Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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World Enduro Championship Series Round 4: France also found that the enthusiastic French spectators made his passing through the extreme test a little tricky on day one. "It's not been a great weekend, but it's not been a bad weekend either," Aro said. "I felt that I was riding well, but I made too many mistakes to beat Stefan. The extreme test was very hard for me and Juha [Salminen] because the spectators changed parts of the course." Finishing third on both days and proving that his impressive results from the third round of the series were no fluke, KTM France rider Freddy Blanc placed third in the 250cc class on both days. Almost two minutes behind the leading duo on day one, and one and a half minutes behind on day two, the enduro newcomer found the conditions hard on day one despite finishing within the top 10 of the Scratch on both days. Returning from a broken collarbone sustained at the third round of STORY AND PHOTOS BY JONTY EDMONDS A1GUEPERSE, FRANCE, MAY 10-11' onda-Italy rider Stefan Merriman produced a double-class and eventtopping performance in Aigueperse, France, (or the fourth round of the World Enduro Championship Series. With the victories, the Australian extended his lead in the 250cc TwoStroke class and moved into second place in the overall Scratch classification. Topping 1Y0th the Scratch and 250cc class on day one by just over eight seconds over classmate Samuli Aro, the pint-sized Aussie then put his name at the top of the results for a second time on day two, this time 19 seconds ahead of KTM-mounted Spaniard Ivan Cervantes. Reveling in the dry and dusty conditions and taking advantage of a somewhat below-par performance by KTM Racing rider Samuli Aro, Merriman claimed wins on both days despite crashing on both days. "I'm very happy with the way things have gone this weekend," the former two-time World Champion said at the end of day two. "It's been a tough weekend for everyone because of the conditions. Samuli and I have both been pushing really hard, and it's so easy to make mistakes. I crashed twice on both days because of the dust, but luckily so did many of the other riders." H 36 MAY 28, 2003' cue • III Claiming second on both days, despite also crashing more than once on the dusty special tests, Aro saw his Scratch result on day two affected by a crash that lost him nearly 17 seconds on the event's very last special test. The only rider in the quarterliter class capable of pushing Merriman, the reigning class champion n III lIN S the WEC series in Greece, UFO Corse Yamaha rider Peter Bergvall topped the 250cc Four-Stroke class comfortably on day one but by less than two and a half seconds on day two. Placing ahead of the quarter-liter class series leader Giovanni Sala on both days, Bergvall claimed a deserved 50 championship points to close the gap at the top of the class to 20 points with three rounds remainipg. "Apart from the pain, my shoulder has been okay this weekend," Bergvall said. "On the first day I was able to ride well on the motocross tests, but on the second day, when they got rougher, it was really difficult for me." Finishing second on both days, Farioli KTM rider Giovanni Sala failed to match Bergvall's pace on day one but kept the Swede honest on day two, having battled all day with the reigning class champion and fellow Yamaha rider Guis.eppe Gallina. Third on both days was Gallino. Claiming Husqvarna's only class-winning per- !Above) Austnllan Stefan Mem_ dominated the French .--nd of the World Enduro Championship sertes. Br topping both clap, he's moved up to second ~ -..-n. (Below right) David Fre the "-e ..... something to cheer about n won the 450cc Four-Stroke class on dey two. (Below ..,., Anders Eriksson won the 450cc Four-Strolce class on dey one but couldn't repeat on dey two, ",,'" when he ftnished third In c.....