Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

cha nce of finishing as runner-up to the Finn at t he en d of t he seaso n, he would have to finish ahead of Vilanov a and Italian Alessandro Bo tt uri - the ride rs he battled w ith at th e open ing ro un ds of the se ries . By putt ing himse lf in the se cond place spot e arly on in the day, Ed mo ndson was able to ca pitalize on Salmi ne n's misfo rtune and claim th e win ahead of Botturi. Knowi ng that he w as comfortably ahead of the burl y Ita lian w ith o nly a ha ndful o f spe cial tes ts to go, Edm o nd so n ca me close to e asing off a little to o m uc h as his eventu al win ning margin was less th an half a se cond. With Salminen want ing to return t o t he top of t he class on d ay two and t ry to forget about h is dis astrous d ay on e re sult , Edmond son had other ide as and w as confident he could t o p t he E2 class for a second time and set a bout claiming an o t her win by topping the opening t e st of the day. Pushin g as ha rd as he co uld right from th e word go, Eddy se t a pace th at on ly Salmi nen could match as th e pair pulled themse lve s clear of the res t of the E2 clas s. Come the e nd of th e ev e nt, Ed mo ndso n had done enough to finish 14 seconds clear of the Finn despite losing over 20 seconds to the KTM rid er on one c ro ss- co unt ry special t e st mid w ay th rough the day. Making up for his day one d isappointmen ts , despite finishing ove r two m inut e s behind Edmondson, w as Spaniard Vilanova. Finishing fourth, afte r placing ou tside th e top fIVe on day on e w as re igning I25cc World Champion Petri Pohjamo wi th Bottu ri in fifth . Matching Edmondson's resu lt of a double -class topping performance, Aro had t hings pre tty mu ch all his ow n way in t he Endu ro 3 class in Italy despite be ing u na b le to match th e pace set by Husaberg's Ma rko Tarkkala early on da y on e . With Ta r kkala e ventually c rash ing and hurting his shoulder, Aro placed just unde r 30 se c o nd s ahea d of Iva n C e rv ante s on day o ne , w it h D avid Knight clai mi ng third to make it an a llKTM podium . Wit h Hu sq varn a ride r And e rs Eriksso n getting mu ch closer to the Endu ro 3 class ' to p t hre e rid e rs than he d id in both Spain a nd Portugal , his fourth -place finish sh owe d that it probably w o n't be to o long before he makes it onto a WEC podiu m . Finishing as th e class ' best two -stroke ride r was Fre nc h Gas Gas factory rider Se bas tian Gu illaume . Pro ving th at he could be ev e ry bit as fast in t he m ud of d ay two as he had be e n o n d ay one , Aro t o p pe d the E3 class by clo se to 40 seconds on day two a nd in doing so finished as t he best overa ll finishe r. Wit h Knight moving up o ne spot into seco nd, it was Finn ish Hu sq varn a rider Mika Ahola who claimed the final ro st r um s po t afte r Eriksson made t hre e co st ly m istake s, w hich d ro pped him to fourth once aga in. Again fast on day two, Tarkkal a failed to finish t he event, allo wing Gas Gas rid e r Jani Laaksonen to fill the fift h spot, t he position his teammate Sebas t ie n Gu illaume had occupied on day o ne. eN WORLD EN DURO GP MATELlCA, ITALY RESULTS: APRIL 24-2 5, 2004 (ROUND 3) Day I EN D U RO I: I. Stefan Mer riman (Y am) 59 :.......98 ; 2. Roberto Banurri (Hus ) 1:0 1:0 3.'46; 3. Bartosz ObluckJ (Yom) LOL04 .07 ; 4. Marlo R;naldl (Yam) LOI;08 .76; 5. Pettert Silvan (KTM) 1:0 1:4 4.72; 6. