Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128344
ho m e-nation Po land , Finland's doub le Tro phy- and Junior Trophy-team w ins were th e na tio n's se co nd ones in e igh t years, when it claimed both clas s w ins in '9 7 when the ISD E was he ld in Finland. Pola nd 's ru nner-u p finish in t he Jun ior Trophy team com petitio n was a re sult that no one expected, not ev e n the Po les . He lped greatly by UFO Corse Yamaha rider Bartosz Oblucki w inn ing the Enduro I class, a solid pe rfo r m ance from the unknown rider Michal Sz uste r meant t hat Pola nd wou ld place ahead o f m any of Europe's better-known enduro nati on s. Finish ing seven m inutes be hind Pola nd , Australia placed as the only no n-Eu ropean nation to make it o nto e ithe r a Trophy or Junior Trophy t e am podium after its riders pro duced consiste nt results a ll w e ek. With none of t he Austra lian Junio r riders fast enough to t hreaten a ny of t he clas s w inne rs, the te am 's strengt h lay in its de pe ndab ility. Finishing fourt h, G reat Britain improved four positions on its '03 result from Braz il, an d Slova kia claimed fifth , w ith the My Netherlands finishing in sixth. In th e End uro I clas s, Italian Honda rider Sim one Albergoni finished top o f t he clas s o n the o pening tw o day s of t he 79 th ISDE before a mecha nical problem ended his event pr e m at urely. Handi ng t he nu mber-o ne spot in t he E I class to Poli s h rider Oblucki, the UFO C o rs e Yama ha ace t he n extende d his lead at the to p o f the class to clai m his fir st- e ve r ISDE w in . Run ning thir d , an d then second aft e r Albe rgo ni's D NF, Br ita in's Pa ul Edmondson ran into pro blems on day five, d ro pping t h ree mi nu te s an d do w n to an eventual finish ing spot o f 13t h as a resu lt o f ha ving to carry out run ning re pairs. Making it a Yamaha one- two, French r ide r Marc G ermain claim e d th e run ner-up s pot in th e E I clas s aft e r starting his w e ek slowly. Getting quicker wi th each pass ing day, t he Yamaha Fra nce ride r th en topped th e E I-class motocross rac e o n day six. OWN RACE Bar to sz O blucki 1st E I "I'm so happy to have been able to win the Enduro I class here at my home race," Oblucki said. "I have been under a lot of pressure this week - the spectators were reaching out to touch me on the special tests and cheering me on so much that sometimes they were almost slowing me dow n. It is great to have so much su pport, but it made it a very stressful week for me . I only made a few mistakes during the week, which I am really happy about. Alter the fi rst couple of days I was confident that I could beat Simone A1bergoni, but he was riding reallywell. What happened to him on day three, when he had problems with his bike, is unfortu nately one of thos e th ings that can happen. After that, I had a good lead in the EI class, and I amaha team have done a didn't want to risk pushing too hard and crash ing. The UFO Corse Y great jo b this week, and with Stefan and myselfwinning, we ll, it has been a great week for Yamaha. I am disappo inted about all the bad things that have happened during the week and especially w hat happened on day six. I willtry and continue to ride like I have th is week in the last two rounds of the World Enduro Championship and see what happens." Stefan Merriman 1st E2 "It's been a long time since I've been able to compete against Juha [Salminen] on equal machinery, so I really wan ted to race against him here at the ISDE before he leaves Europe to race in the U.S. next year," Merriman said. "The UFO Corse Yamaha team put in a huge amount of work getting my bike ready for the six days, so I knew that I could compete against him. It was a shame that he had problems early in the week, but we con tinued to battle o ne another during the last three days. There was only a seco nd or two between us on most spec ialtests and we were both trying things to get an advantage. I was constantly adjusting my suspen sion and Juha changed his shock ; I think we were both riding on the limit. Iwon't say that it has been an enjoyable week, but having ridden well and proved myself- that makes me really happy. The o rganization has bee n pretty good allweek, apart from the final day. It's bee n a pretty hard enduro, too - there's not been much roadwork. The course hasn't bee n that challenging but it was pretty difficu lt because of the dust and the fact that you could never sto p concentrating. I'm stuck for words when it comes to explaining what I feel about the situation we 've had on the finalday. I do n't think it is fair to blame the Polish organizers without also blaming the FIM because they have seen riders re fuse to ride the final motocross