Ivan was a Cer't to win
By TMX Archives on 19th Nov 08
WITH the 2008 World Enduro Championship titles having only recently been decided, the Indoor Enduro World Cup kicked off in Barcelona, Spain, last weekend where home rider Ivan Cervantes took an early series lead following some impressive riding aboard his factory KTM. With Ivan joined on the podium by team-mate Taddy Blazusiak in second, Finn Mika Ahola rounded out the podium while Graham Jarvis and Greg Evans flew the flag for Britain, and both scored world championship points.
SPANIARD Ivan Cervantes is the early leader of the Indoor Enduro World Cup. Claiming two race wins and one third place result at the opening round of the IEWC series staged inside the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona the WEC Enduro 1 class runner-up holds an eight-point advantage over indoor and extreme specialist Taddy Blazusiak.
Recording the fastest lap of any rider during the timed practice session at the tenth running of the Barcelona Indoor Enduro, Cervantes showed that despite fierce competition from the likes of Blazusiak and Ahola he could take some stopping during the three event 2008/2009 championship.
Breezing through his heat races the local star was full of confidence come the start of the first of the three finals and despite Blazusiak holding the advantage for much of the race a mistake by the Pole as the race neared its close allowed Ivan through into the lead, which he turned into a maximum 15-point race win.
Race two saw an unexpected winner in Italian youngster Thomas Oldrati. Getting a good start and then keeping himself out of trouble, the KTM rider enjoyed a massive lead at the end of the opening lap and despite the best efforts of the likes of Blazusiak and Xavi Galindo and Cervantes, remained out front to claim a well deserved win.
The third and last race saw Cervantes claim his second win of the night as Blazusiak was forced to overcome a poor start. Making the fast but technical track look a lot easier than it was, Cervantes' claimed the overall win to claim an early championship lead.
"I'm so, so happy to have won the Barcelona Indoor Enduro again, like I did in '05,” commented Ivan. "Racing in front of my friends, fans and family is great, so to win makes it ever more special. Also, I wasn't able to race here last year because I had an operation on my knee, so to come back and be even stronger than before is great.”
Although mounted on a 250cc four-stroke during the '08 WEC series Ivan switched to a 300cc two-stroke with impressive effect in Barcelona. "I raced the 300cc two-stroke, which was amazing. I haven't spent too much time on the bike but it really suits my riding style. Two wins and one third pace result is good, I'm really happy with that.”
Second to Cervantes at the end of the night was Taddy Blazusiak. Performing with much more control than he did during last year's event, the Pole raced his 200cc KTM to runner-up results in the first two finals before having to work his way from last back up to fourth in the third and final race of the night.
Despite not winning Taddy was more than pleased with the way he'd ridden. "I'm really happy with the way I performed. Last year I was really fast but I was also riding way over my head and making a lot of mistakes. This year I was pushing hard again but I knew where my limit was, and I was making sure that I didn't make too many mistakes. I wanted to start the championship with a top three result and I finished second overall, which puts me in the perfect place to attack at the next round.”
2008 FIM INDOOR ENDURO
WORLD CUP SERIES
Round 1, Barcelona
Final One: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 4 laps, 2 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM), 3 Xavi Galindo (KTM), 4 Mika Ahola (Honda), 5 Graham Jarvis (Sherco), 6 Alessandro Botturi (Honda), 7 Greg Evans (KTM), 8 Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) 4, 9 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 10 Marc Sola (Yamaha), 11 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna), 12 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 3 laps, 13 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 14 Fabio Mossini (Honda).
Final Two: 1 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 4 laps, 2 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM), 3 Ivan Cervantes (KTM), 4 Xavi Galindo (KTM), 5 Bartosz Oblucki (KTM), 6 Mika Ahola (Honda), 7 Fabio Mossini (Honda), 8 Greg Evans (KTM), 9 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 10 Marc Sola (Yamaha), 11 Alessandro Botturi (Honda), 12 Graham Jarvis (Sherco) 4, 13 Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW), 14 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM).
Final Three: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 4 laps, 2 Mika Ahola (Honda), 3 Alessandro Botturi (Honda), 4 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM), 5 Graham Jarvis (Sherco), 6 Fabio Mossini (Honda), 7. Xavi Galindo (KTM), 8 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna, 9 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 10 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 11 Greg Evans (KTM), 12 Marc Sola (Yamaha), 13 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 14 Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW).
2008 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup Series Standings: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 40 points, 2 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 32, 3 Mika Ahola (Honda) 25, 4 Xavi Galindo (KTM) 22, 5 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 19, 6 Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 15, 7 Graham Jarvis (Sherco) 12, 8 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 9, 9 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 9, 10 Greg Evans (KTM) 7, 11 Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) 3, 12 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 2, 13 Marc Sola (Yamaha) 2, 14 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
Spaniard Ivan Cervantes was in top form for his home town Enduro scoring two firsts and a third to take the overall.