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) LOI ;S2.90; 7. Rickard Larsson (TM) 1;01 ;56.64; 8. Alessio Paoli (T M) 1:02:22.94: 9. Helder Rodrigues (KTM) 1;02;26.79 ; 10. Peter 8e'i"'11 (Hsq) I ,ON7.64 ; IL jan Matt ila (GG ) I ,ON 8. 12: 12. jama Boano (Han) I ,OH2.29; 13. Simone A1bergoni (Hon) 1:02:33. 18; 14. Xevl Puigdemont (KTM) 1:03 :13.14; IS. Fab ie n Planet (KTM) 1:0] :18.83; 16. Homero Diu (KTM) 1:03:20.31; 17. RKcardo Fermi (Yam) 1:OJ:4 2. 16; 18. Roberto Rola (KTM) 1:04:00.66; 19. Simone Tonelli (Y am) 1:04: I I.'"I; 20. (Above) Juha Salminen toak second in Sunday's Enduro 2 class. (Below) Barton Oblucki went 3-6 in the Enduro 1 division. 1;01;00 .54 ; 4. Ande rs Enksson (Hus ) 1:01; 1LS2; 5. Mm o Tark kala (Hbg) 1:01:14.31; 6. Sebastien Guillau me (GG) 1:01 :25 .76; 7. Mika Ahola (Hus) 1:01 :51.1 1; 8. Ja ni Laa ksonen (GG) 1;0 1;55.55 ; 9. 8 jome Carlsson (Hbg) 1:0 2:03 .15 ; 10. We rne r Mulle r (KTN) 1:02:58.96 ; II. Fed e rico Man cin e lli (KTM) 1:03 :03 .9 3; 12. N iklas Gusta fsson (KTM) 1:03:23.50: 13. Swen Ende rlein (KTM) 1;03 ;39.24 ; 14. Ch ristoph Seifert (KTM) 1,04 ,03 .66 ; 15. jurt Simo ncinl (KTM) 1:04 :0 3.66 ; 16. Jordi Duran (KTM) 1;04;28; 14; 17. Laurent Boomoux (Hbg) "04;36.25; 18. Fabio Occhiolini (TM) 1:0-4:45.71 ; 19. Larry Gustafsson (H bg) 1,06 ,16. 14; 20. Tobon (Han) 1,04 ,32.05 ; 2. JUN Salminen (KTM) 1,04 ,46.30; 3. Amau Volanova (Han) 1:06 :35.70 ; 4 . Petri Po hja mo (GG) 1:06 :53:46; 5. A1euandco Botturt (KTM) 1;07;27.13 ; 6. Edward jcoes (KTM) 1;08;18.28 ; 7. Paul Whlb!ey (Han) L08 ,36.9 7: 8 . Valtten 5a1onen (Han) L09 ,39 .12 ; 9. M,kl Arpa (Hus) 1;10 ; 11.10 ; 10. Mlka Saarenkosld (Hus) I; 10:1 6.20; I I. V"" Despite French rider Jean-Michele Bayle's having generated much inte rest when he announced he was set to ride the Italian event, the Honda rider failed to show, having injured his back during a photo shoot. Also not competing in Italy was Italian Stefano Passeri. With She rco having named the event as the round of the WEC where its 450cc machine would make its internat ional debut, it was reckoned that the factory still needs more time to develop its new enduro offer ing. With the '04 WEC series yet to reach the ha lfway point. speculation as to which teams and manufacturers a numbe r of riders will race for next season has already arisen. And w ith Juha Salminen set to race in the United Stat es in 'OS, the big question is, who will rep lace him on the KTM Racing tea m? Many within the paddock reckon that Finn Marko Tarkkala, a rider whose Husaberg contract is up at the end of the year and w ho was encou raged t o com pete in endur os by the now -KTM Racing team manager KariTiainen , will