Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

the day. Determined to make up for what he saw as a disappointing dayone result, Edmondson finished second on day two, just 12 seconds behind Pohjamo. Sharing top honors in the 250cc class, Australian Stefan Merriman and Aro claimed a day win each despite Merriman being the faster rider on both days. After finishing as the clear winner in the 250cc class on day one, the Australian received a one-minute penalty for receiving outside assistance, which dropped him behind class rival Aro and saw him finish the weekend as joined leader of the class. For Aro a "safe performance" on day one was a result he was happy with, having made changes to both the suspension and jetting on his KTM. Finishing as runner-up again on day two, Aro was another rider to get stuck on the extreme test. That mistake, added to the fact that he got stuck twice on the cross-country test, left him 40 seconds behind Merriman. "I'm happy with the way things have gone this weekend," Merriman said. "I didn't take any risks on day one and was happy to finish behind Merriman on test times. I really don't like the extreme test though. I got stuck on it on day two, and it's really hard to make back the time on the other tests. The extreme test should be run over natural terrain like in Italy last year." Despite receiving a one-minute penalty, Aussie Merriman proved that he is certainly ready to fight for the 250cc and overall titles in '03. "I'm really happy with the way the weekend went, especially as the loose, sandy conditions are a lot like in Finland," the reigning 250cc World Champion said. "I crashed too many times on day two to get a good result overall, and I was suffering with a cold, so to still win the 250cc class is really good. What happened on day one is one of those things. Other teams help their riders - I just got caught." Finishing as the third-placed 250cc rider overall after finishing third on day one and fourth on day two was local favorite Helder Rodrigues. Finishing well over a minute behind day-one winner Aro, Helder finished day two less than one second off the podium. Dropping five seconds in the final extreme test, the Portuguese rider finished behind Gas Gas' Jani Laaksonen by less than .05 seconds. Italian Giovanni Sala caused an upset in the 250cc four-stroke class on day one by beating reigning class champion Peter Bergvall by nearly half a minute. Determined to make up for a somewhat disappointing '02 season, the likeable Italian then had to play second best to Bergvall on day two after the Swede got back to his winning ways, topping the class by some 16 seconds. "It's a great start to the new season for me," said Sala who now sits level with Bergvall at the top of the quarterliter Four-Stroke Championship. "I wasn't able to go as fast on the special test on day two because the power in my bike is all at the top, which makes it hard to ride on the bumps. There's a long way to go this season, so to be competitive right from the start is great." While Sala was happy with his start to the new season, Bergvall had mixed feelings about his performance. Having been kept off a bike for much of the early part of '03, the title favorite found himself suffering with a poor bike setup. "I had a really bad day on Saturday," the reigning champion said. "I had a big crash on one of the crosscountry tests as well as having to ride a bike that wasn't running well. We made some changes to the suspension and jetting for the second day, which helped, but it wasn't a great weekend, really." Finishing third in class on day one was TM rider Oblucki Bartosz. Despite suffering with suspension problems, he managed to place comfortably ahead of the fourth-placed rider but was nearly one minute adrift of Bergvall. Moving up one place from his day-one result to finish third on day two was Italian Giuseppe Gallino, aboard his Yamaha. Moving down from the Over 500cc Four-Stroke class, Swede Anders Eriksson proved those who thought he could only be a big four-stroke rider wrong by topping the 450cc thumper class on both days. Topping day one by less than one second ahead of Vor rider Roman Michalik, the