The grand finale of this year’s Championnat de France d’enduro headed to Ambert, a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.
24-year-old Jess Gardiner entered the fifth and final round leading the championship by one slender point after suffering her first DNF on the second day of action at the fourth round two weeks ago, which resulted her in breaking her left scapula on a fast downhill section.
However, in true Australian style, Gardiner rode through the pain barrier to score a double race win which saw her locking up the Women’s French Enduro championship, becoming the first Aussie to win the title.
The first day of competition was simply ‘insane’ weather conditions, which saw entire day be affected by rain. Gardiner, who won with a total time of 55min47.975, 8.937 seconds clear from Justine Martel, didn’t remember the last time that she was so cold whilst racing a motorcycle.
“The trails were like riding in a creek with that much water gushing everywhere,” said Gardiner.
“The trial is the toughest trial for a French Championship since the last time I remember racing here in 2014.”
On a course which included rocky trials, nonstop rocks and tree roots did get the better of Gardiner, which saw her having a few crashes throughout the day.
Gardiner explained; “when I knew I was going to crash I jumped onto my feet at the last moment to preserve my scapula.”
“Overall I’m really happy to get the victory today. Now, with a six point lead in the championship it has taken a lot of stress off me heading into the final day tomorrow. Once again I can’t thank the Ridercamp enduro team enough, as they have all done a fantastic job with supplying me a race winning Yamaha WR250F. On top of that, in such hard conditions such as today, Michelin tyres have yet again proved to be the best tyres to be on to get the job done.”
The final race of the 2017 season was a tough day at the office for Gardiner, as her shoulder was not only extremely stiff, but also very swollen from the previous day of racing due to the extreme