be that ride r. And judging by Tarkkala's pace in Italy and not his results, it is easy to see why he would fit in we ll to the team . But word circulating in the paddoc k also suggests that KTM will field just one officia l team in the WEC next season , instead of two as at pr esent. with six riders in to tal - two in each class. With bot h the KTM Racing tea m and the Farioli KTMteam receiving factory machinery and suspension in '04 . many expect that if KTM does make the change, it willbe the KTM Racing team that will expand, rather than the Farioli KTMsquad. Giuliano Falgara (Hus) 1:04 :2-4 3. .9 ENDURO 2: I. Paul Ed mo ndson (Han) 1:00 ,48. 19; 2. Alessandro Botturl (KTM) 1:00:-48 3; 3. Alessand ro Zanni .3 (Han ) 1:0 1: 19.68 ; 4. Paul Whlb!ey (Han) 1,01 ;32.84; 5. Andrea Beconi (Yam LOI :38.05 ; 6. Giovanni Sala (KTM) ) 1:0 1:56.7 1: 7. Mika Saarenkoski (Hus) 1:0 1:59 .24 ; 8. Maurlt io Micheluz (KTM) 1:02:06.84; 9. Andreas To resson (Hbg) 1,0 2; 16.65; 10. Fausto 5covolo (GG) 1;02; 18.83; II. Thieny Klutz (GG) 1:02:23 .66 ; 12. Valtterl Salonen (Hon ) 1:02:27.72; 13. Petri Pohjamo (GG ) 1:0 2:29 .63 ; 1-4 . Miki Arpa (Hus ) I,OH 4. IO; 15. Vola Kuklik (KTM) I,OB S. 16; 16. Gerard Farr es (KTM) 1:0 2.55.9 1; 11. Amau Vilanova (Hon ) 1:0 2:56.89 ; 18. Giusep pe Gallino (Vor) 1:03:01.9 1; 19. Cnsttan RavagU (KTM) I:U06 .S I ; 20. Edward Jones a (KTM) 1,0 3,47.75. ENDURO 3: I . Samuli AT (KTM) 1,00 , I 3.29; 2. !van o Cervantes (KTM) 1:00 :-4 2.35; 3. David Knight (KTM) Kuklik (KTM) I: I 0:51 .6 2; 12. Gio van ni Sala (KTM) 1; 11;59.88 ; 13. Cnsuan Ravaglla (KTM) 1; 12,08 .89 ; 14. Marc o Straubel (KTN) 1:13:47.14: IS. Ales sand ro Zanni (Han) 1;15;27.89; 16. And...., Toresson (Hbg) UB 3.09 ; 17. Maurizio Michel uz (KTM) 1: 18:59.08; 18. Markus Kehr (KTM) 1:19 ,21.0 1; 19. Danie l Pe rson (Hbg) 1:22 ; 11.09 . ENDURO 3 : I. SamuIlAro (KTM) 1;0 1:5 1.72; 2. David Kn;ght (KTM) 1;02,31.69; 3. Mlka Ahola (Hus) 1;03,12.7 6; 4. Anders Eriksson (Hus ) 5. jan l Laalon (KTM) 1;08; 10.00 ; 10 . Fed e rico Manc ine lli (KTM) 1:08 :15 .37; I I. Swen Ende rlein (KTM) 1:08 ;33.03; 12. Chnstoph Seifert (KTM) 1:08 :57.-49; 13. Werner Muller (KTM) 1:10 :23. 19; 1-4 . Laurent BouffIOUX (Hbg) 1: 11:31.6 7; IS. Juri Simonc:ini (KTM) 1;I H 3.40; 16. Lany Gusuf""" (Hbg) 1: 14,12.79. www.cyclenews.com I,on o.so; The factory Gas Gas team was back at full str ength in Italy but stillfailed to make any real impression in any of the three classes. With Jari Matt ila still adjusting to the Spanish marque's 125cc machine afte r his II thhour switch from a 250cc machine at the facto ry's request , Pet ri Pohjamo placed 13th and fourth in the Enduro 2 class, while Gas Gas's four-st roke ride r Thierry Klu tz finished II th on day one and DNFed day two. In the highly competitive Enduro 3 class, 300cc two-stroke-mou nted ride rs Seb astien Guill ume and Jani Laaksonen a placed sixth and eighth before going on to place in fifth and seve nth in favor of Jani on day two . CYCLE NEWS . MAY 12, 2004 81

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