Hollis aiming high in world enduro
Campaign starts in Spain this weekendQueenslander Chris Hollis will attempt to uphold a strong Australian tradition in world enduro competition when the 2010 season begins in Spain this weekend.
Hollis, the 2008 Australian off-road champion, has joined the factory Husqvarna team for 2010, and will compete in the E1 class against a crack field, led by reigning E2 champion Johnny Aubert (KTM).
Australia has already produced an E1 world champion in the form of Stefan Merriman, who clinched the title in 2004 on a Yamaha.
Merriman continued to be a world enduro rider until he called it quits at the end of 2008, but now Hollis has picked up a plum ride with Husqvarna and should be a serious contender from the get-go on his four-stroke TE250.
And Hollis certainly won't be playing a lone hand for Australia in 2010, with Josh Green set to compete in the junior class on a TM.
Husqvarna, now owned by BMW, has assembled a five-rider team for 2010, with two of them joining Hollis in E1: reigning world No. 2 Antoine Meo and Matti Seistola.
Last year's E1 champion, Mike Ahola, has made the switch to E2 for 2010, but with French enforcer Aubert going in the opposite direction the battle for the likes of Hollis, Meo and extreme enduro champion Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) will be intense.
In E2, the loss of Aubert has been offset by the arrival of Ahola and the 2009 E3 champion, Ivan Cervantes. And there are a host of other big names keen to share in the power-sharing arrangement, including Juha Salminen (BMW), Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), Rodrig Thain (TM), Marko Tarkkala (BMW), Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) and former world motocross star Cedric Melotte (Gas Gas0.
E3 has five standouts: Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas), Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna), David Knight (KTM), Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) and Oriol Mena (Husaberg).
Australia has produced two world enduro champions: Shane Watts and Merriman. Watts won the 125cc two-stroke title in 1997, and Merriman was a four-time winner in 2000-2001 and 2003-2004.
This year's title will be an eight-weekend, 16-round affair, and will conclude in France on September 15-16.
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