Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ENDURO 2: I. Juha Salminen (KTM); 53:50 .71; 2. Arnau Vilanova (Ho n); 5H2.11; 3. Aless>ndro Botturi (KTM); Giovanni Sala didn't win but is 55:00 .041 ; 04 . Paul Edmond son (Ho n); still a WEe crowd favorite. 55;07.38; 5. Petri Pohjamo (GG); 55;19.55; 6. Mika SaarenkoskJ (Hus); 55:23.32; 7. Valteri Salone n (Hon) ; 55:35.23; 8. Andreas Tores so n (Hbg); 55:" 9.72: 9. Gtovanni Sala (KTM); 55:57. 11; 10. Gerard Farres (KTM); 56;0 1.59; I I. Paul Whlbley (Ho n); 56;05.09; 12. MIlO Ar pa (Hus); 56: 13.60; 13. Marcus Kehr (KTM); 56;3H 3; 14. V""KulOlk (KTM); 56;53. 13. 15. merry Klutz (GG); 57;03.01; 16. Daniel Persson (Hbg); 57:56A5 ; 17. Edw ard Jon es (KTM); 58 :30. 11; 18 . Andrea Beconi (Ya 58:43.74; 19. Olivier m); Samofal (Hbg); 59:23.39; 20. Olivi r Pain e (KTM); 59;35.n. ENDURO 3 : I. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 53;16.87; 2. David Knight (KTM); 5<;03 .52; 3. 5amu!; Aro (KTM); 54;04.64; 04. Marko Tarkkala (H bg); 5" :36.72; S. Mika Ahola (Hus); 54:" 1.20; 6. Anders Eriksson (Hus); 5450.33; 7. Bjc rne Carlsson (Hbg); 55:55.61; 8. Niklas Gustafsson (KTM); 56:13.28; 9. Xaco b Agra (Hus); 56:"19.60; 10. Jord i Duran 56 :5" .02; I I. Werner Mulle r (KTM); 56:59.02; 12. Swen Ende rleln (KTM); 57;50 .31; 13. Joan Roma (KTM); 58:204.08 ; I"I. Christoph Seifter (KTM); 5B;36.40; 15. Daniel Johansson (GG); 59:06.85; 16. l aurent Bouffioux (Hbg); 59:20.57; 17. Tobias Auerswald (Hus); Ih03 :34.06; 18. Janis Vinters (KTM); Ih0 3:35 .98; 19. Magnu s Ambjomson (Hus); Ih05 :0 1.2 2; 20. Jens Oest rich (KTM); Ih I0;0 2.BO. Day 2 ENDURO I: I. Simo ne A1bergoni(Hon); 4 1:45.89; 2. ENOURO 2: I. Juha Salminen (KTM); "I I:03.72; 2. Stefan Merri man (Y am); 42:02.0 1; 3. Perren Sitvan (KTM); Amau Vilanova (Hon); 42 :00 .85: 3. Petri Poh jamo (GG); 42020.8 1; 4. Paul Edmondson (Hen): 42;30.14; 042:10 .21: 04. Roberto Bazurri (Hus); "12:"17.89; 5. Bartosz OblucIU (Yam); 4BH2; 6. Alessandro Belomti (KTM); 5. Alessandro Bonu ri (KTM); 42:36.37; 6. Giovanni 42:58.37: 7. Marc Germa in (Y am); 04 3:06.77: 8. Pet er SaJa (KTM): 42:53. 16; 7. Mika Saarenkoski (Hus); Bergvall (Hus); 43;17.57; 9. jarno Boano (Hon) ; H ;17.65; 42:57.7 1: B. Paul Whibley (Hon); "3 :11.75: 9. Maurizio 10. He lde r Rodrigues (KTM); "1 3:18 .59; I I. Xevi Miche luz (KTM): 43:50.38; 10. MikJ Arpa (Hus); Puigdemont (KTM); 43 :22.80; 12. Alessio Paoli (TM); " 3:51.17; I I. Andrea Beconi (Y am); " 3:55.26; 12. 04 3:28.76: 13. Fabien Planet (KTM); 0 :36.59; 14. Mario Marcus Kehr (KTM); +4:03.69; 13. Vat eri Salonen t Rinal i (Yam 43;51.36; 15. Andre Raphael (Hon); 43;56.20; d ); (Hon); 44 ;OU5; 14. Vo", Kukl;k (KTM); 44;11.54; 15. 16. Simo ne Tonelli (Yam); 44: I] .37; 17. Matt eo Rubin And""" Toresson (Hbg); 44;19.76; 16. Edward Jones (Hon); 44:43.06; 18 . Guiseppe Canova (Hus): +4:54.13; 19. (KTM); 45;11.44; 17. Danle! Persson (Hbg); 45;23.35; Jaco b Stapleton (TN ): 45:01.65: 20. Home ro Dial. (KTM); 18. O livi r Pain (KTM); 04 5:5 1.50; 19. O livier Samofal e 45;13.20. (Hbg); 46;04 .35; 20. Lucas Puerto (KTM); 46;16.03. My Briefly... Five minutes of silence was held on the Friday even ing before the riders' briefing in Spain as a mark of respect for those killed in the terrorist attack in the Spanish capital of Madrid. With countless riders riding with black armbands dUringthe event. the social events planned for the days leading up to the race were also canceled , as was all music at the start of the event's specia l tests on day one . Dust was the biggest concern of both the organizers and riders before the race in Puerto Lumbreras as the dry tracks and trails were causing filters to become dogged in as little as 10 minutes. Worse still, a number of teams found that the fine powder was actually finding its way through air filters. Thankfully rain du ring both days helped to dampen down the dust but wasn't enough to stop the need for riders to make regular filter changes. EN OURO ] : I. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 40:37.55; 2. Samuli Arc (KTM); 040:56.00: 3. David Knight (KTM); 4 1;2 1.19; 4. Marko Tarkkala (Hbg); 41;31.22 ; 5. Anders Eriksson (Hus): 4 1:36.55; 6. Mika Ahola (Hus); 42;00.1 1; 7. Bjorre Carlsson (Hbg); 42;15.00; 8. [ani laaksonen (GG); 42:29.22: 9. Niklas Gustafsson (KTM 43; 19.62; 10. Xacob Ai'" (Hus); 43;2 2.02; II . ); Jord i Duran (KTM); 43:24. 10; 12. Werner Muller (KTM): 4 3:26.03 : 13. Chris to ph Seitter (KTM); 044 :32.90; 1"1. Swen Enderiein (KTM); +4:33.35: 15. laure nt Bouffio ux 46 :07.01 : 16. Danie l Jo hanson (GG); 46: 19.23; 17. Janis Vinters (KTM); 47:22.4] ; 18. Tobias Auerswald (Hus): 56:34.49. OWN RACE Anders Er iksso n 6th/5th As one of three riders to start the new season w ith a number one on the fro nt of his bike, seven-time World Champion Eriksson had an early season wa ke-up call in Spain. A rider who has used smooth riding and cons iste ncy to win all of his wor ld titles, the burly Swe de found himself finishing in sixth and fifth in the highly com petitive E3 class. "Things are going to be rea lly hard for me this year, possibly o ne of the hardest years I have ever had," Eriksson said. "The difference between the top six or e ight riders in the E3 class is so small. O ne mistake can be the differenc e between first or second and seventh. Normally I have always t ried to ride smoothlyand safely to w in; that' s finished now. If you want to win this year, you have to ride on the limit and just hope that you do n't make any mistakes." Mika Saarenkoski 6th/7th Known for his all-or-noth ing riding style, Finn Mika Saaren koski's move from I25cc machinery to a 2S0cc tw o-str oke in the Enduro 2 class was always going to be an inter esting one. As one of a handful of riders w ith a motocross backgro und now competing regularly in the WEC , Saarenkoski dea lt with the Spanish even t's tr ials-like sect ions with brute force and ignorance. Crashing, cras hing and crashing som e more, day two the n saw the friendly CH Racing Husqvarna rider hit a car. "I we nt right ove r the top of it and landed on my back on the road behind it, whic h affected my riding a little," he said. "It de stroyed my bike, and in the next test it was a litt le bit difficult to ride like this. All in all it has been a pre tty terrible weekend for me ." i Helder Rod rigues 9th/ 10th After winning the I25cc class at the 78th ISDEin Brazil, many peo ple expected Farioli KTM rider Helder Rod rigues to be one of the front -runners in the Endu ro I class. With most of the EI class' top riders on four-stroke machine ry, it loo ked as if Rodrigues and Finn Petter i Silvan wo uld be the ride rs to uphold two-st roke honors. While Silvan came away from the Spanish event with two podium placings, Rodrigues produced tw o surp risingly poo r resu lts. Finishing a low ly ninth on day one, Rodrigues then dropp ed one position to 10t h in class on day two. Not a result either the Portuguese rider or his Farioli te am was happy with. Petri Po hjamo As the re igning 125cc World 5th/3rd .