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World Enduro Championship Series Round 6: Finland Two-Day Samuli Aro took the overall win on day one. Saarenkoski and KTM rider Mikko Pihlajavesi on day one, and then KTM riders Valtteri Salonen and Gas Gas' Petri Pohjamo on day two. Despite struggling on the event's longest special test and not winning on either day, Pohjamo strengthened his position at the top of the 125cc series standings. "It's not been a good weekend, but it's not been a bad weekend either," Pohjamo said. "I don't know why, but I wasn't so fast on the second motocross test, but apart from that everything was okay." Topping the 250cc Two-Stroke class as expected was KTM Racing rider Samuli Aro. Making up for his disappointing day two DNF in Italy, the reigning 250cc class champion proved to be the man to beat on day one having put his name at the top of the event by some 30 seconds. Again putting in a solid performance on day two, despite being pushed into second overall for the day by Juha Salminen due in part to having made a few small mistakes, Samuli again topped the 250cc class by 22 seconds. "Day one was really good," Aro said. "I didn't make any mistakes, and everything worked out really well. I was just riding normally. Day two was quite good, but I made a few small mistakes, which cost me some time." Claiming the runner-up spot on both days was 250cc class leader Stefan Merriman. Knowing that it would be hard to match the pace of Aro at his home race, the Honda-mounted Aussie claimed 40 valuable championship points as he took one step closer to his third World title . "It's been a good weekend really," Merriman said, "although I don't know where Juha and Samuli get their speed from. Because I'm thinking of the World title, I'm only riding at nine-tenths, which makes it really difficult in the sand." Finishing third in class was Portugal's Helder Rodrigues on day one and French rider Freddy Blanc on day two. Despite a heavy crash early on day two, UFO Corse YamaPete. Bergvall ha rider Peter Bergvall moved swept the 250cc one step closer to his second Fou.-5troke class, consecutive 250cc Four-Stroke winning both days. World title with a double-c1asstopping ride in Finland. Finishing nearly 40 seconds ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Giuseppe Gallino on day one, Peter battled his way back to the top of the class on day two having landed heavily on the collarbone he broke in Greece. ing a bad weekend, it has really "I crashed really hard on my shoulhelped my championship. Now we der on the second test of day two," have to see what happens in Sweden." Bergvall said. "Day one was pretty Making it an all-Finnish podium in good, but I've not been able to do as the 125cc class, Petteri was joined by much training as I would have liked hard-charging Husqvarna rider Mika Samuli Aro and Juha Salminen share wins in Finland overall win by less than one second - something the KTM Racing rider was clearly frustrated about. "Of course I'm happy to have won the first day, but it's disappointing not to have won over both days," he said. Finishing third on day one before topping the class on the second day was Italian Alessandro Botturi, while on day two Belgian rider Thierry Klutz claimed his first WEC podium of '03. In the 125cc class KTM racing rider Petteri Silvan moved himself into second from fourth place in the 125cc championship with two class-topping rides. Having struggled to find a suspension setup that he was happy with during the Greek, French and Italian rounds of the series, the reigning class champion proved, once again, that when it comes to racing in Finnish sand, he is still head and shoulders above his classmates. "I'm really happy with the way I've been riding this weekend," Silvan said. "We have completely changed the suspension on the bike, and now we are finding a good direction with it. With Larsson and Germain both hav- STORY AND PHOTOS BY JONTY EDMUNDS JAMSA, FINLAND, JUNE 6·7 IrfM Racing teammates Samuli • '-.Aro and Juha Salminen claimed a day win each at the penultimate round of the '03 World Enduro Championship in Finland, with Aro topping the 250cc Two-Stroke class both days and countryman Salminen winning the Over 500cc class on day two after suffering a mechanical DNF on day one. Joining the two Finns in celebration was Sweden's Anders Eriksson, who claimed his seventh World Enduro Championship title by placing second in the 450cc class on both days. "It feels great to have won a seventh World title," Eriksson said. "I'm a little disappointed not to have won the class, but I was happy with the way I rode. It's been quite a difficult year adjusting to a new bike, so to have won the 450cc championship is great for me and the team." With Eriksson placing second in the 450cc class both days, victory was shared between KTM riders Xevi Puigdemont and Alessandro Botturi. For Puigdemont victory on day one was the result of weeks of training in the sandy Finnish terrain. Coming closer than he ever has before to claiming an overall class win, the Spaniard missed out on the 450cc 52 JUNE 25, 2003· cue I e n e vv s