Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Aubert Leads The Title Ghase T-he UFO Corse Yamaha team sphts winr in rhe I Enduro 2 class of rhe World Enduro Championship in the GP of Euskadi, held in Gernika, Spain, l*'1ay l3-14, with Stefan llerriman taking the win on day one and lohnny Aubert doing likewise on day two. At the end of the weekend, Auben had taken over as the leader of the World Championship. With conditions wet and slippery on day one, Merriman claimed the E2-cla:s win and 25 World Championship points, largely due to making fewer mistakes than his riv-als. RemaininS upright on all tests. l''lerriman finished 15 seconds ahead Aubert co make it a Yamaha one-two. Finishing third was Finn Samuli Aro on a factor/ KTl4. On day two, Aubert simply proyed too fast Championship. I made one bit mistake on the extreme test on day one, which cos! me some time. but apart from that it went well. ldid, also, make one mistake on one ofthe difficult uphills on the enduro test, but I was pushing hard ar the time - so mistakes happen when you are riding hard, Despi(e my errors I wasn'r so far behind Stefan, so I knew that if I could ride weli on day two lcould win. "Day two went really well for me. I feh Sood all the day, although a little tired at the end, and pur in some really good test times. I didn't make any big mistakes; in fact, my only mistake was hitting neutral once on the motocross test on lap tvvo. I am really, really happy with the way the race has gone for me. LeadinS the World Championship is C ) MPIOI o o o E(eutos MU E "Leading the World Championship is fantastic.' Johnny Auben for his Enduro 2-class r;vals, and he ended up 47 seconds ahead of I'lerriman. The wjn put Aubert at the top of the E2 World Championship points standings. PlacinS third, as he did on day one, "l know rhat lam fast in muddy and rutted conditions. but when lheard that the race was toing to be difficult I thought thar I would strug- tle, especially in the time checks,' Aubert said. "Finishint second on day one and winning day rwo is much better than I ever thought I could do. I am so happy to have won again, especially now that it putr me in the lead of the Enduro 2 world Aubert is now two points clear ofAro, 130-128. Merriman is third with 123 points. ReiSninS Enduro I World Champion lvan Cervantes rode his KTl"'l to victories on both days in the El class, finishinS ahead of teammate Alessandro Belometti on day one, and ahead of Italian Simone Albertoni and his Honda on day two. Cervantes leads Albergoni in the championship b), l3 points, 123-l 10. Johnny Aubert won fhe World Enduro round in Spoin. Coma Takes Rally of Sardegna KTM's Marc Coma won the 2fth Rally di Sardetna, the third round of the Cross Countr/ Rally World Championshlp, which ended on l"lay 14 in Santa Teresa Gallura in the province of Olbia-Tempio. The reigning World Champion and winner of the 2006 Dakar Rally won the Rally di Sardegna by over three minutes over four- time Rally di Sardegna-winner Matteo Graziani, who also rode a KTM. Third place went to Frenchman David Casteu and his fif1 525, and that was enough to keep him atop the World Championrhip points standints over Coma. Paolo Ceci rode well to give the Aprilia RVX a fourth-place llnish in its World Rally debut, the ltalian linishing iust ovo minutes from a podium spot. "Now that the race is over it would be easy to say that everything went smooth,y," Coma said. "ln fact, it didn't'also because the ltalians are really stronS. Casteu and Graziani .eally gave me a hard time. particularly in the first pan of the ralb/. Howeve( I reached my goal. These points are fundamental for rhe World Cup because I m only few points behind Casteu. l'4oreover, this is the sec- ond time that lwan in this beautiful island, which is a bit Catalan. This is another important satisfaction." Graziani was also pleased with his .unner-up flnish. ''The second place satisfies me also because in these insidious races you always run the ritk offalling down and toinS back home with nothint." he said-'Allthings considered, the bike did its job fine. l'm only sorry I could have made the most out ofsome specials. I would not have won maybe, but lwould have llnished with a minor gap. " .t-jl3!dJl t T ,liq.c Como CYCLE NEWS . MAY 24,2006 I I ( 'I .. ete ) /;- i*, South African Cancelled World Superbike A re

• Cover