because of the dust before ." Samuli Aro 1st E3 "Well, the week was quite nice as the weather was good, which is one thing that can normally spoil the six days," Aro said. "I was happy with the way I was riding,and to win the Enduro 3 class is great . No rmally I have some problems aro und the third day at the ISDE, but this year it was on day four that I had some problems . I had a problem with my rear shock and then on the fifthday with my front forks. I was happy with my riding. I didn't want to think about my position in class or in the overall, but Kari [Tlai nen, KrM Racing team manager] was trying to persuade me that I could catch Merriman in the overall, but I didn't want to think about it. Always when I come to the ISDE I ride for the team and my personal result isn't so importan t. What happened to Swen Enderleln, well, I felt it quite strongly. I don't mind admitting that I shed a few tears when I hadto pass the place where he died. I wasn't close friends with him, but I knew him to talk to . It's quite hard to accept a fello w competitor dying in an event that you are also competing in. I was reallydisappo inted about the way day six ended. Iwanted to ride the race, but it was the mistake of the organizers. They had plenty of time to water the track. A lot of us stillhave two more World Championship races to go but Iwanted to race on day six." / /' Placing third in his first-e ve r ISDE, form er Ita lian motocross rider Ale x Belometti ended the week as the be st placed twostrok e rid er in th e Endu ro I clas s wi t h t hird , afte r ma naging to kee p Po lish rider Michal Szuste r at bay. W it h Szuster p lacing fo u rt h , French rider Fab ien Planet cla imed fifth , with Finn Pe tt e ri Silvan in sixth , having suffered with th e flu all week lon g, and form er 12Scc World Motocross C hamp io n Pedro Tragter plac ed se ve nth aboard his Honda. W ith Juh a Salm inen runn ing into mechanical t roubles o n day two, the m uch anticipa ted battl e between Austra lian Stefan Merri man an d the allconquering Finn to top th e End uro 2 class ended be fo re it had really started . As le ader o f the WEC En duro I class, Mer r iman c hose to com pete in the Enduro 2 class, as it marked his last o pportunity to com pete head to head with Salmine n before t he KTM Racing r ider heads to th e Uni ted State s in 'OS. W ith Merrima n topping da y o ne by a mass ive 40 seco nds, it seemed as if his e xp ected weeklong battl e w ith Salm ine n m ight no t be as close as ex pecte d . One thing that was clea r tho ugh w as th at t he rider t hat ma de the leas t num be r o f mistake s w oul d take t he class and, m o re than like ly, the overall ind ividual-event w in as w el l. But w it h Salm inen then los ing some 55 m inutes on day two w ith mechanical problems, th e batt le w as suddenly over. W ith Me rrim an comfortably outpac ing all other E2 compet ito rs, he e xtended his lead at th e top of the clas s with e ach passing day. W ith Salm inen d ro pping so much time on day two and w ith Span iard Arnau Vilanova's disqualificaiton on the final day of the ev e nt, eventually finishing alm ost five m inutes clear at th e to p o f the E2 class meant th at Finnish C lub te am r ider and www.cyclenews.com re lgnmg 125cc World Enduro Champion Pe tri Pohjamo wou ld place as runners-up. Rid ing h u nd re ds o f r ide rs b ehind Merriman, the almost- Finnish -like conditions seemed to suit Po hjamo, as he cla imed his best r e s ult o f the year. C ausing anothe r surprise in the E2 class was the consistent perfo rman ce o f U .S. rider Kurt C as elli. Havi ng proved himself fast at the '0 3 ISDE in Brazil, C ase lli again showed tha t he had both the speed and ability to match an d be at m any of the WEC's to p riders by claim ing t he t hird and final podi um spot in th e E2 class. Wit h rid e rs fro m three diffe re nt count rie s finish ing inside t he to p th ree of the E2 class, Finn Valtteri Salo nen claimed fourth aboar d his Honda less than one second be hin d Caselli. W ith French G as G as rider Seb Guillau m e placing fifth , litt le kno w n Finn To m i Pe ltola cla imed sixth , with Fin n Mika 5aar en kos ki seventh , N icolas Depar ro is eig hth and Australian Gle nn Kearney ninth. Salm ine n finished an eventual 135th in clas s. The clo sest finish of all three capacity classes at this ye ar's six days was in the End uro 3 category. W ith Finn Samuli Aro, Britain's David Knight and Span iard Ivan Cerva ntes e xpected to be the th ree riders to finish at the top of the class, the fact th at they finishe d in that e xact o rde r was o f litt le surprise . For Aro , strong performances in t he WEC Se ries meant that he CYCLE NEWS • o aO BER 6 , 2004 31