Caselli Impressive in World Enduro Debut
K
TM's Kurt Caselli did quite well in his
World Enduro Championship debut in
the Czech Republic, july 2-3.
Riding in the Enduro 2 division (250cc
two-stroke/450cc four-stroke) on a 250
EXC, Caselli finished ninth in his class,
which was won by Finland's Samuli Aro.
Second place went to Australian Stefan
Merriman. Caselli finished out the rainy and
muddy day just over a minute behind Aro.
On a drier day two, Caselli improved on
'his results significantly, finishing on the podium with a third in class behind, again,
KTM's Aro and Yamaha's Merriman. This
time, Caselli finished just 30 seconds behind
Aro
and
just
nine
seconds
behind
Merriman. Caselli was actually leading
Merriman going into the final special test of
the day before he "blew it," he said.
"I crashed a lot and made a load of mistakes on day one," Caselli said. "I'm not
used to racing in the mud so much, so I
learned a lot from it.
"I felt a lot better on day two than I did
on day one," he said. "I had some good test
times early on, and that helped set me up
for the day. I just tried to stay consistent and
I didn't crash at all, which made a big difference. They made the day longer, and the
so I was happy that it dried out on Sunday.
The organizers did a great job of the course,
.
r-----------------------------_w
and the tests were pretty neat as well."
Caselli's impressive ride did not go by
Helmets Rookie Challenge award following
the event.
"The race was pretty much as I expected," he said. "I expected to get my butt
kicked and, on the first day, I did. I thought
that the trail would be a little harder than it
>
This is the first year the Great Outdoor Gannes is incorporating motor sports
into its competitions.
The Gannes will be aired on ESPN and ABC Sports, july 14-17. For more
information, visit www.greatoutdoorgames.com.
