Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

surpri sed m any , includin g himself, to claim the final pod ium position . "I' m ve ry , ver y happ y because I'm us in g m y teamm at e' s trainin g bike bec a use my race b ik e is sti ll o n it s way back from B razil," he said . "The r e ar s u spe ns io n is so soft, it was re all y difficult for m e. A lso , I was n't rid in g so goo d and o nly mad e t h e F ou r- S t r o ke fi nal from t he l as t c h ance ra ce . I o nly re al ized in th e fi n al wha t the co rrect ta cti c is - I st arte d fro m th e outsi de, w hich m eant tha t I arri ved on the ins ide of th e sec o n d co rn er. I d idn ' t ha ve m u ch strength du rin g the ra ce, but to fin ish third is grea t. " Wi th Knight cl aim ing th e win in th e Fou r-St ro k e cla ss, it was Au ssie rid er Stefan Merriman who claimed the win in the T wo -Stro k e final. Havi ng ha d mixed re sult s at the indoo r eve nt in yea rs p ast , Merr im an added vi cto ry t o hi s alread y hugely succ essful sea son . " I h a d a re all y goo d b attl e wi th Pa u l in t h e T w o -Str ok e fin a l , " ex p l aine d th e rei gning 250c c Worl d sm ooth and read y to wi n during h is qualifyi ng races and d idn 't di sappo int du r in g e it her the F our- S t r o k e or Su per fi nal. Winning ahead of Juha Sal min en an d Mika Ahola in the Four -Stroke final, Kn ighter th en d id th e double by t opping th e Su per fin a l ah ead , once again , o f Sa lmin en w it h t wo-s t ro ke Honda rider Stefa n Merrim an c la iming th ird, In th e T wo -Stroke final Merriman claim ed th e win , finish in g ahead of Paul Edmondson and Po rtuguese KTM rider Helder Rodrigues. "W it h the d isappointment of not going to the Six Days , and with th is b ei n g m y f i na l r a c e f or th e UF O Yam aha team , I j us t w an te d to end my seaso n w ith a good resu lt , w hich I did ," ex p l ain ed Kn igh t so o n afte r c la im ing hi s seco nd wi n o f th e ni gh t. "I didn 't get a great sta rt in the Fo ur -Stro k e fina l, but I got into t he l e a d j u st after the w a ter crossing . Juha [Salm inen ] went o ne side of the next rock section, so I went the other and go t past him - then I j ust tried to o pen up a bit of a lead . I nearly crashed on the penultimate la p w hile c ro ssing th e log section , but luck il y I m anaged to stay upr ight. A part from that, an d a clu t ch tha t was ove r heat in g a bit , th e race went really well. " Wi th one rac e win alre ady secu red, K night cl early wa nt ed to to p the one ra c e th at ha d so f ar el ud ed h im in S p ai n - th e Sup er f i n a l. Go ing up aga inst Sal m ine n for the sec ond ti m e, an d wit h t he ni g ht's f o u r q u ickes t two -stro k e ri der s also li ning up alo ng side him, Kni g ht f ac ed hi s t oughest rac e of th e eve ni ng. " Hav ing finis hed se c o nd th e last tw o year s, I rea lly wa nted t o win th e Super fina l t oni gh t ," Knight sai d . " I g ot th e st art , but someon e tried to get up the inside of m e o n the first rock sec tio n , so I had to ge t m y h e ad " down earl y on. I j ust tried to get into a good rhythm . I saw t h at Juha had moved into second, b ut J k new tha t even if he di d c atch me , he'd have to pass me. It' s great to have finally won a Su per fin al. I j ust ho pe I can do it agai n ne xt yea r. " A ft er havi ng things pretty m uch all h i s o w n way l a s t y e ar , Sa lm ine n aga in p ro d uce d the ty pe o f p erf o r m an c e eve ryo ne ex pec ts fr om th e five -tim e World Champion but ende d u p as run n er- up to t h e on-form K n ight in both the Four -Stro k e and • (Above) World Endu ro C ha m p ion Juha Sa lm inen got shut out but still pu t up a good l ight. (Below) St el a n M erriman came away with the Two- Stroke class victory. agai n diffi cult fo r m e. Th en I passed Pau l and St ef an , bu t D av i d wasn't m a k in g a ny m i s t a k e s so he was im p o ssibl e t o catch. Here the rider who ma k es a good start and doesn 't m ak e any mist ak es wi ns . Thi s year it was Da vid ." Cl aim ing third in th e Four-Stroke final was ano ther F innis h ride r: M ika Ahola . Havin g been ill th e week lead· ' Super fin al rac es. " Both the F ou r -Strok e and Super a 450cc m a chin e r a t h er th a n h i s f i n al ra c es were the same fo r m e , usua l ove r- 50 0cc four- strok e, A ho la ing up to the eve nt, and m ounted o n E n d u r o Ch am p i o n . " I h a d a g ood . st a rt, b ut t hen I p u shed a littl e b it too hard ac ros s so me o f th e rock s, and I got thro w n t o th e gro und pretty h a rd . I b en t m y fro n t bra k e l eve r down by m y knee, and Pau l passed me, so I j ust had to try and catch up as best as I could . Paul then made a mista ke in the roc k s, and I m anaged to pull a little bit of a lead, so it went well , rea lly ." Pro vi n g th at h e w as w ell o n th e pace of the faste st fo ur-stroke ri der s, Me rr iman th en , somewha t disappo intingly , placed third in the Supe r final. Suffe ri ng from a poor sta rt and then m aki ng a few mist ak es, he th en rod e ste adil y to a podium finish . C lai m in g a n e v e n t u a l se c o n d place fini sh in t he T wo -S t ro k e fina l wh en he lo o k ed li k e th e ri d er m o st l i k e l y t o t op th e p odium m i d way th ro u g h th e ra c e , Paul Edm o n ds on reall y ," rec ko ned th e ever-re laxed S a l m i ne n . " In t h e F ou r Str oke fi nal I got a good start, but the n I made a big , big mistake early in the race. You don't have m uch time to de cide which line to take here, and I got it wr ong . After tha t I just tr ied not to make any mistakes because D av id wa s al read y a lon g way in fron t. " In th e Super final I m ad e a r ea lI y ba d start, lik e in m y q uali fy in g rac e. T he bike I a m rac ing isn 't m ine , and it ' s quit e difficu lt to adj ust to th e differ ent power. In th e first stone se cti on i t w a s reall y difficu lt to foll ow r i d e r s , a n d th a t wa s cue I e neVIl's

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