Straight as an Aro
By TMX Archives on 9th Apr 08
DUST replaced mud at round three of the World Enduro Championship and the wet and gloomy conditions of Portugal were quickly forgotten as two days of warm and dry weather welcomed riders to Spain.In complete contrast to Portugal a week earlier, the Spanish round, at Sitges, was one of the dustiest races for many years. The motocross test was transformed into little more than ruts and dusty berms after just one lap. Finns Mika Ahola and Samuli Aro claimed the top spots in Enduro 1 and Enduro 3 classes respectively on both days while Johnny Aubert did the same in Enduro 2 his closest championship rival, Juha Salminen, failed to finish day one. In the Enduro Junior class Italian Thomas Oldrati claimed his first ever double podium.
FINLAND'S Mika Ahola did the seemingly impossible at the GP of Spain and beat Ivan Cervantes on both days to extend his lead at the top of the World Enduro 1 standings. With the Finn managing to do just enough to claim the top spot on both days, he surprised even himself with his speed and consistency in the dry Spanish special tests and claimed a five-second winning margin on day one. On day two, Mika was locked in an intense battle with Cervantes for the class win with little to separate the two riders all day.
Trading special test wins, Mika emerged as the eventual winner, less than half a second ahead of Ivan. "I can't believe I was able to beat Ivan, here in Spain, on both days,” commented Mika. "I haven't really ridden in these conditions since changing to E1, so I was pleased that my speed was good on day one. I was sure that Ivan wouldn't like being beaten at his home race, so I was expecting him to be really fired up on day two. He was, but I just managed to win again!”
Finnish enduro newcomer Eero Remes claimed the third and final podium position showing once again that, despite his lack of international enduro experience, he's certainly got what it takes to mix it with his more experienced rivals.
On day two, Italian Simone Albergoni claimed third, a result he felt he should have had on day one were it not for a few costly mistakes in the extreme test. Remes was fourth.
For Britain's E1 class riders Tom Sagar and Daryl Bolter it was a mixed weekend. Bolter had a good one with two top ten finishes while Sagar failed to finish day two with a mechanical problem after posting tenth on day one.
"It's been a really good weekend for me,” commented Bolter who disappoint-
ingly crashed out of the Portuguese round on day two. "It wasn't the most interesting of races but I'm pleased with the way I've ridden. The tests were all really different, but I got on OK with all of them. The motocross test was hard because it was so dusty.”
Sagar's bike stopped without warning with just five special tests completed, "I'm not sure what happened,” explained Tom. "I was riding down one of the mountain tracks and the bike just cut out. I tried to see if there was an electrical problem but I couldn't find anything. That was it. Day one didn't go that well and obviously day two was a disaster, so not a good weekend for me.”
Another rider who didn't have a good weekend was seven times world champion Juha Salminen. Close to six seconds up on rival Johnny Aubert on day one, Salminen then suffered a mechanical failure that put him out of the event and, possibly, out of the hunt for a possible eighth world title.
"It can happen, but it's always disappointing if it does,” explained the calm Finn. "Things were going well but I had some kind of mechanical problem. That was the end of my race.”
With Salminen out, Johnny Aubert claimed a sizeable win finishing close to 90 seconds up on his compatriot Antoine Meo, who himself had a good day following a disastrous Portuguese event.
Third, showing that just as in the Enduro 3 class, two-strokes can also perform well in Enduro 2, was KTM's Alessandro Belometti.
Pleased to have won on day one, but wanting to beat Salminen rather than see him fail to finish, Aubert put in what was one of his best ever performances to outpace Salminen and claim a deserved 15-second winning margin.
"Obviously, it was good to win day one, but I didn't like the way I won,” admitted Aubert from the podium after day two. "If Juha had finished the first day, I think he would have beaten me. It's bad luck he had troubles but that can happen. Beating Juha on day two was great though. I pushed so hard and it's great to have won. I'm not thinking about the championship because I know Juha won't give up. He never does!”
Third on day two, making it two podium finishes in Spain, was Husqvarna's Antoine Meo.
In Enduro 3, Samuli Aro continued his impressive start to the series, claiming victory on both days. Topping day one by close to half-a-minute, the former world champion was made to work harder on day two but still claimed a ten-second advantage to move further ahead in the E3 standings.
"I'm pleased but a little surprised how well things have been for me so far this season. I wasn't expecting to have won five of the first six days. I felt really good on the first day and won quite easily, but on the second day I had to push harder because Christophe Nambotin was riding well.”
Runner-up to Aro on both days, Nambotin showed that his winning ride in Portugal hadn't been a lucky result as he again performed consistently with good speed. Unable to match Aro's pace on day one, Christophe maintained pressure on Aro throughout day two, winning four tests and finishing just ten seconds behind the experienced Finn. Husqvarna rider Seb Guillaume with Marko Tarkkala placed third and fourth on day one while on day two Tarkkala claimed third ahead of Aprilia-mounted Stefan Merriman. Euan McConnell was 17th on day one after clocking in one minute early at the first check, and he joined Tom Sagar in not finishing on day two after badly damaging his front wheel on the motocross test. Gordon Clarke finished both days – in 20th and 18th positions. Italian Thomas Oldrati produced his best result of the series so far in Spain, topping the Enduro Junior class on both days.
