Mika's doing Aholot of winning
By TMX Archives on 3rd Dec 10
Mika Ahola took a surprise lead in the 2011 Indoor Enduro World Championship standings following an action and incident-packed night in Genoa, Italy.
Using the event simply to try out the oversized 450cc machine he'll race in the Enduro 3 class of next year's World Enduro Championship, Mika ended the night as the overall winner having claimed victory one of the three finals.
With expected front runners Ivan Cervantes and Antoine Meo both failing to make it through into the finals it was Joakim Ljunggren who struck first as he took a start to finish win aboard his Husaberg.
Fending off early pressure from Blazusiak and Ahola, Joakim remained calm and opened up a commanding lead. Behind him Taddy crashed heavily over the triple jump, almost putting himself out of the event!
Dropping back to just inside the top ten, it seemed as if Blazusiak had ended any hopes of a potential end-of-night podium result. With a badly bent bike, he battled his way through the final two laps of the race to salvage ninth.
At the head of the field Ljunggren claimed a deserved win and was followed home by Ahola, Thomas Oldrati, Matti Seistola and Graham Jarvis.
The second final saw Ahola shine. Keeping himself out of trouble it was again Blazusiak who made a mess of things as a fall ended his hopes of challenging for the win.
With Mika steadily working his way towards the chequered flag, behind him Taddy managed to get himself back into the runner-up position while Ljunggren placed third and Oldrati fourth. The second final wasn't such a good one for Jarvis as he could only manage sixth as French youngster Jeremy Joly sneaked into fifth.
With everything to play for between Ahola and Ljunggren in the third and final encounter both riders knew they stood a chance of claiming the overall event win. However, neither rider managed to claim a second victory as Blazusiak finally claimed a race win, leading from the first corner until the flag.
Behind him home favourite Thomas Oldrati had his best ride of the night to claim the runner-up spot while it was Ahola who placed third, doing enough to claim the overall win. Just one spot ahead of Ljunggren, Ahola's result ensured he delivered a result that surprised even the likeable Finn.
Full report and images in T+MX News, dated December 3, 2010
RESULTS
WORLD INDOOR ENDURO CUP SERIES
Rd 1 – Palafiera, Genoa, ITALY
1 Mika Ahola (SF - Honda) 17 + 20 + 14 = 51
2 Joakim Ljunggren (CH - Husaberg) 20 + 14 + 11 = 45
3 Tadeusz Blazusiak (PL - KTM) 6 + 17 + 20 = 43
4 Thomas Oldrati (I - KTM) 14 + 11 + 17 = 42
5 Graham JARVIS (GB - Husaberg) 10 + 9 + 10 = 29
6 Alfredo Gomez (E - KTM) 9 + 7 + 9 = 25
7 Fabio Mossini (I - Honda) 8 + 4 + 7 = 19
8 Dani Gibert (E - Sherco) 5 + 8 + 6 = 19
9 Jeremy Joly (F - Honda) 7 + 10 + 1 = 18
10 Cody Webb (US - Beta) 3 + 6 + 8 = 17
11 Matti Seistola (SF - Husqvarna) 11+3+3=17, 12 Fabrizio Dini (I - Beta) 4+5+2=11, 13 Xavier Galindo (E - Husaberg) 2+2+4=8, 14 Fabien Planet (F - Sherco) 1+1+5=7.
RACE ONE: 1 Ljunggren, 2 Ahola, 3 Oldrati, 4 Seistola, 5 JARVIS, 6 Gomez, 7 Mossini, 8 Joly, 9 Blazusiak, 10 Gibert, 11 Dini, 12 Webb, 13 Galindo, 14 Planet.
RACE TWO: 1 Ahola, 2 Blazusiak, 3 Ljunggren, 4 Oldrati, 5 Joly, 6 JARVIS, 7 Gibert, 8 Gomez, 9 Webb, 10 Dini, 11 Mossini, 12 Seistola, 13 Galindo, 14 Planet.
RACE THREE: 1 Blazusiak, 2 Oldrati, 3 Ahola, 4 Ljunggren, 5 JARVIS, 6 Gomez, 7 Webb, 8 Mossini, 9 Gibert, 10 Planet, 11 Galindo, 12 Seistola, 13 Dini, 14 Joly.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 5) rounds: 1 Ahola 51 points, 2 Ljunggren 45, 3 Blazusiak 43, 4 Oldrati 42, 5 JARVIS 29, 6 Gomez 25, 7 Mossini 19, 8 Gibert 19, 9 Joly 18, 10 Seistola 17, 11 Webb 17, 12 Dini 11, 13 Galindo 8, 14 Planet 7.
NEXT ROUND: January 15 – venue tba, BRAZIL.