Civil Cervantes
By TMX Archives on 28th Jan 09
SPANIARD Ivan Cervantes stepped closer to the World Indoor Enduro Cup crown at the Genoa Indoor Enduro where the factory KTM rider claimed two race wins to top the overall results ahead of Taddy Blazusiak and local hero Fabio Mossini...
WITH just one round of the World Indoor Enduro Cup series remaining Ivan Cervantes is now well placed to be crowned as the new king of indoor enduro racing following two very impressive race wins at the penultimate round of the series at the Genoa Indoor Enduro.
With just the Madrid finale separating Ivan from the world title, the pressure is now off the Spaniard who, having topped both the opening round of the three-event series in Barcelona and then again won in Genoa, is very much the man in form.
Again competing aboard a 300cc two-stroke, Ivan claimed two comfortable wins in Genoa, and while many other riders struggled to get to grips with the track he made much fewer mistakes, helped in no small way by two impressive starts.
In the opening race, Ivan shot into an early lead and was never challenged. While other riders struggled with the many slippery rock sections Ivan simply kept himself out of trouble to claim a 20-second winning margin.
Finishing ahead of Italian Fabio Mossini – who few expected to be the best placed home rider – Ivan crossed the line three places up on his closest title rival, Taddy Blazusiak.
Third in the race was Dougie Lampkin whose ‘keep it upright and stay out of trouble' approach to the race worked perfectly as what he lacked in out-and-out speed he more than made up for by never stopping.
Race two was almost a carbon copy of the opener as Cervantes shot into an early lead as he and Mossini were the only two riders to make it over the second rock hill. This put them a country mile ahead of the rest of the field. Blazusiak's bad luck from race one seemed to have been reversed as he started well only to have his chain come off, which saw him drop to dead last.
Also getting caught out by the hill while running second was Lampkin. Stuck behind other riders, Dougie dropped back to fifth at the finish.
Out front, Cervantes extend his lead to a massive 44-seconds over Mossini while Blazusiak managed to work his way up to an impressive third after some all-out riding during the five-lap race.
After a near perfect night with wins in races one and two, Ivan Cervantes failed to make it three from three and finished an eventual fourth. This was still enough to top the overall results. Blazusiak, meanwhile, ended the night with a win.
Once out front, Taddy soon began to pull away from eventual runner-up Mika Ahola with Lampkin again performing well in third. Though the three riders maintained their positions to the end of the race, Cervantes closed to within three seconds of Lampkin but was unable to demote the trials star.
"Apart from the third race, where I made too many mistakes, it has been a fantastic event for me,” explained a clearly pleased Cervantes. "I wasn't too sure about the track, but things worked out well for me in the first two races. I needed good results here so that I wasn't under too much pressure at the final round in Madrid. I can't wait until that final round now.”
While the night ended well for Cervantes it wasn't the case for Sherco-mounted Briton, Graham Jarvis. Riding well, Graham placed fifth in his qualification heat, which meant he, like Lampkin, had to compete in the LCQ – a race that didn't go well for ‘Grimbo'.
"The biggest problem was that my chain came off, which cost me a load of time. I wasn't riding that well either and I made some mistakes before that.” Unable to compete in the final Graham raced in the ‘Dark Race' where despite a few spills he finished as runner-up.
The best performing Brit in the qualifying races was KTM-mounted Welshman, Greg Evans, who finished second to Spaniard Xavi Galindo. With WEC regulars Rodrig Thain and Seb Guillaume behind him, at one stage Greg looked as if he might win the race, but settled for second and an automatic place in the finals.
Disappointingly for Greg his qualification race was his best result, but with some solid riding he came away with three top ten finishes as he paced eighth, ninth and tenth.
WORLD INDOOR ENDURO CUP
Genoa, ITALY (January 24)
Final One: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 5 laps, 2 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 5, 3 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 5, 4 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 5, 5 Rodrig Thain (TM) 5, 6 Xavi Galido (KTM) 5, 7 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 5, 8 Greg Evans (KTM) 4, 9 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 4, 10 Julien Gauthier (Honda) 4,...
Final Two: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 5, 2 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 5, 3 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 5, 4 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 5, 5 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 5, 6 Xavi Galindo (KTM) 5, 7 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 5, 8 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) 4, 9 Greg Evans (KTM) 4, 10 Rodrig Thain (TM) 4,...
Final Three: Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 5, 2 Mika Ahola (Honda) 5, 3 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 5, 4 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 5, 5 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 5, 6 Xavi Galindo (KTM) 5, 7 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 5, 8 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 5, 9 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 5, 10 Greg Evans (KTM) 5,...
Overall: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 38 points, 2 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 33, 3 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 28, 4 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 26, 5 Xavi Galindo (KTM) 15, 6 Mika Ahola (Honda) 12, 7 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 10, 8 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 10, 9 Simone Albergoni (KTM) 9, 10 Rodrig Thain (TM) 7, 11 Greg Evans (KTM) 6,...
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009
After another dominant performance ‘Indoors', Ivan Cervantes looks set to take the 2009 crown...