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ever it was that had been missing from his riding and blitzed the Enduro 2 class on day one to finish a massive one minute and 46 seconds ahead of Australian Stefan Merriman. Winning eight of the day's special tests, Aro's closest competition was Frenchman Aubert, but when Aubert, who was leading the E2 World Championship standings coming into the event, crashed heavily on the very last test of the day, Aro cruised to a well- deserved day win. Merriman claimed the runner-up spot with Aubert coming home in an eventual third position. American KTM rider Kurt Caselli made the trip to Italy for the fourth round of the series and finished a respectable 11th in the E2 class on day one. "I'd only been riding for a few weeks before coming to Italy, after my knee operation in February, so I wasn't really well prepared for the race," Caselli said. "I was hoping that it wasn't going to be tough a race, but I don't think that it could have been much harder. I certainly learned a lot but I don't want to see any rocks for a while. There's no way that any race I do back in the U.S. will be as tough as this, which is a good thing." As a result of his crash at the end of day one, Aubert missed the start of day two. With the Frenchman out of the equation, it left Aro and Merriman to bat- tle it out for the E2-class win with both riders riding well and making mistakes. With only a few seconds separating the two riders, and with just a handful of spe- cial tests to go, Aro managed to up his game enough to edge ahead of Merriman and topped the E2 podium as he did on day two. Caselli finished 12th. Claiming one of the biggest winning margins seen in the WEC in several years, Knight topped the Enduro 3 class by more than four minutes each day. The reason Knight was able to win so convincingly, apart from the fact that he was riding incredibly well, was because his closest championship rival, Finland's Tarkkala, crashed out of the event in spectacular style, early on day one. With Tarkkala out, Knight claimed a comfortable win on day one, despite crashing on the day's first untimed Enduro test. Going on to win each and every one of the 13 special tests, Knight also finished as the overall fastest rider in the event. Behind him two-stroke riders Seb Guillaume on his Gas Gas and Alessio Paoli aboard his TM placed in second and third. On day two it was much of the same from Knight as he topped each and every test and again finished as the days fastest overall rider. Behind him, Swede Bjorne Carlsson claimed the runner-up spot, while over four minutes behind came Guillaume in third. CN GP VALLI BERGAMASCHE ROVETTA, ITALY RESULTS: JUNE 17-18, 2006 (ROUND 4 OF 8) DAY ONE ENDURO ONE: 1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 2. Simone Albergoni (Hon); 3. Maurizio Micheluz (Yam); 4. Bartosz Oblucki (Hus); 5. Roberto Bazzurri (Hus). ENDURO TWO: 1. Samuli Aro (KTM); 2. Stefan Merriman (Yam); 3. Johnny Aubert (Yam); 4. Mika Ahola (Hon); 5. Alessandro Botturi (Apr). ENDURO THREE: 1. David Knight (KTM); 2. Seb Guillaume (GG); 3. Alessio Paoli (TM); 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg); 5. Paolo Bernardi (Hon). DAY 2 ENDURO ONE: 1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM); 2. Alessandro Belometti (KTM); 3. Simone Albergoni (Hon); 4. Maurizio Micheluz (Yam); 5. Roberto Bazzurri (Hus). ENDURO TWO: 1. Samuli Aro (KTM); 2. Stefan Merriman (Yam); 3. Mika Ahola (Hon); 4. Andrea Belotti (KTM); 5. Xavier Galindo (KTM). ENDURO THREE: 1. David Knight (KTM); 2. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg); 3. Seb Guillaume (GG); 4. Marcus Kehr (KTM); 5. Paolo Bernardi (Hon). C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 5, 2006 47 Ivan Cervantes dominated the Enduro One class.