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Aubert in third. Many riders suffered in the slippery conditions; former World Champion Stefan Merriman seemed to struggle the most in the E2 class, ulti- mately placing in 10th, as a result of numerous falls. "The first day started well for me," Aro said on the podium. "Then when it rained, it was really difficult. I crashed heavily on the motocross tests, stalled the bike as I tried to get going, and lost a lot of time there. I wasn't able to ride with my normal relaxed style because the con- ditions were so slippery, but I managed to get back to the top of the class." On day two, the battling Finns Aro and Ahola reversed their day-one finishing order. Aro struggled to perform as well as he did on day one, while Ahola upped his game, sensing that he could win. Getting stronger as the day wore on, Ahola topped four of the day's tests in the E2 class. By the end of the second day of the GP of USA, the Honda rider had opened up a near 20-second advantage. Placing third, as he had on day one, was Yamaha- mounted Frenchman Johnny Aubert. "I felt really good on day one, but Samuli [Aro] was riding really well and just beat me, which was disappointing," Ahola said. "I felt really good right from the start of day two and pushed really hard to open up a lead. It's been a long time since I last won a WEC race, so it feels really good to be back on top of the podium." Of the U.S. riders competing in the Enduro 2 class, KTM-mounted Kurt Caselli placed the highest, finishing sev- enth on day one before dropping two places to ninth on day two. Despite two top-ten finishes against the best enduro riders in the world, Kurt was disappoint- ed with his result. "It's been a great race, but I'm a little disappointed with the way I rode," Caselli said. "I guess that's how it goes some times. I just wasn't up to speed, but the frustrating thing was that I couldn't figure out why. I'm not sure if it was the trails that I wasn't used to or whether it was just me, but things didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I tried different stuff on the tests, but it didn't really help me. I've really enjoyed the race though; it's been great to have the world's best enduro riders come here to the states." Finishing two places behind Caselli on day one was Yamaha rider Nate Kanney. Performing exceptionally well on the event's technical extreme test, Kanney was one of a number of riders to find the slippery motocross test difficult, but still enjoyed the opening day. With a round of the AMA Hare Scramble Championship conflicting with the second day of the GP of USA, Kanney was forced to withdraw from day two. In the Enduro 3 class, Americans Dylan Debel, Matt Gosnell and Matthew Spigelmyer placed 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively, on day one with Gosnell and Debel placing in 13th and 14th on day two. The highest placed U.S. rider of all the classes in Hancock was Russell Bobbitt aboard his KTM. Bobbitt finished sixth in the Enduro Junior class on day one, and then climbed to an impressive fourth on day two, having finished as high as third on one special test. American David Kamo also finished inside the top 10 of the EJ class on day two in seventh, having finished in 11th on day one. Finishing 14th and 11th, Suzuki-mounted Wally Palmer also scored World Championship points along with Jerod Stoner, Timothy Rizzon and Banjamin Smith on day one and Alden Clark, Broc Jennings and Smith on day two. As expected, one rider dominated the Enduro 3 class at the GP of USA - KTM's reigning World Champion David Knight. Winning each and every special test in the Enduro 3 class during the event, as well as being the fastest overall competitor in the event, Knight reveled in the slippery con- ditions on day one, and even found time to stop during the second day's final extreme test to do a burn-out for spectators. "It's been another great weekend for me," Knight said. "Everything went pretty much to plan; winning on both days is what I wanted to do and now I have a really good lead in the E3 World Championship. "Day one went really well," Knight continued. "The first lap was okay, but quite slippery. The second lap was hor- rendous because of the rain; it absolutely chucked it down, but the rocky sections actually got grippier. The motocross tests got really cut up, but it was great fun because of all the ruts. It wasn't a hard day; it was quite enjoyable. I had one crash on the going, but nothing in the tests. It was hard to open up a really big gap over second because the tests were quite easy and not that rough. "It was certainly rough on day two. It was amazing how much the tests dried up after the rain we had. The enduro test was really hard work on day two because of the rocks and tree roots. I just tried to do what I did on day one - push pretty hard without making any mistakes. The tests got really rough on the second lap. I knew I had a good lead going into the last lap, so I just had some fun." Knight's win on both days extended his E3 championship advantage to 67 points. French Gas Gas rider Seb Guillaume placed second on both days, with Finn Marko Tarkkala finishing third. In the Enduro Junior class, Sweden's Joakim Ljunggren aboard his Husaberg and French Husqvarna rider Marc Bourgeois each claimed a day win, with EJ championship leader Ljunggren topping day one by 22 seconds ahead of Bourgeois and TM's Jake Stapleton in third. On day two, Bourgeois got the better of Ljunggren to reverse the tables on the Swede and finish 14 seconds in front to claim his second win of the season. Finishing third as he did on day one, Stapleton placed third, 10 seconds behind Ljunggren. CN GRAND PRIX OF USA HANCOCK, NEW YORK RESULTS: JULY 22-23, 2006 (ROUND 6 OF 10) SATURDAY Enduro 1: 1. Bartosz Oblucki (Hus) 36:14.73; 2. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 36:23.43; 3. Simone Albergoni (Hon) 36L32.23; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 36:54.01; 5. Maurizio Micheluz (Yam) 36:01.08. Enduro 2: 1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 36:19.35; 2. Mika Ahola (Hon) 36:22.58; 3. Johnny Aubert (Yam) 36:42.61; 4. Nicolas Paganon (Hus) 37:27.71; 5. Cristobal Guerrero (GG) 37:49.79. Enduro 3: 1. David Knight (KTM) 34:59.57; 2. Seb Guillaume (GG) 36:35.65; 3. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 36:52.91; 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg) 37:45.30; 5. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 38:04.83. Enduro Junior: 1. Joakim Ljunggren (Hbg) 37:58.73; 2. Marc Bourgeois (Hus) 38:21.57; 3. Jake Stapleton (TM) 38:31.63; 4. Yannik Bossi (Hus) 39:04.11; 5. Oriol Mena (GG) 39:31.05. SUNDAY Enduro 1: 1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 41:58.68; 2. Simone Albergoni (Hon) 42:38.04; 3. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 43:43.21; 4. Maurizio Micheluz (Yam) 44:12.27; 5. Bartosz Oblucki (Hus) 44:12.27. Enduro 2: 1. Mika Ahola (Hon) 41:43.11; 2. Samuli Aro (KTM) 42:02.21; 3. Johnny Aubert (Yam) 42:39.27; 4. Xevi Galindo (KTM) 43:12.08; 5. Fabien Planet (KTM) 43:37.52. Enduro 3: 1. David Knight (KTM) 40:32.70; 2. Seb Guillaume (GG) 42:50.54; 3. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 43:50.98; 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Hbg) 44:16.89; 5. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 44:16.96. Enduro Junior: 1. Marc Bourgeois (Hus) 43:57.87; 2. Joakim Ljunggren (Hbg) 44:17.73; 3. Jake Stapleton (TM) 44:22.33; 4. Russel Bobbit (KTM) 46:16.63; 5. Jakub Horak (KTM) 48:38.28. Grand Prix of USA Hancock, NY Round 6 July 22-23, 2006 AUGUST 9, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 48 World Enduro Championship The rough, slippery course took its toll on many riders, as Stefan Merriman demonstrates.