Ahola reigns in Spain
By TMX Archives on 1st Apr 09
IN complete contrast to the dry and dusty conditions at the championship opening GP in Portugal, the second round of the '09 World Enduro Championship the GP of Spain, held in Igualada, close to Barcelona saw unexpectedly wet and muddy conditions make for an extremely challenging event, one in which KTM riders Johnny Aubert and Ivan Cervantes claimed double E2 and E3 class wins respectively, while defending E1 world champion Mika Ahola and Italian Simone Albergoni shared top honours in the Enduro 1 class. With Mika Ahola claiming a double Enduro 1 class win at the season opener in Portugal, it looked at the end of the opening day's competition in Spain that the Finn might do the same in Igualada as the defending E1 world champion picked up his third successive day win.
Finishing ahead of the KTM factory rider
Simone Albergoni and Husqvarna's Antoine Meo, Ahola's winning margin wasn't as convincing as some were expecting but the Honda rider nevertheless put himself on top of the podium after a day-long battle with his two closest rivals.
Day two saw Italian Albergoni show just good a mud rider he is to claim his first win of the season. With the same three riders filling the top three positions, all made mistakes
at some point but come the end of the second day's competition, it was Albergoni who placed ahead of Ahola with Meo again third.
To finally win a day is great, explained KTM's number one E1 class rider Albergoni. It was close on day one but to win shows me that I have the speed to beat Mika. In Portugal he was just too fast, but with my home round of the championship next, I hope I can now start pushing him every race.
With the tough conditions responsible for
most retirements, French Sherco rider, Jordon Curvalle, was without question the most unlucky rider on day two as he was forced to retire when a metal spike went right the way through one of his lower legs. Flicked up by the front wheel, the thin metal spike went though the front of his boot, through his leg, and out the other side, without breaking any bones. Jordon was, unsurprisingly, taken to hospital where the metre-long spike was removed.
Of all the riders competing in Spain, KTM's Enduro 2 class, star Johnny Aubert, was the one that enjoyed the best weekend as he claimed two more day wins to remain unbeaten this season while also stretching out a 27-point championship lead.
Disadvantaged by being the first rider on each of the event's special tests on day one, Johnny still managed to win all but two of the day's special tests in the E2 class and once again recorded the overall fastest time of any rider in the event. Winning day one by 37 seconds, Aubert was simply faster and made fewer mistakes than his rivals.
But behind Aubert, competition was close for the remaining podium positions. Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero rode well, as he had on day two in Portugal, to claim the runner-up spot while Husqvarna's Bartosz Oblucki ensured that day one didn't end with an all four-stroke podium as he claimed third on his 250cc two-stroke. With Aubert 37 clear at the top of the results, one-minute covered the second to tenth placed riders.
WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 Igualada, SPAIN
DAY ONE
ENDURO ONE: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda) 38:28.75, 2 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 38:37.18, 3 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 38:52.01, 4 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 38:53.05, 5 Fabien Planet (KTM) 39:00.72, 6 Eero Remes (KTM) 39:01.18, 7 Marc Germain (Yamaha) 39:20.74, 8 Julien Gauthier (Honda) 39:49.42, 9 Xavier Galindo (KTM) 40:01.92, 10 Nicolas Paganon (Kawasaki) 40:25.26, 11 Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 40:44.67, 12 Greg EVANS (KTM) 41:21.32, 13 Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 41:36.31, 14 Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 41:40.30, 15 Maurizio Gerini (KTM) 42:32.12, 16 David Cadek (KTM) 42:41.13, 17 Jakub Horak (KTM) 44:00.21.
ENDURO TWO: 1 Johnny Aubert (KTM) 38:23.72, 2 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 39:01.47, 3 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 39:15.07, 4 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 39:27.45, 5 Oscar Balletti (Honda) 39:37.63, 6 Rodrig Thain (TM) 39:46.81, 7 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 39:54.52, 8 Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 39:59.09, 9 Juha Salminen (BMW) 39:59.12, 10 Luca Cherubini (TM) 39:59.83, 11 Simo Kirssi (BMW) 40:05.74, 12 Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas) 40:13.81, 13 Fabrizio Dini (Beta) 40:15.77, 14 Christian Beggi (Yamaha) 40:30.39; 15; Jean-Francois Goblet (BMW) 40:40.12, 16 Damien Miquel (Yamaha) 41:13.04, 17 Hans Vogel (Yamaha) 41:29.54, 18 Aaron Bernardez (BMW) 41:47.75, 19 Emmanuel Albepart (Kawasaki) 42:04.24, 20 Kevin Gauniaux (Gas Gas).
ENDURO THREE: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 38:40.52, 2 Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 38:42.91, 3 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 38:44.00, 4 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 39:34.32, 5 Samuli Aro (KTM) 39:34.66, 6 David KNIGHT (BMW) 39:43.62, 7 Marcus Kehr (KTM) 39:48.23, 8 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 39:49.90, 9 Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 40:26.59, 10 Marko Tarkkala (BMW) 40:27.60, 11 Tom SAGAR (Husaberg) 41:03.63, 12 Rudy Cotton (Beta) 41:05.88, 13 Jordi Viladoms (KTM) 41:31.75, 14 Marc Risse (Gas Gas) 43:18.67, 15 Mark Wassink (KTM) 43:27.99, 16 Ludivine Puy (Gas Gas) 52:27.33.