Britain's highest placed rider in the EJ class was KTM's Greg Evans. Finishing in seventh and sixth spots, Greg was as high as fourth in class on the event's extreme test and if he had been able to shave a couple of seconds of each of his special test times would have finished within reach of the podium each day.
Performing well aboard his 450cc Husqvarna but not really pleased with his performances, Si Wakely claimed in eighth and 11th spots, while enduro new comer Phillip McLaughlin completed both days inside the points with 14th and 13th finishes. Ashley Wood also scored points on both days finishing in 18th on day one and 14th on day two while Ollie Moyce placed 27th on day one and just missed out on a point scoring result on day two, in 21st.
WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Sitges, SPAIN
DAY ONE
ENDURO ONE: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda) 44:47.43, 2 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 44:53.08, 3 Eero Remes (KTM) 45:31.48, 4 Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 45:40.56, 5 Marc Germain (Yamaha) 46:05.48, 6 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 46:05.56, 7 Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 46:49.02, 8 Daryl BOLTER (Husqvarna) 47:32.82, 9 Tom SAGAR (KTM) 47:35.50, 10 Mike Hartmann (KTM) 47:47.77,...
ENDURO TWO: 1 Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 44:35.97, 2 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 45:57.22, 3 Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 46:00.33, 4 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 46:20.90, 5 Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 46:38.38, 6 Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 46:43.60, 7 Alessandro Zanni (Honda) 46:44.56, 8 Simo Kirssi (BMW) 46:48.77, 9 Rodrig Thain (TM) 46:55.72, 10 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 47:28.18,...
ENDURO THREE: 1 Samuli Aro (KTM) (45:08.56), 2 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 45:40.44, 3 Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 46:02.1, 4 Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 46:08.49, 5 Fabien Planet (KTM) 46:23.94, 6 Xavier Galindo (KTM) 46:29.92, 7 Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 46:39.03, 8 Gerard Fares (KTM) 46:45.83, 9 Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 46:50.11, 10 Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 47:13.44,... 17 Euan McCONNELL (TM) 49:37.02,...
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 46:32.32, 2 Oriol Mena (KTM) 47:05.65, 3 Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 47:08.54, 4 Mirko Gritti (Beta) 47:20.94, 5 Carlos Andreu (KTM) 47:44.33, 6 Victor Guerrero (KTM) 48:07.50, 7 Greg EVANS (KTM) 48:36.57, 8 Simon WAKELY (Husqvarna) 49:07.65, 9 Bert Mayer (BMW) 49:12.02, 10 Jeremy Joly (Sherco) 49:13.84,... 14 Phillip McLAUGHLIN (TM) 50:15.66,... 18 Ashley WOOD (Honda) 50:53.97,...
DAY TWO
ENDURO ONE: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda) 39:25.57, 2 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 39:26.19, 3 Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 39:50.88, 4 Eero Remes (KTM) 40:18.67, 5 Marc Germain (Yamaha) 40:35.20, 6 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 40:48.75, 7 Maurizio Micheluz 40:50.47, 8 Mike Hartmann (KTM) 41:43.21, 9 Luca Cherubini (TM) 41:52.86, 10 Daryl BOLTER (Husqvarna) 42:03.29,...
ENDURO TWO: 1 Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 38:36.74, 2 Juha Salminen (KTM) 38:52.50, 3 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 39:58.63, 4 Rodrig Thain (TM) 40:46.75, 5 Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 40:49.75, 6 Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 40:50.53, 7 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 40:53.51, 8 Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 40:58.35, 9 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 41:12.67, 10 Alessandro Zanni (Honda) 41:17.02,...
ENDURO THREE: 1 Samuli Aro (KTM) 39:56.62, 2 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 40:06.79, 3 Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 40:09.12, 4 Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 40:11.25, 4 Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 40:34.87, 5 Marcus Kehr (KTM) 40:38.52, 6 Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 40:54.22, 7 Xavier Galindo (KTM) 41:00.19, 8 Antoine Letellier (Aprilia) 41:01.17, 9 Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 41:24.55, 10 Gerard Fares (KTM) 41:28.76,... 18 Gordon CLARKE (TM) 46:22.93,...
ENDURO JUNIOR: 1 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 40:57.53, 2 Oriol Mena (KTM) 41:10.06, 3 Mirko Gritti (Beta) 41:25.30, 4 Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 41:30.31, 5 Victor Guerrero (KTM) 41:40.32, 6 Greg EVANS (KTM) 42:13.60, 7 Oscar Balletti (Honda) 42:30.53, 8 Jeremy Joly (Sherco) 42:53.70 9. Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) 43:11.60, 10 Adrien Metge (Husqvarna) 43:23.99, 11 Simon WAKELY (Husqvarna) 43:38.65,... 13 Philip McLAUGHLIN (TM) 44:12.65, 14 Ashley WOOD (Honda) 44:21.24,...
For full pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, April 11, 2008