experienced Swede then proved that it was no fluke by winning the class once again on day two - this time by finishing nearly 15 seconds ahead of Finnish Husaberg rider Marko Tarkkala. "I was really nervous before the race," admitted Eriksson, the six-time World Champion. "I crashed once in the first cross-country test on day one, but otherwise I was really happy with my test times. To come away from the race with 50 points is great because both Michalik and Tarkkala were really fast this weekend." Finishing behind Eriksson on day two, Tarkkala proved, as he did in '02, that he is going to be a rider to watch in '03. Despite being nearly 40 seconds behind Michalik on day one, the young Finn finished just 14 seconds behind Eriksson on day two, haVing performed consistently on the event's special tests. "I had a big crash and got stuck in the mud twice on day one," Tarkkala said. "I had a really good extreme test on the final lap on day two, and I'm happy with the way the weekend has gone." Third on day two was UFO Corse Yamaha rider Mario Rinaldi. As in the 450cc class, the Over 500cc Four-Stroke competition saw one rider win on both days - KTM Racing team rider Juha Salminen. Competing in the half-liter thumper class in WEC competition for the first time ever, the four-time World Champion did exactly what many expected him to and placed at the top of the class on both days despite riding with broken ribs. Winning day one by a little more than 23 seconds, the talented Finn was then pushed all the way on day two to finish just nine seconds ahead of fellow class newcomer David Knight aboard his Yamaha. "I'm really happy with this result," Salminen said. "I just wanted to survive this weekend and maybe finish inside the top three. I didn't have any big problems on day one, but I couldn't push 100 percent because of my ribs. I found it difficult riding as the first rider both days because I didn't have any lines to follow on the test, and it was really difficult to see the rocks and tree roots." Second at the end of the two days was Knight. Yet another rider to get stuck on day one after crashing on the weekend's opening cross-country test, the Manxman found his efforts to catch back up with the leaders halted when he lost 15 seconds in one of the event's mud holes. On day two Knight finished a strong second to Salminen, having won five of the day's tests. "Day one didn't go as I hoped it would," Knight said. "After I fell on the first cross-country test, I was trying hard to catch back up to the leaders. When I got stuck, I knew that there was no way I could beat them. Day two was better, though, as I had a really good battle with Juha." Third in the 500cc Championship after finishing second on day one and then fifth on day two was Mika Ahola. After placing his Vor 23 seconds behind Salminen on day one, the three-time ISDE winner came close to putting himself out of the event and the championship during the event's final special test on day two after losing his front wheel coming into a fast third-gear corner. "I thought that I'd broken my collarbone when I crashed," Ahola said. "I haven't crashed that hard in years. I also crashed on the extreme test and made a really big mistake on the second-to-Iast cross-country test as well." Third in the 500cc class on day two was KTM-mounted Spaniard Ivan Cervantes. eN Portugal Two-Day Lousa, Portugal Results: Man:h 15-16, 2003 (Round 11 Day One 125: I. Pelteri Silvan (Hus); 2. Petri Pohjamo (GG): 3. Rickard Larsson (TM); 4. Paul Edmondson (Yam): 5. Marc Germain (Yam). 250 2-STRK: 1. Samuli Arc (KTM); 2. Stefan Merriman (Hon): 3. Helder Rodrigues (KTM); 4. Jani Laaksonen (GG): S. Xacob Agra (KTM). 250 4-STRK: 1.Giovanni Sala (KTM): 2. Peter Bergvall (Yam): 3. Bartosz Oblucki (TM): 4. Giuseppe Gallina (Yam): 5. Gerard Farres (KTM). 450 4·STRK: 1. Anders Eriksson (Hus); 2. Roman Michalik (Vor); 3. Marko Tarkkala (Hbg): 4. Mario Rinaldi (Yam); 5. Xavier Puigdemont (KTM). 500 4-STRK: 1. Juha Salminen (KTM); 2. Mika Ahola (Vor): 3. David Knight (Yam): 4. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 5. Andreas Toressan (Hbg). O/A: 1. Samuli Aro (KTM); 2. Juha Salminen (KTM); 3. Mika Ahola (Vor): 4. David Knight (Yam); 5. Stefan Merriman (Hon); 6. Helder Rodrigues (KTM); 7. Anders Eriksson (Hus); 8. Roman Michalik (Vor); 9. Petteri Silvan (KTM); 10. Petri Pohjamo (GG). Day Two 125: 1. Petri Pohjamo (GG); 2. Paul Edmondson (Yam); 3. Richard Larsson (TM); 4 Pelteri Silvan (KTM); 5. Marc Germain (Yam). 250 2-STRK: 1 Stefan Merriman (Hon); 2. Samuli Aro (KTM); 3. Jani Laaksonen (GG); 4. Helder Rodrigues (KTM); 5. Jari Mattila (GG). 250 4-STRK: 1. Peter Bergvall (Yam); 2. Giovanni Sala (KTM): 3 Giuseppe Gallina (Yam); 4. Oblucki Bartosz (TM): 5. Roberto Bazzuri (Hus). 450 4-STRK: I. Anders Eriksson (Hus); 2. Marko Tarkkala (Hon): 3. Mario Rinaldi (Yam): 4. Paolo Goncalves (GG); 5. Alex Zanni (Hon). 500 4-STRK: 1. Juha Salminen (KTM); 2. David Knight (Yam); 3. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg); 5. Mika Ahola (Vor). O/A: 1. Juha Salminen (KTM); 2. Stefan Merriman (Hon): 3. David Knight (Yam): 4. Samuli Aro (KTM); 5. IVilln Cervillnles (KTM); 6. Petri Pohjamo (GG): 7. Anders Eriksson (Hus); 8. Bjome Carlsson (Hbg); 9. Jani Laaksonen (GG); 10. Helder Rodrigues (KTM). BRIEFLY••• The KTM Racing squad featured three Finns (Petteri Silvan. Samuli Aro and Juha Salminen) instead of four in Portugal. with Spaniard Xevi Puigdemont filling the team's 450cc berth. replacing injured team manager/rider Kari Tiainen. Puigdemont. who recently left Gas Gas after 23 years with the Spanish marque, replaced seven-time World Champion Tiainen. who crashed prior to the event. badly damaging ligaments in his right wrist. Tiainen. who is extremely busy with his duties as team manager. will rema,n off a bike for one month in the hope that his wrist will Improve. If it does. he will return alongside PUigdemont. The new style World Enduro Championship series received mixed reviews from the event's top riders. with the extreme test generating the most debate. Included in WEC competition for the second time ever Cit first appeared in July last year) the short. man-made test counted toward the events results. something that last year's extreme test in Italy didn·t. "I like the new style enduro World Championship." Juha Salminen said. "With no more boring long checks we don't need to spend the whole day in the forest. I also like the fact that mechanics can now work on the bikes. In World Championship competition the results never really change because of a rider losing time after a problem with his bike at the end of day one. so I think It'S a positive change. I'm not ,n favor of the man-made extreme tests though. It would be much better if they were held over natural terrain. like last year in Italy. - Joining Salminen in expressing his dislike for the oneminute-long man·made extreme test was three-time ISDE winner Mika Ahola. "It's too easy to break something on your bike in an extreme test Irke this." he said. "Even a small. slow fall can break a radiator and put you out of the event." One other part of the event that most riders didn't like was the mud holes in the two cross-country tests. Not afraid of a bit of mud. the fact that luck seemed to play the biggest part in deciding who did or didn't get stuck was what the riders objected to most. Another change in this year's series is how the riders are started. Normally. it's by class. but now it's by previous race performances (though the opening round was based on last year's overall finishes). The new format generated mixed reviews. On a positive note. riders battling for the overall World Championship were able to compete against one another directly. but it also made it harder for teams to work out how their riders were doing in their respective classes. With several top riders competing outside of iast year's top 20. most riders competing in the 500cc class. for example. would reach each special test around half an hour after the likes of Salminen. Knight. Ahola and Carlsson - something that made it hard for teams to inform their riders exactly how they were doing. The second round of the series will see the top 15 overall riders from Portugal start first. cue I e n e _ S • APRIL 2, 2003 29

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