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World Championship Enduro Series Round 3: Greece Vor's Mika Ahola won the 500cc FourStroke class on day one in Greece and went on to finish third on day two. WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JONTY EDMUNDS KALAVRITA, GREECE, APRIL 20·21 t he third round of the '02 World Enduro Championship moved to Greece on April 20-21 and brought with it some of the closest racing yet this year. On the fast, dry and one· lined special tests, 400cc classmates Stefan Merriman and Juha Salminen battled among themselves, as the pair claimed overall victory respectively on days one and two. In the 125cc class, reigning champion Petteri Silvan extended his World Championship lead with a 2-1 twoday score aboard his factory Husqvarna - despite riding at less than 100 percent on the relatively easy special tests. Second on day one behind TM's Rickard Larsson, Silvan topped day two by less than half a second, finishing in front of Gas Gas-mounted countryman Petri Pohjamo. "I started day one with the wrong front pipe," explained Silvan. "The bike's power was too aggressive for the flat, grassy special tests and 1 lost too much time early on." While Silvan was the eventual victor in the 125cc class, claiming victory on day two, it was Swede Rickard Larsson who topped day one's results. "My battle with Silvan has been tough today," said Larsson at the close of day one. "I'm very happy to have won, though," he added. Winning by the narrowest of margins, Larsson found himself down in 24 MAY 8, 2002' cue • • third on day two as the Finnish duo of Silvan and Pohjamo claimed the top two spots. Having had no problems with either his riding or his bike, Larrson's disappointment was obvious. "I felt good again today, but third isn't the result I was looking for," Larrson said. "There's not a big difference in time between myself, SiIvan and Pohjamo today, but there's a big difference in points from first to third." Third on day one was French youngster Olivier Rebufie. Having not yet shown his best form in '02, the KTM rider ended his weekend in the hospital after crashing out of day two. Fourth on both days was Honda Italy's Ivan Boano. Returning from injury, Yamaha France's David Fretigne claimed victory in the 250cc class on the opening day, finishing just under two-anda-half seconds ahead of championship leader Samuli Aro. Riding at the back, having not scored enough points to be ranked inside the top 10 of the quarter-liter class, Fretigne claimed his first world championship win of the year. "The special tests suited me perfectly this weekend," explained the French Champion. "After Spain, I had to rest my wrist, and now it seems okay." n • _ s Fretigne was to finish second on day two, behind Husqvarna's Samuli Aro, by nearly four seconds. On day two, champi~nship leader Aro reversed his day-one defeat to Fretigne and extended his title lead. Round-one winner David Knight finished in a disappointing sixth on the day, having finished seventh on day one. Crashing hard on day one's opening test, Aro, thinking about claiming his first world championship and not victory in the event, pushed just hard enough to keep himself near the front of the field. Day two was a similar story. "I made a small crash on the first special test," explained the Finn. "After that, I was riding well but not at 100 percent. It is important for me to finish ahead of the Finnish riders here and at the next two rounds so that I can build up as big a points lead as possible before the series gets to Scandinavia. " While Fretigne and Aro diced to claim top honors in the quarter-liter class, TM-mounted Finn Simon Wilk posted third on both days to close in on second in the championship. Unsurprisingly, Yamaha-mounted class leader Peter Bergvall topped the 250cc Four-Stroke class, finishing ahead of Husqvarna·mounted teammates Paul Edmondson and Oblucki Bartosz. Topping the class on both days, Bergvall's only mistake was on the second day's opening special test when he slipped off, handing the win on that test to Edmondson. Winning by some 48 seconds on day one, Bergvall's winning margin was reduced to 13 seconds on day two, as Edmondson increased his pace. Edmondson's Husqvarna teammate, Oblucki, claimed third in class on both days after Swedish Farioli KTM rider Nicklas Gustafsson's bike failed on the second day's final special test. Gustafsson was holding third in class at the time. The closest battle of the weekend was in the 400cc Four-Stroke class. With Finnish KTM rider Salminen having claimed a double victory at the season opener, and with Australian Husqvarna rider Merriman then scoring a double win in Portugal, there was little to separate the pair in Greece as they topped both the class and the event. Merriman was first to strike with victory on day one, after winning all but two of the day's tests. Finishing the day almost 10 seconds clear at the front of the class, the reigning 400cc Four-Stroke Champion was happy with his result. "Things are certainly tight between myself and Juha, but everything went pretty well today. To claim another five points is great: Merriman said. While he set the pace for the event on day one, Salminen found himself Roman Mlchelik, riding his Vor, carded 3-4 finishes in the 400cc Four-Stroke class over the course of the weekend.