Jed Etchells scored a superb brace of wins in the Youth 125cc class of the FIM Borilli EnduroGP World Championship event in Italy over the weekend.

The 20-year-old Manxman topped the Youth Cup class by 4.4 seconds in bright sunshine on the first day of the event at Spoleto in the province of Perugia, central Italy.

Thunderstorms on the Friday led to the conditions being tricky in places, and the St Mark’s rider had a blip in the extreme test on lap two allowing Spain’s Sergio Navarro to go in front on the Husqvarna.

But Etchells regained the lead with a superb enduro test on lap three, the two-stroke Fantic really singing between the trees.

The Spaniard refused to give up and finished the day four seconds back, both more than one minute clear of third-placed Claudio Spanu of Italy on another Husqvarna.

The forecast rain returned on Sunday morning and the organisers had made modifications to the course to ensure the safety of all competitors.

Etchells again topped the class from Navarro, this time by a whopping 1m 17s, with England’s Harry Edmondson third at another 14s on a similar Yamaha-engined Fantic to the Manxman.

’What a weekend! Managed to take the double victory here in Italy,’ said a delighted Jed on Facebook. ’Saturday started well in the lead, but it came down to the last lap the take the win.

’Sunday was wet and cold! I was making lots of time up in the enduro test all weekend and managed to take the win by 1 minute 17 seconds. Super happy with my riding and a big thank you to the team and all my sponsors, my bike was absolutely awesome.’

In the main EnduroGP class, Daniel McCanney rode his Honda Racing Red Moto 450 to eighth place overall on Saturday, third in E2 behind Steve Holcombe (Beta) and Loic Larrieu second (TM).

McCanney was ninth on day two (fourth E2), 7.27s off fellow Brit Joe Wootton (Husqvarna).

The EnduroGP World Championship will continue with back-to-back rounds at Marco Canaveses, 60km from Porto in November.

knighter off to spain

David Knight is heading to southern Spain this weekend to prepare for a qualifying Rallye for next year’s Dakar event.

The six-day event should have been in Morocco but has been switched to Spain.

The 41-year-old Ballaugh ace is set to ride a Husqvarna.