-- - -- - - - ---, Endu ro Champion, you'd have expected Finn Petri Pohjamo to prod uce a good result at the ope ning race of the new season - especially as he has been a regular in the Spanish Enduro Champ ionship for the past few seaso ns. But having had a knee reconstruction shortly after winning his first World title last year, Pohjamo was advised to stay off a bike for six months. Rest ing his knee for 4 1(2 months, the Gas Gas rider got back on a bike just three weeks before the WEC opener. Making the fact that he placed fifth and th ird in the E2 class all the mo re impre ssive is the fact that of those three we eks he spent prep aring for the event, one was on I25cc machine before deciding to switch to a 250. www.cyclenews.com The big ques tio n in the Enduro I class before the start of the Spanish event was, Which bike will perform best, I25cc two-st rokes or 250cc four-strokes? With Stefan Merriman winning day one aboard his Y amaha thumper. and with Simone A1bergoni topping day two on his Hon da four-stroke, Finn Petteri Silvan was the only two-stroke rider able to mix it with the four-strokes. "It looks like I'm the only rider that can fight with the four-strokes at the moment, so I'm happy with that ," he said. "I think that is possible to be faster than the four-stroke bikes but not on the opening laps of the race . On the first lap on day one , when the special tests were flat with no line s to use , Stefan and his four-stroke was at a real advantage . I had to spend the rest of the day trying to catch him." The t echnical control in Spain was el'ttrem e ly strict , w ith the Spanish officials' requiring all licenses and docu mentation to be IOO-percent correct. With many Scandinavians basing themselves in Southe rn Europe for the winter, several riders had problems with the legality of the ir machines due to the necess ary paperwo rk be ing "at home." Also strict when it came to noise levels, Italian TM rider Danielle Tellini was tu rne d back from technical control on countless occasions and took no part in the event due to his bike be ing abo ve the permitted noise level. Dakar winne r Nani Roma proved a huge favorite with the Spanish cro wds in Puerto Lumbre ras as the KTM rider made a one-off '04 WEC appearance. Desp ite having made a bet with his mecha nic that if he won this yea r's Dakar, he wo uld ride the complete WEC se ries, Roma's pres ence at the event helped give it a huge boo st. Mobbed by autograph-hungry kids w herever he we nt, Roma found the switch back to e nduro com petition difficult and failed to finish day two. "I last rode a WEC event tw o years ago , and I found this race very difficult," he said. "I'm just not used to racing special te sts any mo re . I just wanted to use the eve nt as training, as the start of my ralley season isn't too far away." While KTM had the by far the biggest presenc e in the paddock with the KTM Raci ng, Farioli KTM, D3-Racing, RFME KTM and BVZ KTM teams, Italian manufacture r Vor was nowhere to be seen. With the team's numbe r-one rider from '03, Finn Mika Ahola, having switched to Husqvarna for the new seaso n, not one black fou r-stro ke machine com peted in the eve nt. With Czech rider Roman Michalik and Italian Guisep pe Gallino said to be the man ufacturer's two official riders this season, no one seem ed to know why the Italian marque wasn't in Spain. CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 31 , 2004 41

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