The start list of the 2nd round of the Italian Championships made the most competitive ever Breckland look like a club race. The start list read like a who's who of Enduro. Paul, David, Merriman, Scovolo, Grasso, Ahola, Pohjamo, Larsson, Albergoni, Paoli, Sala, Rinaldi I could go on. The organisers had laid on an event to befit the entry list. Unfortunately conservationists shortened the off road sections meaning that a lot of the checks were on the icy asphault. Starting by the beach in the middle of town then snaking up the mountain into the snow the course was still an awesome spectacle. The tests were even more so. 1 trials type extreme test up a goat track and 2 cross country enduro style tests with no motocross style tests meant this was no ordinary enduro. The enduro tests were seriously fast and the longer 2nd test was on the side of a mountain making it quite scary in places. I started the day by sliding down the road on my elbow and hip on the ice. I didn't see it and by the look of all the foot peg marks and diffent coloured plastics i wasn' the only one that was caught by the ice. Indeed there was a gritting vehicle there on the next lap. None of the tests were timed on the first lap which is just as well as it took a lot to adapt to riding in the stones and rocks after riding in the manicured breckland test. My first timed test felt horrendous. I was bouncing all over the place. It turned out to be my best test of the weekend. There were no smooth lines and everybody was bouncing all over the place. David was in a class of his own. He took 3mins out of me in 10 timed tests. He also took 45 seconds out of 2nd placed man Stefan Merriman. I was 16th overall and Paul 12th on his 250cc fourstroke. I beat Paul on 4 tests which i was happy about. For the 2nd day i hadn't changed a tyre as i swapped forks with Paul. We didn't have a spare set with us and Paul's went dead as mud had got passed the seals. I offered to swap as my result wasn't as important as Paul's who has a realistic chance of challenging for a World Championship. I finished a disapointing 25th overall but satisfied that i had survived relatively unscathed. We now know what we need to work on prior to the first world round in 3 weeks time.