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World Enduro Championship Series Round 4: Gran Premio d'ltalia Efhe AU55ie ~"uble5 up in Italy STORY AND PHOTOS BY JONTY EDMONDS RODENGO SAIANO, ITALY, MAY 17·18 onda Italy rider Stefan Merriman produced another important dou· ble-event-topping performance at the Gran Premio d'italia, placing his 250cc two-stroke machine at the top of both the quarter-liter two-stroke and Scratch (overall) classes. Muscling his way around the dry and dusty Italian special tests, the former two-time World Champion now holds a sizeable lead in the 250cc championship, helped in part by the day-two DNF by his closest championship rival Samuli Aro. "'t's been a perfect weekend for me: explained a clearly overjoyed Merriman at the end of day two. "There has been great variation in the special tests this weekend, and the support from the public has been incredible. It's the first race for as long as I can remember that I haven't crashed on either day, which has made it an even better weekend for me." While it was a great weekend for Merriman, KTM Racing rider Samuli Aro saw his 250cc title bid all but fall apart when his factory KTM stopped midway through day two. Having finished second to the on-form Merriman on day one, Aro's problem was later traced to a faulty kill switch. "I made a small crash in one of the controls, but the bike seemed to be okay," the disappointed Aro explained. "Later when I was riding in .....n Merriman Inco ... ed his points Ie. In the 250cc ...... In the World Enduro CMmpiMlshlp Series willi • two-dey . . - p la . ..,. ). I, the forest, the bike stopped. I thought it was the plug, which I changed, but it still didn't go. I tried to check all the electrics, but in the end I had to give up. It's really disappointing because although I didn't win on day one, I was happy with the way I rode." With Aro having finished second on day one, Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues claimed his highest-class (Left) Anders Eriksson had a good "championship" weekend in Italy. The 450cc FourStroke class series leader went 2-2, finishing behind Italian Alessandro Botturi. (Right) Giovanni Sala suffered a major setback when, after topping the 250cc Four-Stroke class on day one, he took a day-two DNF. 58 JUNE 11. 2003' cue I e n e _ 50 finish of the year on day two when he placed his Farioli KTM on the second step of the podium. Despite improving from a day-one finishing position of sixth, Helder was unable to anything about the superquick Merriman. Finishing third on both days was local favorite Fausto Scovolo. Making a one-off appearance in the '03 WEC Series, the little Italian placed com- fortably ahead of many of the series regular riders despite now concentrating only on his national Italian Enduro Championship. Joining countryman Aro as a daytwo nonfinisher, Gas Gas rider Petri Pohjamo saw his lead in the 125cc World Championship slashed to just two points, having placed a lowly sixth on day one before exiting the second day's competition midway through Sunday. "I don't understand why I have so much bad luck," the hard-charging Finn said. "Day one was really bad for me, but today was even worse. I lost all compression and had to push the bike up one hill in the extreme test. Then the bike stopped altogether." Moving to within just two points of Pohjamo, French UFO Corse Yamaha rider Marc Germain posted a strong second on day one before slipping one position on day two to third. "I crashed twice in the muddy motocross test this morning, but apart from that the weekend has been really good for my championship: Germain said. "The final two rounds of the World Championships are going to be really interesting now because there are six different riders who can all win races in the 125cc class. Now I have to think about the championship as well as winning races, which some other riders don't have to do." Finishing third on day one was Germain's teammate Paul Edmondson. Some 40 seconds behind the French rider, Edmondson, as in France one week earlier, found the long days difficult due to his recent shoulder injury and dropped to fourth on day two.