Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:· EN DU RO '· ~· .':'''~..',. . '.W d C ori hampionshipEnduro Series Round 4: Sweden (Left) Englishman Paul Edmondson (1), aboard an ltallanmade Gas-Gas, finished second on Sat urday and topped th e 125cc class on Sunday, moving to within to points of class series leader Gio rgio Grass o, who fail ed to start Sunday'S event due to Inj uri es suffered on Day One. (Right) Frenchman Cyril Esqu lro l piloted his Lucky St rikes Husqv am a to a 3-3 finish In the Heavyweight (Open) division. (Below) KTM's Giovanni Sala (31), fo rm er ISDE overallindividuai winner, won both legs In the Middleweight (25Occ) class. The Italian has a healthy points lead over fellow coun1ryman Tull o Pellegrinelll. By Geoff Meyer UPPSALA, SWEDEN, JUNE 11-12 s the series headed into its second half at the Swedish round, Italian G iorg io Grasso ha d taken control of the. Ligh tweight division (D-l 25cc) over longtime rival Paul Edmondson of Great Britain. After the firs t day of com petition in Sw ed en, it looked as though Grasso would maintain that health y advantage after placing third behind Day One class lea der Jeff Nilsson of Swed en and Edmondson. But things would cha nge drastically head irig into Day Two . As Nilsson, Edmondson and the rest o f the field le ft pare fe r m e Sund a y morning for Day Two, Grasso 's Yamaha sat all alone in the impound area, its rider laying flat on his back in a nearby hospital- the result of a Day One crash. Th e po pular Ita lian had crashed in the last special test of the da y Saturday bu t remounted h is machine qu ic kly enough to hold onto third place for the d ay. Bu t as it tu rn ed out, his injuries were far more serious than they first appeared - Grasso couldn't start on Sunday. "My back is hurting a lot," said Grasso following Saturday's ride. "I will go to the doctor; it does not feel right. " On Sunday, one of Grasso's crew member s sa id: "He is in the hospital with arm and leg injuries, and internal bleeding." Grasso's departure from the event shot Edmondson from 24 points back to just two . Edmondson, in fact, was nearly a noshow himself when he crashe d w hile A warming u p for the event Saturday morning. "I was doi ng a start and flipped my machine," said Edmondson. "It was a big crash, but I had to go on ." And go on he di d! Ed mondson and Nilsson tied for the class win, amassing 37 points each, with Pe tteri Silvan and Maurizio Carminati each racking up 26 points. . Italian G iova n n i Sala guided his KTM to the Heavyweight class win over fellow countryman Tullio Pellegrinelli of the EI Campero Husqvama. In the Lightweight Four-Stroke class, Swede Svenerik Jonsson, on a Husqvarna , beat out KTM's Mario Rinaldi , while Husky's Kari Tiainen of Finlan d topped Husaberg's Kent Karlsson of Sweden. When the riders arrived at Uppsala, it was obvious the course would not be as d ifficult as the previous rounds. The Swedish round consisted of forest runs and very "boring" motocross tests, the onl y real concern was for the parts of the course that traveled through the rough s tony terrain . Even Sw eden's Svenerik Jons son was a little surprised. "This will suit the Italians more than the Swedes," said Jonsson. The event got underway early on Saturday wi th the first starter of the morning, Edmondson, li m ping to h is machine, as the result of his earlier crash while practicing. With the home-track knowledge, Sweden's Jeff Nilsson , on a Honda, finally showed good form, winning the first three timed checks, though Edmondson and Grasso kept Nilsso n in their sights. Going into the final MX test, a ny o ne of the th ree ta lented racer s cou ld h ave scored the d a y ' s w in. Edm ondson ended up winning the final test, but his time wasn' t good eno ugh to take the d ay's class win, instead, th at ho nor went to Nil sson. Grasso, meanwhile, suffered his crash but stil l managed to get on his bike and finish third for the da y. In the 250cc class, Sala consistently reco rded the lowest tim es. The factory KTM rider made easy work of the Uppsala cours e. "With no rain, I'm having a good time, no problems at all," sa id Sala. The same could not be sa id for Husq varna's Cyril Esquirol. The Frenchma n - as he has done all year rode br illiantly at times, only to score ve ry slow tests other times. In th e six tests, he recorded anywhere from first to sixth-fas test times, ending up third overall on the day beh ind Sala and Pellegrinelli. Arguably two of Sweden's all-time greatest enduro riders, Svenerik Jonsson and Dick Wicksell had a great battle in the 350cc (Ligh t weight) Fo u r-St roke class. W ick sell w as making his first appearance of the year. "I'm too busy with my farm , but I'm hoping I can be competitive." Perhaps it was his lack of recen t championship competition that cost him the first-day win. He finished as the runner-up, some six seconds off Jonsson's pace. Third on the day was Mario Rinaldi. A class favorite , Arnoldo Nicoli, failed to fin ish the day after a rock smashed through his gear box , leaving him to walk back to pare ferme. However, Kent Karlsson kept the

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