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to mix it with the world's best in any conditions. "I crashed hard on the first test on day one, so after that I wasn't pushing quite so hard, but day two was better," Cervantes said. Third on day one and fourth on day two was UFO Corse Yamaha rider David Knight. eN Finland Two,Day Jamsa, Finland Results: June 6·1, 2003 [Round 6 of 11 Salurday 125: I. Petted Silvan (KTM) 42:50.57, 2. Mika Saarenkoski (Hus) 43:04.17; 3. Mikko Pihlajavesi (KTM) 43,13.63; 4. Petri Ponjamo (GG) 43,14.00; 5. Miika Savo (Kaw) 43:14.17; 6. Valtteri Salonen (KTM) 43,24.13; 7. Rickard Larsson (TM) 43,28.30; 8. Paul Edmondson (Yam) 43:58.36: 9. Herve Versace (KTM) 44:21.90; 10. Marc Germain (Yam) 44049.21. 250: 1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 41: 14.11: 2. Stefan Merriman 41 :51.67: 3. Helder Rodrigues (KTM) 43:25.94: 4. Jani Laaksonen (GG) 43:25.96; 5, Sebastian Guillaume (Hus) 43:43.03: 6. Paul Whibley (Hus) 43,52.61; 7. Kari Tiainen (KTM) 43,56.21; 8. Fabien Planet (Hus) 45:01.38; 9. Fredrick Georgsson (KTM) 45,20.57; 10. Edward Jones (KTM) 45,43.96. 250 4-STRK, 1. Peter Ber9vall (Yam) 43049.82; 2. Giuseppe Gallino (Yam) 44:26.59; 3. Giovanni Sala (KTM) 45: 15. 19: 4. Ger~rd Farres (KTM) 45,38.13; 5. Bartos> Oblucki (TM) 46,20.0 I; 6. Vito KukUk (KTM) 47: 11.07: 7. Daniele Tellini (Yam) 47:34.55: 8. Rowan Jones (Yam) 47:57.17; 9. Oriol Tort (KTM) 48:07.55; 10. Janne Laine (Yam) 51,07.84. 450 4·STRK: I. XlIvi Puigdemont (KTM) 43,16.00; 2. Anders Eriksson (Hus) 43,24.67; 3. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 43:45.32; 4. Mario Rinaldi (Yam) 44:06.59: 5. Roman Michalik (Vor) 44:19,71; 6. Niklas Gustafsson (KTM) 44:32.09; 7. Jordi Duran (KTM) 44,38.15; 8. Paolo Goncalves (GG) 45,19.30: 9. Daniel Persson (TM) 45:29.34; 10. Llury Gustofsson (Hbg) 45,30.07. 500 ... 4·STRK: 1. Mika Ahola (Vor) 41 :44.82: 2. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 42:31.09; 3. David Knight (Yam) 43,34.57: 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg) 43,43.73: 5. Andreas Toresson (Hbg) 44,21.03, 6. Carl Bjerkert (KTM) 45:49.61; 7. Werner Muller (KTM) 45049.63; 8. Joan Jou (KTM) 46,04.03; 9. Teemu Valkonen (KTM) 48,53.57; 10. Magnus Ambjornsson (KTM) 52,05.15. O/A; I. Samul; Aro (KTM); 2. Mika Ahola (Vor): 3, Stefan Merriman (Hon); 4. Iv"n Cervantes (KTM); 5. Petteri Silvan (KTM): 6. Mika Saarenkoski (Hus); 7. Mikko Pihlajavesi (KTM); 8. Petri Pohjamo (GG); 9. Miika Savo (Kaw); 10. Xavi Puigdemont (KTM). Sunday 125: I. Petteri Silvan (KTM) 31: II ,58: 2. Veltteri Salonen (KTM) 31,24.00; 3. Petri Pohjamo (GG) 31,24.76; 4. Mikko Pihlajavesi (KTM) 31 :26.03: 5. Mike Saarenkoski (Hus) 31,32.20; 6. Rickard Larsson (TM) 31:57.89: 7. Herve Versace (KTM) 32,03.81; 8. Marc Germ"in (Yam) 32: 10.46: 9. Paul Edmondson (YlIm) 32:10.91; 10. Jonathan Wilk (GG) 33,18.74. 250: I. Sarnul. Aro (KTM) 30: 15.91: 2. Stef~n Merriman (Hon) 30,38.68; 3. Freddy Blanc (KTM) 31,19.64; 4 Jari Mattila (GG) 31,27.78; 5. Jani Laaksonen (GG) 31,28045; 6. Helder Rodrigues (KTM) 31043.17; 7. Paul Wh,bley (Hus) 31:50.14; 8. Kari Tiamen (KTM) 32:02.88: 9. Sebastian Guillaume (Hus) 32:17.10; 10. Fabien P1anet (Hus) 32:50.58. 250 4-STRK: 1. Peter Bergvall (Y&m) 32: 15.69: 2. Giuseppe Gallino (Y&m) 32:32.93: 3. Giov~nni Sal& (KTM) 33,12.98; 4. Gerard Farres (KTM) 33,15.94; 5. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 33,51.19; 6. Oriol Tort (KTM) 34,31.44, 7. Roberto Bazzurri (Hus) 35:07.82: 8. Daniele Tellini (Yam) 36,04.48; 9. Rowan Jones (Yam) 36,44.90; 10. Patrick Hess (Yam) 37:47.84. 450 4·STRK: I. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 31 :38.44; 2. Anders Eriksson (Hus) 31 :39.38: 3. Thierry Klutz (GG) 31 :41.57: 4. Xavi Puigdemont (KTM) 31,48.16; 5. Jordi Duran (KTM) 32,13.36; 6. Mario ~inaldi (Yam) 32:18.54; 7, Niklas Gustafsson (KTM) 32,22.27; 8, Daniel Persson (TM) 32,52.04; 9. Martin Lind (Hbg) 33:02.57: 10. Roman Michalik (Vor) 33,05.39. 500+ 4·STRK: I. Juha Salminen (KTM) 30,08.08; 2. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 30,27.25; 3. Mika Ahola (Vor) 30,42.42; 4. David Kni9ht (Yam) 3122; 5. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg) 31 :25.86; 6. Andreas Toresson (Hbg) 33:01.13: 7. Joan Jou (KTM) 33,22.69; 8. Carl Bjerkert (KTM) 33,54.50; 9. Werner Muller (KTM) 34,50.88; 10. Teemu Valkonen (KTM) 3622.96. O/A: I. Juha Salminen (KTM); 2. Samuli Aro (KTM); 3. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 4. Stefan Merriman (Hon): 5. Mika Aholll (Vor); 6. Petteri Silvan (KTM); 7. Freddy Blanc (KTM): e, David Knight (Yam); 9. Valtteri Salonen (KTM): 10. Petri Pohj~mo (GG). Petter! Silvan was unstoppable In the 125cc class. He took top honors both days. because of my injury. This is why my overall result wasn't so good." Continuing his strong run of results in the 250cc Four-Stroke class, Yamaha-mounted Italian Giuseppe Gallino finished comfortably ahead of KTM's Giovanni Sala on both days but a sizeable distance behind Bergvall. For Sala, class leader going into the event, it proved to be a difficult weekend for the likeable Italian as he struggled to be competitive against the Yamaha-mounted duo ahead of him. "I've been pushing as hard as I can, but I couldn't close the gap on Bergvall and Gallino," Sala said. "We'll just have to see what happens in Sweden now." With Salminen failing to finish the first day's competition, Vor rider Mika Ahola bounced back from a belowpar performance in Italy to claim his second-day win of the year by topping the Over 500cc Four-Stroke class on day one. Spoiling his overall result with a crash early on day two, Ahola dropped to third behind Salminen and Spaniard Ivan Cervantes but is now just five points behind Yamaha rider David Knight, who currently holds third in the 500cc Champion· on the first test on day two,' then I won the test overall on lap two," Ahola said. "Because Cervantes was so fast on day two, it was impossible for me to finish second but I'm happy with this weekend." For Salminen gearbox troubles early on day one meant that the fourtime World Champion found himself ship standings. "I lost 18 seconds when I crashed BRIEFLY••• KTM Racing team manager Kari Tiainen took part in the World Enduro Championship in Jamsa - his first WEC outing since the Greek round of the '02 series. Riding a 250cc two-stroke, rather than his usual four-stroke machine. and riding with a heavily strapped right wrist. the seven-time World Champion finished seventh and eighth in class. admitting that he found the race quite difficult after his long absence from competition. '1 really enjoyed the first day," Tiainen said. 'but my wrist started to become painful halfway through the ionger controls. which made it a little difficult. It also made it hard to use the front brake in the speCial tests. " KTM competition boss Kurt Nicoll took part in his first·ever WEC competition in Finland having only ever competed in one enduro prior to the race· the end·of·season Zschopau event in Germany. Riding in the 450cc Four-Stroke class. Nicoll placed 14th on day one and 12th on day two. "Nobody told me that the Finnish race of the World Championship is the hardest." Nicoll said jokingly. "\ was invited to the race by Kari Tiainen and then I decided to race. I'm glad I rode. but. yeah. 1found it difficult. I knew how fast the top enduro riders were, and this just confirms it.' After finishing the first day's competition a little worse for wear. Nicoll then had to change his first-ever Mousse-filled rear tire. 'I was going to leave it and use the same tire for the second day, but I was persuaded otherwise." With KTM riders Juha Salminen and Petten Silvan both on hand to offer advice. Nicoll got the job done - albeit a little less smoothly than his Finnish helpers had. Despite there being no extreme test in Finland (the event used two motocross and one crosscountry test per lap) the challenging sandy tests were more than tough enough for most. With the difference between those who could (mostly riders from Finland) and those who couldn't (the majority of the entry) being a sizeable one. the power-sapping sand saw more than a few top riders hit the deck at some point during the weekend. With Finns Petteri Silvan, Samuli Aro and Juha Salminen all being blisteringly fast. the difference between the class winners and those finishing. for example. in 10th in each class was more than at any previous round of the '03 WEC Series. The only class in Finland not to be topped by Scandinavian riders was the 450cc class. With victory being shared by KTM-mounted riders Xavi Puigdemont and Alessandro Botturi, it proved that riders from the south of Europe can be competitive in Finland and Sweden - providing the class doesn't have such a strong presence of Scandinavian riders. Topping the 450cc class on day one but missing out on his first-ever overall class win by less than one second, Xavi PUigdemont had been training in Finland for several weeks prior to the race and ieaming from his Finnish teammate Juha Salminen and team manager Kari Tiainen. 'When I first started training, I was destroying all the berms and riding too aggressively," Puigdemont said. "Juha and Kari taught me to use higher gears in the straights and only to use the berms gently. Their help definitely helped me to win on day one. " trying to ride without second and fourth gears before the problem became so bad that he had to stop. On day two, however, Salminen produced the type of performance expected of him, and he won the day comfortably. "It was much easier riding with gear," joked the Finn. "It was disappointing what happened on day one, but it happens." For Farioli KTM rider Cervantes second on both days strengthened his runner-up position in the 500cc class with the former motocross rider once again proving that he has the speed cue I e n e VV s JUNE 25. 2003 53