KTM ENDURO - DAY 2 19/03
22 March 2006 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

2006 FIM World Enduro Championship Rnd 1 Grand Prix of Sweden

The strong start KTM’s factory enduro team riders made on day one of the opening round of the ’06 WEC series got even better on day two where Ivan Cervantes topped the Enduro 1 class, Samuli Aro the Enduro 2 class and David Knight the Enduro 3 class. In doing so the three KTM riders now lead the E1, E2 and E3 world championship standings.

In the Enduro 1 class Ivan Cervantes went one better than he did on day one and topped the class by close to half a minute. Winning six of the day’s special tests the reigning E1 world champion showed just how good he is by mastering the difficult conditions – something most thought a former motocross rider from southern Europe would never do. Disappointingly day two was a frustrating one for his Italian team-mate Alessandro Belometti. Matching his day one finishing position of seventh, Belometti struggled to feel comfortably in the changing conditions and as a result saw several mistakes prevent him from finishing higher.

Riding at his absolute best, Finn Samuli Aro topped the Enduro 2 class as he did on day one, beating countryman Mika Ahola and French rider Johnny Aubert. Failing to win just two special tests in the E2 class the reigning Enduro 2 world champion placed 24 seconds ahead at the top of the class and finished as the day’s fastest overall rider. With two wins in Sweden Samuli now sits six points clear at the top of the E2 world championship standings. French rider Fabien Planet rode consistently on day two and placed in fifth position.

After topping the Enduro 3 class on day one, and beating Finnish team-mate Marko Tarkkala in the process, David Knight showed just how dominant a rider he has become in the WEC. On day two he repeated his class victory, beating Marko by 15 seconds, to claim a maximum 50 points and strengthen his lead at the top of the E3 world championship. With Marko finishing second after an uneventful day the two KTM riders finished comfortably ahead of Swede Björne Carlsson.

David Knight: “The conditions seemed to change all the time on day two, which makes each lap different. The first lap was quite tricky, my bike seemed to be moving around a lot more than on day one. There wasn’t much between myself and Marko in the morning when the tests were reasonably smooth but when they got rougher I was able to open up a lead. Once I had a good lead I eased off a bit so that I didn’t crash. I was really worried on the last lap that my chain would come off because of the frozen ruts.
“I spent one week trying to figure out how to ride with spiked tyres and it seems to have worked. I’ve really enjoyed learning how to ride on a different type of surface and terrain and I think having a winter enduro as the first round for the WEC has been a success. It’s the perfect start for me. I just hope that I can continue winning now.”

Samuli Aro: “I am really happy with the way I have ridden this weekend, especially on day two. I think the last time I was able to concentrate as well as I have this weekend in the special tests was over one year ago. It is a perfect start to the world championship for me, which is exactly what I wanted and worked for in the weeks and months leading up to the race.
“The race wasn’t exactly like we expected because there wasn’t as much snow as predicted. The organisers were ready for bad weather, but instead we got good weather. When it is so warm, like it has been in the afternoon on both days, it gets really hard to ride because spike tyres don’t work on stones. It’s been a great event though and a great start to my world championship.”

Ivan Cervantes: “Obviously I am very happy to have won today. Finishing second on day one in these conditions was like a victory for me but to actually finish first today is incredible, I never thought that I would be able to do this. I made one crash on day two, on the ice, but I didn’t loose too much time. I have really enjoyed the race but it has been hard. Five laps each day in the snow ruts really makes your legs ache.
“I think that having a new race to start the WEC is a really good thing, and I think that David and I have shown that it is possible for riders from outside of Scandinavia to do well with spiked tyres. I am looking forward to the races in Portugal and Spain now though.”

Alessandro Belometti: “On day one I made one big mistake on the enduro test and lost 30 seconds. After that, in the last enduro test, my chain came off and I lost a lot of time fitting it again. I ended up seventh, which was disappointing but I guess that is racing some times.
“On day two I struggled to find a good feeling in the ice and snow and I crashed a few times. When I pushed to try and get a good time I just made mistake after mistake. I like the idea of having different races in different types of conditions but the result wasn’t what I was hoping for. In Portugal, at the second round of the championship, I will push hard again and hopefully make better results in conditions that will suit me.”

Marko Tarkkala: “It’s been a good weekend for me with not too many problems. Day one went well for me but David was too fast. I didn’t really have any problems and enjoyed the day. On day two things were again very close between myself and David in the morning. Again I didn’t make any mistakes and again David was a little faster. It’s been good battling with him but it would have been nice to have won.”