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 36:56.80, 2 Jeremy Joly (Honda) 37:28.33, 3 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 37:43.34, 4 Benoit Fortunato (Yamaha) 38:08.55, 5 Mirko Gritti (Beta) 38:23.24, 6 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha) 38:36.12, 7 Antoine Basset (Husqvarna) 38:46.39, 8 Adrien Metge (Husqvarna) 39:05.04, 9 Philip McLAUGHLIN (TM) 39:20.24, 10 Goncalo Reis (KTM) 39:27.65, 11 Mathieu Gagnoud (Honda) 39:30.39, 12 Sebastien Bozzo (Husqvarna) 39:40.77, 13 Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) 39:45.89, 14 Edoardo D'Ambrosio (KTM) 40:01.54, 15 Calle Sjoo (Husaberg) 40:06:49, 16 Armand Monleon (Gas Gas) 40:24.15, 17 Pierre Pallut (Husqvarna) 40:32.70, 18 Ashley WOOD (Gas Gas) 40:40.09, 19 Guillem Pares (Gas Gas) 40:48.07, 20 Marc Sola (Gas Gas) 40:55.53.
DAY TWO
ENDURO ONE: 1 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 50:04.91, 2 Mika Ahola (Honda) 50:22.34, 3 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 50:36.56, 4 Eero Remes (KTM) 51:02.86, 5 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 51:19.93, 6 Marc Germain (Yamaha) 51:37.18, 7 Fabien Planet (KTM) 52:19.32, 8 Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 52:45.19, 9 Julien Gauthier (Honda) 53:11.94, 10 Xavier Galindo (KTM) 54:02.30, 11 Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 57:14.99, 12 Maurizio Gerini (KTM) 59:20.29, 13 Jakub Horak (KTM) 1:00:12.38.
ENDURO TWO: 1 Johnny Aubert (KTM) 48:40.02, 2 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 50:41.06, 3 Rodrig Thain (TM) 51:01.88, 4 Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 51:12.51, 5 Juha Salminen (BMW) 51:35.17, 6 Simo Kirssi (BMW) 52:20.61, 7 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 52:27.37, 8 Oscar Balletti (Honda) 52:29.37, 9 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 52:47.09, 10 Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 52:51.59, 11 Fabrizio Dini (Beta) 53:49:02, 12 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 54:18.69, 13 Simon WAKLEY (Husqvarna) 55:25.96, 14 Hans Vogel (Yamaha) 55:27.00, 15 Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) 56:17.74, 16 Cristian Beggi (Yamaha) 56:44.42, 17 Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas), 18 Mike Hartmann (Husaberg) 56:52.75, 19 Damien Miquel (Yamaha) 57:15.46, 10 Kevin Gauniaux (Gas Gas) 57:35.26.
ENDURO THREE: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 50:27.01, 2 Samuli Aro (KTM) 50:55.02, 3 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 50:55.77, 4 Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 51:36.64, 5 Marcus Kehr (KTM) 51:50.39, 6 David KNIGHT (BMW) 52:29.09, 7 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 54:27.37, 8 Marko Tarkkala (BMW) 54:46.12. 9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 55:39.74, 10 Mark Wassink (KTM) 56:53.88, 11 Jordi Viladoms (KTM) 1.00:22.66, 12 Rudy Cotton 1.02:14.80, 13 Marc Risse (Gas Gas) 1.03:46.85.
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 52:08.49, 2 Benoit Fortunato (Yamaha) 52:50.01, 3 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha) 53:37.69, 4 Jeremy Joly (Honda) 54:03.30, 5 Antoine Basset (Husqvarna) 54:59.54, 6 Jonathon Manzi (Husqvarna) 55:27.18, 7 Philip McLAUGHLIN (TM) 55:27.18, 8 Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) 55:27.35, 9 Elie Vecchi (Gas Gas) 55:48.36, 10 Pierre Pallut (Husqvarna) 56:41.22, 11 Edoardo D'Ambrosio (KTM) 57:09.38, 12 Goncalo Reis (KTM) 57:29.93, 13 Adam Guillaume (Husqvarna) 59:08.75, 14 Gavin HOUSON (Husqvarna) 59:15.46, 15 Guillem Pares (Gas Gas) 59:42.60, 16 Armand Monleon (Gas Gas) 59:55.12, 17 Sebastien Bozzo (Husqvarna) 1.00:22.86, 18 Romain Barberger (Sherco) 1.01:23.78, 19 Mathieu Gagnoud (Honda) 1.01:22.66, 20 Thibaut Dussuelle (Yamaha) 1.01:45.14.
NEXT ROUND: April 18/19 Iglesias, ITALY.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009
It was a successful weekend for Ivan Cervantes as he took top spot on both days in E3.