Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

My OWN RACE Paul Edmondson 2-4 Enduro 2 Honda Racing Fast Eddy rider Paul Edmondson looks set to finish as runner-up to Finn Juha Salmine n in the Enduro 2 class fo llow ing two good rides in Greece. Making Edmondso n's life easier was the fact that his nearest championship rival before the event, Italian Alessandro Botturi, DN Fed day one and failed to start day two. "Day one was a really good day for me, " Edmondson said . " I didn 't make any big mistakes on any of the special tests or have any crashes. With Alessa ndro Botturi DNFing. it has made things a lot easier for me in the championship now - it's taken some of the pressure o ff. I felt that I rode pretty well , but when Juha rides as well as he did on day one there's no beating him - he was in a class of his own. Day two was very similar to day one, really. as I did n't have any crashes. I'm a little bit d isappo inted with finishing in fourth , but the two lads that bea t me are young and desperate to get good resu lts at the end o f t he season. Finishing in second position in the Enduro 2 World Championshi p is, as it has been all season, my main goal." Ande rs Er ikss o n 4-5 m uscles in his back o n day one an d was unable to start day two. O n day two, with Salm ine n again in a class of his own, Ho nd a rider Vaille r i Salonen claimed t he runner-up spot as he finished six seconds ahead o f Spaniard Arnau Vilan ova . Edmond so n finished less t han q uarter o f a second be hind Vilanova in fourth , C laiming his fifth doub le class win of the season, Finn Samuli Aro was again the fast est Enduro 3-class rider, topping both days w ith re lativ e ease in G reece. Finis hing 44 seco nd s clear at th e top of th e opening day's resu lts, Aro then placed close to one m inute ahead on day two, as he, as w e ll as count ry m a n and fellow KTM Racing teammate Salminen, edged closer to be ing crowned World Champion. " D ay one was pretty good for me," Salminen said . " I had only one small crash, bu t apart fro m that I really enjoyed the race. Bo th the tests and the co urse were really enjoyable, which surp rised me really, as G reece isn't such a st ro ng enduro country. " D ay two was really good as well," Salminen continued . "I finished fifth in class o n one special test when I stopped the e ngine , bu t apart fro m that I won all the o ther tests. In t he seco nd lap I h it a tree on the enduro test, but that was t he only thing that happened to me reall y. The w ater on the e nd uro test was becoming a b it of a concern because my bike took some into the engine on day one, so I took th ings a little bit easier, jusT to make sure I d idn't give any c hampionship po ints aw ay." With D av id Knight and Ivan Cervantes once aga in being the riders to fin is h Enduro 3 " Finally. I've been rea lly hap py with my riding this weekend," Ande rs Eriksso n said . "The motocross tests have bee n really good for me, but I haven't been fast enough in the enduro tests o n either day. For the last e nd uro test on d ay two, I took some co mpr essio n out o n my front forks, and it really he lped . I felt a lot mo re comfortable abou t my riding. and the time was much bett e r than it had been. I lost on e position to my teamm ate Mika Ahola in the final test of day tw o , which was d isappo inting, but I guess that is racing. I'm much closer to the podium than I was at the beginning o f th e season, but I just do n't seem to be able to finish to p th ree. I was just tw o seconds away o n day one - I don't think I'll know w hat to do w he n I finally do get on th e podium; it's been t hat long since I was last t here. I've ridden th e race in Germany, whe re the final ro und o f th e World C hampionship will be. five times now - it's as if I have two home races in the WEC Series t his se aso n. I'm rea lly looking forw ar d to that race bec ause it is always well organized and a challenging event. It's my last cha nce to claim a podium th is yea r; I really want to place top t hree." David Knight 2-2 Enduro 3 N am ed as an o fficial fact o ry KTM rider for '05, David Knight claimed two imp o rtant runner-up finishes in the Enduro 3 class to strengthen his second-place spo t in the WEC poi nts stan d ings. Despite be ing unable to to pple the mighty Aro, Knighter still has a ma thematical chance o f claiming a Worl d title in '04 but ad mitted in Greece that securing the runner-up spot is now his priority. "The first day in Greece was steady away really. I felt that I was riding pretty well but the time s just didn 't seem to be there. Me and Cervantes had a good battle all day until he made a cock-up on the enduro tests, whi ch was handy for me. I felt much better on day two, and I had a good lead over Cervantes at the start o f the last lap. I to tally cocked the cross-country test up though, bu t luckily so d id he, so I managed to stay ahead of him." closest to Sam uli, " Kn ig hte r " placed as ru nner-up o n both days, w hile C ervantes e nded the w e eke nd wi th two th ird -p lac e finishes , Behind th e all-KTM podium finishers, Anders Eriksson came closer than he has all year to claiming a podium finish when he placed just two seconds be hind C e rvan tes on day one. O n day two, Anders and his C H Racing H usqva rn a teammate Mika Ah ola switched finishing positions as Mika moved to fourth and Ande rs to fifth. eN GREECE WEe SERRES, GREECE RESULTS: OCTO BER (ROUND 7 OF 8) Briefly... Due to the penultimate round of the WEC series being a stand-alone race manythousands of milesaWorf from mainland Europe , manysmall... WEC teams found it hardto justify the expenseof traveling to Greece and either joined forces with some of the bigger teams or simply didn't compete. With several WEC regulars not in attendance, only60 competitors took to the start of the event - some 30 or 40 riders lessthan most WEC races. 2-3, 2004 Day One ENDURO I. Stefan Merriman (Yam); 2. Barton Obludu (Yamaha): 3. 5rnooe Albe<'gOO (Honda ): ... Perren SMn (KTH): S. Alex BeIometti (KTl'1). ENDURO 2: I. luna Salminen (KTM); 2. Pa uf Edmon

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