PR - ENDURO 2006 FIM World Enduro
By TMX Archives on 14th May 06
After a highly successful opening day at the third round of the World Enduro Championship -the GP of Euskadi staged in Gernika Spain, KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli riders Ivan Cervantes and David Knight repeated their respective Enduro 1 and Enduro 3 class wins and were backed up by yet more strong results from their KTM team mates. Finishing as runner-up in the E1 class to Cervantes was KTM's Alessandro Belometti while Marko Tarkkala finished second to Knight in the E3 class. As on day one Samuli Aro finished in third in the fiercely competitive Enduro 2 class.
With the dull weather of day one replaced by clear skies and warm temperatures day two of the GP of Euskadi proved to be extremely tiring for all riders, including the world's best. With nine timed special tests and three laps of the cut-up, rough and rutted course to complete at the end of the event all KTM factory team riders were not only pleased to have finished but of the same opinion that the race was possibly a little too hard — especially for the lesser experienced and Enduro Junior class riders.
Having topped the Enduro 1 class on day one Spaniard Ivan Cervantes was determined to claim another class win in front of his home crowd but came close to seeing his hopes of a double win come to nothing when he made a costly mistake on the second timed enduro test of day two. Resulting in the reigning E1 world champion having to push as hard as he could on the four remaining special tests to regain the class lead, he managed to claim the day win by less than one second. With Simone Albergoni claiming second KTM factory rider Alessandro Belometti claimed a well deserved third place spot just six seconds behind winner Cervantes. KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli riders Ivan Cervantes and Alessandro Belometti are now placed in first and third in the 2006 Enduro 1 world championship standings.
Finn Samuli Aro placed his factory 450EXC KTM on the third step of the podium on day two of the GP of Euskadi, just as he did on day one. Seeing several small mistakes affect his result, the reigning E2 world champion none the less increased his pace as the day unfolded and placed less than 30 seconds behind the class winner. French factory KTM rider Fabien Planet had a disappointing day on Sunday only managing to finish in 15th position.
With Aro placing third, and now sitting in second in the E2 world championship standings, Frenchman Johnny Aubert claimed the E2 class win with Stefan Merriman second.
Winning each and every one of the nine timed special tests on day two in the Enduro 3 class of the GP of Euskadi David Knight again proved simply too fast for his class mates and claimed his sixth E3 class day win of the 2006 World Enduro Championship season. Finishing a massive two-and-a-half minutes ahead of the second placed rider Knight also placed as the events quickest overall competitor. Making it a KTM one-two in the E3 class, as it was on day one, Finn Marko Tarkkala claimed the runner-up spot and currently sits 18 points behind Knight in the E3 world championship standings.
Ivan Cervantes: "It was a hard, hard day for me today. Things were going well for me early in the day but then I made a mistake on the enduro test on the second lap. I lost about 20 seconds and had to fight hard for the rest of the day to win. It was a hard race because of the difficult conditions but having to push so, so hard to get back to the front of the E1 class took everything out of me. I managed to win by less than one second, which isn't so much, but after riding like I had to today to win I am really happy with the way things have ended up. I am 21 points ahead in the world championship now so I am really pleased.”
Alessandro Belometti: "It was an incredible fight between myself and Ivan Cervantes and Simone Albergoni — there was just five or six seconds between us at the end of the day. I would have liked to have finished in first position but third is still a result that I am happy with. For my world championship I scored more good points, which is the most important thing for me. I had a really good feeling with my bike this weekend and being so competitive ahead of my home GP is really fantastic. I am very happy with my performance.”
Samuli Aro: "My day was very much like day one — I made several small mistakes, which affected my result but on the tests where I didn't make any mistakes I rode well. I got stuck on the first enduro test and lost quite a lot of time. Then on the enduro test on the last lap I had a small problem with my gear selector after I hit it in a rut, which again cost me some time. I was finding it difficult to concentrate on the last lap because it was so hot and I was so tired. It was a really tough race. I'm not really disappointed with my result but I'm not really happy with it either. I finished on the podium and got some more good championship points so I guess it was a good day and a good weekend.”
David Knight: "It's been a great weekend and a really tough one as well. I found it hard to get my head around things on day one because the conditions were so different to what they were in Portugal. I really enjoyed the first day but there were some really challenging sections on the tests and on the going. I got into the race on day one steadily and then managed to open up a decent lead and win quite comfortably.