2006 World Enduro Championship Rnd 1
Grand Prix of Sweden – Day 2

Enduro 1 class

1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 1.02:47.77; 2. Peter Bergvall (Suzuki) 1.03:14.26; 3. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 1.03:15.46; 4. Petri Pohjamo (TM) 1.03:32.68; 5. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 1.03:36.21; 6. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 1.04:05.61; 7. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 1.04:17.46; 8. Robert Carlsson (Yamaha) 1.04:35.41; 9. Fredrik Georgsson (KTM) 1.05:15.35; 10. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) 1.05:45.10; 11. Par Olsson (Yamaha) 1.06:31.16; 12. Mike Hartman (KTM) 1.06:36.39; 13. Mats Andreasson (Suzuki) 1.06:57.95; 14. Leit Holm (KTM) 1.07:35.13; 15. Freddy Blanc (KTM) 1.08:59.08; 16. Mikael Wiberg (Honda) 1.11:40.87

Enduro 2
1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 1.00:51.65; 2. Mika Ahola (Honda) 1.01:36.35; 3. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 1.02:01.39; 4. Fabien Planet (KTM) 1.03:54.23; 5. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 1.04:04.22; 6. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 1.04:06.51; 7. Petteri Silvan (KTM) 1.04:32.81; 8. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 1.04:35.87; 9. Thierry Klutz (Sherco) 1.05:08.51; 10. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 1.05:35.96; 11. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 1.05:44.77; 12. Fritz Andersson (KTM) 1.05:46.10; 13. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 1.05:47.91; 14. Riku Rihelainen (Husaberg) 1.05:52.51; 15. Andrea Beconi (Beta) 1.05:57.54; 16. Euan McConnell (TM) 1.06:21.72; 17. Pentti Nurminen (Husaberg) 1.06:49.12; 18. Johan Bjerkert (KTM) 1.06:59.31; 19. Patrik Wicksell (KTM) 1.07:02.89; 20. Giuseppe Canova (Husqvarna) 1.07:10.04

Enduro 3
1. David Knight (KTM) 1.01:01.75; 2. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 1.02:27.07; 3. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 1.02:30.86; 4. Heikki Timonen (KTM) 1.05:04.58; 5. Daniel Persson (Husaberg) 1.05:17.68; 6. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 1.05:21.98; 7. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 1.05:31.97; 8. Markus Kehr (KTM) 1.05:32.42; 9. Alessandro Zanni (Aprilia) 1.06:37.83; 10. Paolo Bernardi (Honda) 1.06:49.49; 11. Alessio Paoli (TM) 1.07:57.45; 12. Michael Vukcevic (Sherco) 1.08:34.86; 13. Michal Rudolf (KTM) 1.08:37.29; 14. Daniel Johansson (Gas Gas) 1.08:51.09; 15. Kimmo Hintikka (KTM) 1.09:13.79

Enduro Junior
1. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 1.02:56.56; 2. Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 1.04:51.62; 3. Robert Kapajcik (Yamaha) 1.05:25.34; 4. Jake Stapleton (TM) 1.05:30.09; 5. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 1.06:01.55; 6. Fredrik Kvarnstrom (KTM) 1.06:48.34; 7. Ricard Wressel (Husaberg) 1.07:06.66; 8. Olli Turma (KTM) 1.07:28.44; 9. Roni Nikander (KTM) 1.07:37.32; 10. Oskari Kantonen (Husqvarna) 1.07:43.44; 11. Jonas Karlsson KTM) 1.07:46.94; 12. Lorenzo Santolini (KTM) 1.08:41.32; 13. Sebastien Adielsson (Honda) 1.09:00.10; 14. Jesus Garcia (Yamaha) 1.09:04.75; 15. Jakub Horak (KTM) 1.09:08.91; 16. Jari Pulkkinen (Yamaha) 1.09:11.72; 17. Anton Nordh (KTM) 1.09:12.50; 18. Patrick Wikman (KTM) 1.09:18.66; 19. Fredrik Berg (KTM) 1.09:41.49; 20. Armand Monleon (KTM) 1.10:07.13

Photo Courtesy of D Agrati

www.ktm.at

More News
  For March 2006
  From KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG
  For Enduro
  Biker247.com Home Page