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OFF-ROAD
Iiiliiii
Round 4
Maxxis FIM W orld Enduro Champi onship
•
•
wins In
STORY AND PHOTO S BY JONTY EDMONDS
FO Corse Yamaha rider Stefan
Merriman and KTM Racing's [uha
Salminen were the two fastest riders at the fourth ro und of the '04
World Enduro Championship held
in St Remy Sur Durolle , France , with 250cc fourstroke-mounted Merriman topping the Enduro I
class and the overall classification on day one,
w hile 4S 0cc fou r-st r o ke - mo unt e d Sal minen
cla imed victory in the Enduro 2 clas s on both
days, fi nishing as the fastest overa ll ride r on day
two.
With conditions once again we t, which certainly didn't deter the estimated 10,000 enduro fans
from com ing out to watch, Merriman and the rest
U
70 MAY 26,2004 • CYCLE NEWS
of the EI class held the advantage on day one, as
they arrived first at each of the day's rapidly deteriorating specia l tests. And with Merriman keen to
show that he can produce winning results in wet
conditions as well as dry, the Australian topped the
EI class by ove r a minute at the end of the opening day. Making it an even better day fo r
Merriman , as far as his champion ship aspirations
were concerned, was the fact that his closes t rival,
Finn Pet teri Silvan, failed to collect any points after
clocking in seven minutes ea rly at one of the day's
contr ol points. Gifting Merriman a sizeable championship advantage, Silvan's mistake was one that
could cost him dearly as the cham pionship moves
into its second half.
40th Anniversary
