Victory BECkoned for Juha
By TMX Archives on 18th Jul 07
DESPITE atrocious weather in the weeks leading up to the Hafren Dirt Bike Club organised Putoline Hafren Enduro, the 2007 Metzeler British Enduro Championship finally got underway last weekend where, as expected, Finland's Juha Salminen topped the overall results, on both days, aboard his D3-Racing KTM. In the Enduro 1 class Greg Evans and Daryl Bolter battled it out for top British honours behind the six-time world champion while KTM's Tom Sagar and TM's Euan McConnell respectively topped Enduro 2 and Enduro 3 both days.
FINLAND'S Juha Salminen showed exactly why he is heading towards a record- equalling seventh World Enduro Championship this season when the factory KTM star dominated the opening round of the '07 Metzeler British Enduro Championship, in Llanidloes.
Competing in the British Enduro Championship for the first time, Salminen, who is set to compete in all rounds of this year's BEC series apart from the Tywi Enduro, hardly put a foot wrong all weekend to top the opening day's competition ahead of D3-Racing KTM team-mate Tom Sagar and MPS Racing Husqvarna's Si Wakely, before winning the second day from Sagar and Husky Sport Husqvarna's Daryl Bolter. Although only eligible to score points in the British Open Championship, Salminen set the bar high, topping both days by just over 30 seconds.
''I really enjoyed competing in my first British Enduro Championship race,'' commented Salminen after the event. ''In '99, after the World championship race in Wales, I promised myself that I would never come back, unless I had to, because the conditions were unbelievably wet. But it was my idea to come back and although the conditions were again wet I have really enjoyed myself. The event has been great training for the world championship races.''
With Salminen claiming top honours in the E1 class but not eligible to score championship points Mounter Racing's Greg Evans and Husqvarna's Daryl Bolter came away from the Hafren having both claimed runner-up finishes to Salminen. On day one, it was Greg that claimed second in E1 and a well-deserved fourth overall, while on day two, it was Bolter who
claimed the E1 runner-up spot and a solid third overall.
METZELER BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Llanidloes (Hafren Dirt Bike Club)
Day 1
Championship: 1 Juha Salminen, 2 Tom Sagar, 3 Si Wakely, 4 Greg Evans, 5 Paul Edmondson, 6 Daryl Bolter, 7 Euan McConnell, 8 Ed Jones, 9 Tim Lewis, 10 Jason Thomas, 11 Dylan Jones, 12 Ashley Wood, 13 Andrew Edwards, 14 Giovanni Sala, 15 Rowan Jones, 16 Juan Knight, 17 Richard Hay, 18 Rob Jones, 19 Paul Bolton, 20 Lee Edmondson, 21 Ollie Moyce, 22 Chris Hockey, 23 Andy Frost, 24 Darren Wheeler, 25 Tim Forman, 26 Chris Tett, 27 Luke Lusher, 28 Justin Wilson.
Expert: 1 Darren Carter, 2 Gavin Houson, 3 Jamie Paget, 4 Jon Hinam, 5 Gethin Price, 6 Robert Reese, 7 Peter Bulley, 8 Rowland Morris, 9 Carl Mcllray, 10 David Brick, 11 Daz Hughes, 12 Ian Parker, 13 Shane Lewis, 14 Murray Thompson, 15 Robert Lynn, 16 James Yearley, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Michael Rees, 19 Gordon Clarke, 20 Christopher Hooper.
Veterans: 1 Simon Evans, 2 Gary Wright, 3 Neil Williams, 4 Neil Boyd, 5 Mick Seward, 6 Graeme Naismith, 7 Mark Houson, 8 Mark Stokes, 9 Mick Kendall, 10 Adrian Lappin, 11 Gerald Poole, 12 Gary Jones, 13 John Brooks, 14 Paul Morgan, 15 Steve Dopson, 16 Paul Kinston, 17 John Beaty, 18 Nigel Hutchinson, 19 Dave Coles, 20 Tim Ford.
Clubman: 1 Rheinallt Davies, 2 Gareth Hopkins, 3 Mike Bailey, 4 David Lloyd-Jones, 5 Tudor Davies, 6 Tony Gush, 7 Wayne Johnstone, 8 Andy Muller, 9 Neil Chatham, 10 Kevin Harris, 11 Freddie Broadway, 12 Steve Martin, 13 Adrian Townson, 14 Carl Gerrard, 15 Lee Bailey, 16 Simon Stebbings, 17 Ciaran Hayes, 18 Stephen Parry, 19 James Giddings, 20 Craig Turner.
Day 2
Championship: 1 Juha Salminen, 2 Tom Sagar, 3 Daryl Bolter, 4 Euan McConnell, 5 Greg Evans, 6 Si Wakely, 7 Ed Jones, 8 Jason Thomas, 9 Tim Lewis, 10 Paul Bolton,11 Richard Hay, 12 Dylan Jones, 13 Rob Jones, 14 Lee Edmondson, 15 Giovanni Sala, 16 Andrew Edwards, 17 Chris Hockey, 18 Ashley Wood, 19 Rowan Jones, 20 Andy Frost, 21 Chris Tett, 22 Darren Wheeler, 23 Tim Forman, 24 Justin Wilson, 25 Juan Knight.
Expert: 1 Jamie Paget, 2 Jon Hinam, 3 Gordon Clarke, 4 Steve Dustow, 5 David Brick, 6 Gavin Houson, 7 Robert Reese, 8 Carl Mcllray, 9 Robert Lynn, 10 Gethin Price, 11 Shane Lewis, 12 Daz Hughes, 13 Rowland Morris, 14 Peter Bully, 15 James Jackman, 16 Derek Little, 17 Murray Thompson, 18 Lincoln Brewster, 19 Craig Bounds, 20 Ian Parker.
Veterans: 1 Adrian Lappin, 2 Graeme Naismith, 3 Neil Williams, 4 Mark Houson, 5 Simon Evans, 6 Mark Stokes, 7 Gary Wright, 8 Mick Seward, 9 Neil Boyd, 10 Gerald Poole, Steve Dopson, 12 Paul Morgan, 13 John Brooks, 14 Gary Jones, 15 Paul Kinston, 16 Mick Kendall, 17 John Beaty, 18 Nigel Hutchinson, 19 Dave Coles.
Clubman: 1 Rheinault Davies, 2 David Lloyd-Jones, 3 Gareth Hopkins, 4 Tony Gush, 5 Adrian Townson, 6 Kevin Harris, 7 Wayne Johnstone, 8 Mike Bailey, 9 Neil Chatham, 10 Andy Muller, 11 James Giddings 12 Ciaran Hayes, 13 Taff Hicks, 14 Freddie Broadway, 15 Craig Reynolds, 16 Nick Smalley, 17 Simon Stebbings, 18 Martin Cheeseman, 19 Ian Shuttleworth, 20. Neil Aston.
For full story and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, July 20, 2007.