KTM’s Matt Phillips is on the verge of claiming the 2014 Enduro 3 World Championship after rebounding from a broken foot and winning Saturday’s proceedings in France.

Returning to competitive action following his foot injury at the GP of Italy, Phillips was determined to remain fixed at the head of the E3 point standings. Fighting hard for the victory all day, Phillips emerged from the final test as the victor.

“I knew I needed to win today but I wasn’t sure how my foot would be,” admitted Phillips. “It hurts when I ride but I can deal with it. Winning today has taken the pressure off a bit for tomorrow. Hopefully then I can become world champion.”

Second in the points race, Spain’s Ivan Cervantes gave everything he had to better his teammate, but with Phillips refusing to yield, Cervantes was forced to settle for second. In what is his final EWC race, France’s Fabien Planet (Sherco) made it one to remember by placing third.

Phillips will enter Sunday’s final day of action in the series with a 14-point lead in the standings.

Delivering a home win in the E1 class, KTM’s Christophe Nambotin gave the French crowd every reason to cheer. Intent on capping off his year in style, the newly-crowned champion secured a comfortable victory despite a small crash on the final cross test.

With Nambotin winning, the remainder of the podium was a French lockout; Sherco’s Jeremy Tarroux held off his teammate Antony Boissiere by just eight seconds to claim the runner-up result.

Fighting for second position, but also battling to stay inside the top three, Boissiere narrowly beat fellow Frenchman Marc Bourgeois (Yamaha) by one second to steal third.

Despite having already locked up the E2 title at the GP of Italy, Husqvarna’s Pela Renet showed no signs of slowing down. In blisteringly quick form on the enduro test, Renet pulled away from his rivals to win day one.

Fastest in Friday’s Super Test, Italy’s Alex Salvini (Honda) soon had to play second best to Renet on day one and ended his day as runner-up. Carding a career best result in the EWC with third, Frenchman Romain Dumontier (Yamaha) easily became one of the standout performers of the day.

The was plenty of reasons to celebrate in the Beta camp with Baono Beta’s Danny McCanney clinching the Junior title today in Brioude. Needing to place in front of his closest challenger Giacomo Redondi (Beta), the young Brit did exactly that to win the championship.

Picking up her sixth victory of the series, Spain’s Laia Sanz (Honda) moved one step closer to taking her third world title in the Women’s class. Unable to match Sanz’ pace, Britain’s Jane Daniels (Husqvarna) ended her day as runner-up with Australia’s Jessica Gardiner (Sherco) placing third.

2014 Enduro World Championship
Round seven – Brioude, France

E1 Saturday results:
1. Christophe Nambotin
2. Jeremy Tarroux
3. Anthony Boissiere
4. Marc Bourgeois
5. Eero Remes

E2 Saturday results:
1. Pierre Alexandre Renet
2. Alex Salvini
3. Romain Dumontier
4. Oriol Mena
5. Lorenzo Santolino

E3 Saturday results:
1. Matthew Phillips (AUS)
2. Ivan Cervantes
3. Fabien Planet
4. Aigar Leok
5. Matti Seistola

Women’s Saturday results:
1. Laia Sanz
2. Jane Daniels
3. Jessica Gardiner (AUS)
4. Jemma Wilson (AUS)
5. Samantha Tichet

Click here for detailed results