Greece Is The Word
By TMX Archives on 6th Sep 10
After a long ten-week summer break the Enduro World Championship fired back into life last weekend where the sixth round of the series took place in Serres, Greece. With temperatures hovering above 40 degrees Celsius during both days of the competition the Greek event proved to be every bit as demanding as the equally dry and dusty season opener in Spain.
Entering the sixth round of the '10 EWC series with a 30-point advantage at the top of the Enduro 3 World Championship, David Knight headed home from one of the hottest ever world championship events with one hand on the E3 world title.
Runner-up to the on form Gas Gas rider Christophe Nambotin on day one, a day two mechanical failure and subsequent DNF by the Frenchman handed Knight victory on day two and a massive extension of his world championship lead.
Now 52 points ahead at the top of the E3 standings Knight now has a mathematical chance of being the only rider to win a world title at the penultimate round of the series in Turkey this coming weekend.
"I feel bad for Christophe because he was riding really well and I was enjoying battling with him, but to move further ahead in the championship standings is great for me,” commented Knight.
"Yeah, I can win the title in Turkey but that's not my aim. I just want to get through the event with two good results so that all I need is a few points from the first day at the final round in Spain. I'll just see what happens.”
On day one there was again little to separate Nambotin and Knight as the pair distanced themselves from their E3 class rivals. With just five seconds between them things could have been much closer if David hadn't had to deal with both dogs and marshals on two separate special tests. "It shouldn't happen in world championship competition, but it did. I certainly lost some time but I was pleased enough with second.”
Day two saw Nambotin lead as the E3 class riders entered the final and likely decisive enduro test. But failing to complete the test Nambotin went out of the event handing a sizeable winning margin to Knight. Joining David on the podium were Husqvarna riders Seb Guillaume, who placed third on day one, and Bartosz Oblucki.
The Enduro 1 class was equally as fraught in Greece as championship leader Antoine Meo went out of the event after just one special test on day one. With an electrical problem putting him out of the event it was Finn Eero Remes that took over at the top of the class as the KTM rider battled to stay ahead of Spain's Cristobal Guerrero and Frenchman Johnny Aubert.
With less than 20 seconds separating the three riders Remes put in a stunning final test to place nine seconds ahead with Guerrero equally as far ahead of Aubert.
Struggling during the opening lap having not ridden the long enduro test on day one Meo pulled out all of the stops to keep himself in contention with Aubert and Remes before pulling away at the top of the results. Winning just four of the day's 12 tests Antoine claimed a well deserved win and was more than a little relieved to have put his day one disappointment behind him.
"It shouldn't have happened but it was one of things that can happen in racing,” commented the French E1 series leader. "Losing 25 points is tough but one day two I wanted to make up for that. I had to take some big risks on the opening lap but after that I felt good.”
Not to be left out the Enduro 2 class also endured its own drama as day one winner Ivan Cervantes clocked into a time control three minutes early on day two, all but ending his chances of challenging for the coveted E2 title.
Like so many times before this season Cervantes and Ahola were separated by nothing throughout the day, but a mistake by the Finn on the enduro test ultimately handed victory to the Spaniard. Just one-and-a-half seconds ahead at the end of the day Cervantes looked as if his fortune might have changed for the better.
But on day two his good fortune and title ambitions all but ran out. Clocking into a time control three minutes early the KTM rider could do nothing as Ahola powered his way to the day win and a maximum 25-point haul. Eventually finishing down in eighth Ivan fell 30 points behind Ahola in the championship standings.
"I will keep fighting for the championship but Mika doesn't make mistakes any more so for me to win the title will be almost impossible now. It was always going to be hard for me, now I just have to hope something happens that puts me back in a position to challenge him again.”
While Cervantes was philosophical and disappointed in equal measure about what happened Ahola was anything but unhappy. "I felt like I could have won on day one, but I made a mistake on the enduro test. When I knew that Ivan clocked in three minutes early it was hard to keep pushing like I normally do. This takes the pressure off me now but I still want to do my best in Turkey and France.”
In the Enduro Junior class Spain's Lorenzo Santolino was the rider to beat on day one finishing ahead of Jeremy Joly and Romain Dumontier. But on day two it was Electraction TM rider Josh Green who stamped his mark on the class, claiming his first EWC victory having come back from injury and a sizeable lay-off from racing.
"I was a little bit rusty and slow to get going on day one but once I got the first lap out the way I felt pretty good. My test times were pretty good so I knew I could do well on day two. It was close on day two but I pushed hard from the start. It was hard staying out front all day and I made a few mistakes that didn't help, but I managed to get the win. It's great to finally win a day, now I need to do the same at the final two rounds of the series.”
MPS Husqvarna rider Alex Rockwell was sidelined on day one with a broken spark plug but restarted day two and finished in 16th position.
WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 - Serres, Greece
Day 1
Enduro 1: 1 Eero Remes (KTM), 2 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha), 3 Johnny Aubert (KTM), 4 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna), 5 Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki), 6 Maurizio Micheluz (TM).
Enduro 2: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM), 2 Mika Ahola (Honda), 3 Pierre-Alexandre Renet (KTM), 4 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna, 5 Rodrig Thain (TM), 6 Oscar Balletti (Honda).
Enduro 3: 1 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas), 2 David Knight (KTM), 3 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna), 4 Aaron Bernardez (KTM), 5 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna), 6 Alessandro Botturi (Husaberg).
Enduro Junior: 1 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 2 Jeremy Joly (Honda), 3 Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna), 4 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha), 5 Josh Green (TM), 6 Mario Romain (KTM).
Day 2
Enduro 1: 1 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 2 Johnny Aubert (KTM), 3 Eero Remes (KTM), 4 Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha), 5 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna), 6 Julien Gauthier (Honda).
Enduro 2: 1 Mika Ahola (Honda), 2 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 3 Pierre Alexandre Renet (KTM), 4 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), 5 Oscar Balletti (Honda), 6 Marko Tarkkala (Husqvarna) 55.46:52.
Enduro 3: 1 David Knight (KTM), 2 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna), 3 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna), 4 Marcus Kehr (KTM), 5 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 6 Simone Albergoni (KTM).
Enduro Junior: 1 Josh Green (TM), 2 Antti Hellsten (KTM), 3 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 4 Benoit Fortunato (Husaberg), 5 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha), 6 Jeremy Joly (Honda).