections. Out of character for Graham, he looked to be comfortable with the speed. But he was clearly hanging it out there, having a nasty off, but luckily sustaining no injury and taking the win.
The final day was the super tech day. Mario Roman crossed the line first, closely followed by Jarvis. Due to the cumulative points over the event, Grimbo celebrated the overall Hixpania win.
So whats next in the calendar? While writing this, we are counting the days until the arrival of baby Bolton.
Mrs B is three days overdue and still flat out working on our new website for Dirt Bike Spec like a nutter all while bouncing on a gym ball!
Other than expecting the new arrival, we are now half-way through the eight-race WESS series and the next stop is Red Bull Romaniacs.
Still recovering from my injury, Im not back riding but Ill be heading out to Romania to get in on the action and do some live presenting on the final day.
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