The pain in Spain
By TMX Archives on 14th Apr 11
Described by many as one of the most eventful opening rounds the Enduro World Championship has ever seen, the 11 GP of Spain ended in spectacularly different circumstances for a number of the series biggest teams.
DNF results for four KTM factory team riders, including Britain's David Knight, resulted in a hugely disappointing weekend for the EWC's most successful team in recent years while Husqvarna grabbed double Enduro 1 and Enduro 2 class wins thanks to Juha Salminen and Antoine Meo.
Mika Ahola topped the Enduro 3 class on both days while Finnish youngster Antti Helsten became the fourth rider to claim a double class win as he headed the Enduro Junior class.
With double DNF results for both Enduro 2 class rider Johnny Aubert and defending Enduro 3 World Champion David Knight, KTM endured their worst ever start to an Enduro World Championship season as a freak set of events saw just two of their six factory team riders finish the second day's competition at the GP of Spain.
With all eyes on Aubert as he made his first EWC outing on the new 350cc machine, the Frenchman completed just two special tests before being sidelined with an electrical problem. The fastest rider in the E2 class through the opening two tests, Aubert looked a hard rider to beat but could do nothing but watch as Antoine Meo and Ivan Cervantes battled for the eventual top two positions.
Day two saw things go from bad to worse for Aubert as a winning result on the opening test was followed by another electrical retirement, effectively ending the former World Champion's chances of claiming E2 class glory this season.
Worse still for the KTM team was the day one retirement of David Knight. The last rider to complete the Friday night Super Test, which resulted in Knight not finishing until close to 11 o'clock, having just found his winning form on day one and topping the first timed extreme test he caught his foot on the enduro test, violently rotating his hip. Unable to continue, Knight's weekend was over.
At the head of the Enduro 1 class Juha Salminen returned to his winning ways, putting several disappointing seasons behind him to show that he's still a class act and a rider that's going to be hard to beat this season. Topping both days ahead of Matti Seistola to give Husqvarna a pair of one-two result, it was actually Seistola who led for much of the opening day before a crash on the last enduro test dropped him to second. Rounding out the podium was KTM's Eero Remes.
Day two saw Salminen's consistency rewarded with a deserved and hard fought second victory. Chased hard by Seistola, who placed just nine seconds behind his countryman, Salminen didn't win one test but secured 25 Championship points for his efforts. Third on day two went to Sherco-mounted Frenchman Fabien Planet with Honda's Rodrig Thain fourth and Remes sixth.
"It's a great start to the Championship, but I'm not getting carried away with anything yet,” commented a clearly pleased Salminen. "The best thing for me is that I was able to ride like I wanted during both days and didn't make any mistakes. With Matti second on both days it's a real boost for the team.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX APRIL 8
World Enduro Championship
Rd 1 – Ponts, SPAIN
DAY ONE
ENDURO ONE: 1 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 2 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna), 3 Eero Remes (KTM), 4 Fabien Planet (Sherco), 5 Rodrig Thain (Honda), 6 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 7 Julien Gauthier (TM), 8 Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki), 9 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 10 Adrien Metge (Honda),... 15 Gordon Clarke (IRE - TM).
ENDURO TWO: 1 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 2 Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas), 3 Cristobal Guerrero (KTM) , 4 Pierre-Alexandre Renet (Husaberg), 5 Simone Albergoni (Husqvarna), 6 Oscar Balletti (Beta), 7 Antoine Basset (Yamaha), 8 Aaron Bernardez (Husaberg), 9 Jordan Curvalle (Sherco), 10 Armand Monleon (KTM),...
ENDURO THREE: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda), 2 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas), 3 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) , 4 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 5 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM), 6 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), 7 Marcus Kehr (KTM), 8 Marko Tarkkala (Husaberg), 9 Alessandro Botturi (Gas Gas), 10 Juan Perez (KTM),...
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Antti Helsten (KTM), 2 Mathias Bellino (Husaberg), 3 Jonathan Manzi (KTM), 4 Benoit Fortunato (Yamaha), 5 Jeremy Joly (Honda), 6 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha), 7 Romain Dumontier (Yamaha), 8 Mario Roman (KTM), 9 Kevin Benavides (Husaberg), 10 Johan Carlsson (Beta),...
DAY TWO
ENDURO ONE: 1 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 2 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna), 3 Fabien Planet (Sherco), 4 Rodrig Thain (Honda), 5 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 6 Eero Remes (KTM), 7 Julien Guathier (TM), 8 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 9 Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki), 10 John-Christian Seljord (Honda),... 16 Gordon Clarke (IRE - TM).
ENDURO TWO: 1 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 2 Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas), 3 Pierre-Alexandre Renet (Husaberg), 4 Simone Albergoni (Husqvarna), 5 Hans Vogels (Husaberg), 6 Jeff Goblet (Yamaha), 7 Antoine Basset (Yamaha), 8 Goncalo Reis (Honda), 9 Jordan Curvalle (Sherco), 10 Armman Monleon (KTM)....
ENDURO THREE: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda), 2 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas), 3 Marko Tarkkala (Husaberg), 4 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna), 5 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), 6 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 7 Marcus Kehr (KTM), 8 Alessandro Botturi (Gas Gas), 9 Maurizio Micheluz (Fantic), 10 Juan Perez (KTM),...
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Antti Helsten (KTM), 2 Jonathan Manzi (KTM), 3 Jeremy Joly (Honda), 4 Mathias Bellino (Husaberg), 5 Benoit Fortunato (Yamaha), 6 Mario Roman (KTM), 7 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha), 8 Edoardo D'ambrosio (Honda), 9 Calle Sjoo (Honda), 10 Henrik Lindholm (Honda),...
NEXT ROUND: April 9/10 – Vale de Cambra, PORTUGAL.