"I felt that my clutch was slipping in the first extreme test so I rode hard to get to the next check so that I could get another clutch fitted. In the next enduro test it was the same and that's when I noticed my rear security bolt had broken. I changed that at the end of the lap and that was fine for the rest of the day. My bike started getting hotter and hotter then and nearly seized in the motocross test on lap two. I thought that the cam chain had jumped a tooth but it turned out that a radiator hose had got punctured and all the coolant came out. I had to ride the extreme test with no water in the rads and then eventually fixed it afterwards. I was worried that I might have done some serious damage but the bike was fine, which shows just how strong they are.
"It's was a difficult weekend but a great one. It's the first time this year that I've topped the overall results on both days, which is nice. Winning the Enduro 3 class on both days is what I wanted to do, like normal, and that's what I have done. I'm looking forward to putting my feet up for a few days now.”
Marko Tarkkala: "I am so tired. I am really pleased that the event is over. Finishing second again to David is another good result but I wasn't able to push hard, which is what I needed to do to try and race with him today — he was just too strong. I didn't have any problems on day two, and only one crash on the enduro test on day one, so I am happy about that but it was a really hard race. One of the hardest I have competed in.”
2006 World Enduro Championship Rnd 3
Grand Prix of Euskadi (Spain) — Day 2
Enduro 1 class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 52:14.22; 2. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 52:14.32; 3. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 52:21.05; 4. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 53:55.96; 5. Petri Pohjamo (TM) 54:08.58; 6. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 54:38.29; 7. Andre Raphael (Kawasaki) 55:35.52; 8. Nicolas Deparrois (Husqvarna) 56:28.89; 9. Freddy Blanc (KTM) 56:38.77; 10. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 57:54.80; 11. Evrard Gutkin (TM) 59:48.86; 12. Ralph Hubers (Yamaha) 1.04:38.37
Enduro 2 class
1. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 51:41.94; 2. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 52:29.60; 3. Samuli Aro (KTM) 52:55.99; 4. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 53:11.89; 5. Mika Ahola (Honda) 53:11.5; 6. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 53:50.29; 7. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 54:50.29; 8. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 54:27.52; 9. Christophe Nambotin (Husqvarna) 54:50.57; 10. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 55:02.51; 11. Nicolas Paganon (Husqvarna) 55:21.26; 12. Euan McConnell (TM) 55:23.44; 13. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 55:31.66; 14. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 56:44.24; 15. Fabien Planet (KTM) 56:52.92; 16. Federico Mancinelli (Beta) 59:52.92; 17. Juri Simoncini (Suzuki) 59:45.06
Enduro 3 class
1. David Knight (KTM) 51:13.00; 2. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 53:42.43; 3. Alessio Paoli (TM) 54:16.41; 4. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 54:21.49; 5. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 55:26.74; 6. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 56:12.60; 7. Daniel Persson (Husaberg) 57:51.20; 8. Paolo Bernardi (Honda) 57:52.82; 9. Michal Rudolf (KTM) 58:54.05; 10. Alessandro Zanni (Aprilia) 59:26.75; 11. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 1.00:14.92; 12. Daniele Tellini (Gas Gas) 1.03:16.47; 13. Michael Vukcevic (Sherco) 1.16:42.64
Enduro Junior class
1. Jake Stapleton (TM) 53:56.92; 2. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 54:17.38; 3. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 55:00.31; 4. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 55:46.80; 5. Robert Kapajcik (Yamaha) 55:52.83; 6. Jean Charles Gilbert (Kawasaki) 57:21.91; 7. Yannick Bossi (Husqvarna) 57:25.93; 8. Lucas Puerta (KTM) 1.00:30.89; 9. Carlos Andreu (KTM) 1.00:50.79; 10. Jakub Horak (KTM) 1.00:57.87; 11. Borja Nieto (KTM) 1.03:12.51; 12. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 1.03:41.15; 13. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1.04:06.54; 14. Sylvain Lebrun (Husqvarna) 1.04:38.90; 15. Guillem Pares (Gas Gas) 1.10:39.67; 16. Gustavo Gaudencio (Husqvarna) 1.12:52.05; 17. Elie Vecchi (KTM) 1.15:27.35; 18. Fredrik Berg (KTM) 1.19:23.58; 19. Roger Sanllehi (KTM) 1.30:33.29