2006 FIM WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
19 June 2006 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

Rnd 4 Grand Prix Valli Bergamasche (Italy) – day 2 (18.06.2006)

At the half way stage in the ’06 FIM World Enduro Championship KTM Factory Enduro Team Farioli riders Ivan Cervantes, Samuli Aro and David Knight currently lead their respective Enduro 1, Enduro 2 and Enduro 3 world championship classes following double class wins by all three riders at the 40th GP Valli Bergamasche it Italy. With Cervantes claiming two important wins in the E1 class, Samuli Aro returning to his best to win in E2 and David Knight continuing to dominate in the E3 class KTM Factory Enduro Team 1 also currently leads the Team competition with KTM Factory Enduro Team 2 lying in third position.

With the opening day of the fourth round of the ’06 WEC series having been extremely tough on all riders day two proved to be even harder, despite the event organisers withdrawing two of the day’s special tests from the competition. With several top riders having failed to finish the first day, including KTM’s E3 class rider Marko Tarkkala who broke a bone in his right wrist, day two saw yet more riders suffer in the dry, dusty and rocky conditions.

Claiming his sixth day win of the ’06 season Spaniard Ivan Cervantes placed 40 seconds ahead of team-mate Alessandro Belometti to win in the E1 class and in doing so the two riders made it a KTM one-two. Made to work hard for his E1 class victory on day one, on day two Ivan consistently outpaced both Belometti and Simone Albergoni and as a result of his win stretched his Enduro 1 championship lead to 29 points. Following his disappointing day one result Belometti performed well on day two and currently lies in third in the E1 championship.

In the Enduro 2 class KTM mounted Finn Samuli Aro matched his day one result and claimed his fourth win of the ’06 WEC series. Unable to win by as much as he did on day one, Samuli still managed to top six of the day’s special tests and in doing so placed 24 seconds ahead of Stefan Merriman despite a fall on the enduro test. Samuli is now 11 points clear at the top of the E2 championship at the half way stage of the series. Disappointingly the fourth round of the WEC series proved to be a frustrating one for French KTM rider Fabien Planet. Having struggled to find the form that saw him battle for the ’05 E2 world title during the first half last season, Fabien placed in ninth on day two in Italy but still sits in sixth in the E2 championship, just one point off fifth. Also competing in the E2 class in Italy was KTM US rider Kurt Caselli. Having been out of action for much of ’06 due to a knee injury sustained in February Kurt placed in 11th on day one and 12th on day two.

The fastest rider of any class on day one at the fourth round of the ’06 WEC series David Knight again dominated in Italy on day two topping the E3 class by over four minutes. Winning each and every special test in the E3 class Knighter also topped the unofficial overall results. In winning on day two David maintained his 100 per cent E3 class win record in ’06 and remains the only rider not to have been beaten so far this season. With Marko Tarkkala a non starter due to the broken right wrist he sustained on day one, German Marcus Kehr placed as the second best KTM rider placing in fourth.

Ivan Cervantes: “Day one was really hard for me because the course was incredibly physical. Alessandro Belometti was really fast, and Simone Albergoni was also really quick, so I had to work really hard to fight with both riders. To be honest if Belometti hadn’t had the problem with his rear sprocket he would have won - he was riding really well. I had a good fight with Albergoni after Belometti had his problems and I was able to win, which I was really pleased with.
“I knew that day two was going to be really difficult so I started simply wanting to finish without any mistakes. It was good that the organisation took out two of the special tests on the last lap but it was still hard. It has been a great weekend for me and the KTM team, but a very difficult one.”

Alessandro Belometti: I’m really happy to have finished in second on day two but I am really disappointed with my result on day one. I had a real chance of winning on day one. I was ahead with only two special tests to go when I bent my rear sprocket on a rock on the extreme test. I guess it just wasn’t my day. I lost a lot of time but because the race was difficult I knew that I could score some points because some riders wouldn’t finish.
“I pushed hard on day two but Cervantes was really fast, too fast. I was a little bit nervous on the first lap but then I got faster. It was an incredibly hard race.”

Samuli Aro: “It’s been a good weekend for me but a really difficult race. The first day went really well for me. I was disappointed with the way I rode in both Portugal and Spain and had been working hard before the race to find my old rhythm. I was able to concentrate really well all race. I had a good fight going with Johnny Aubert on day one but when he crashed I was quite a long way out front because Stefan Merriman and Mika Ahola were already a long way behind me. I rode carefully then to make sure that I won.
“Day two started well. Merriman made some mistakes and I was about 30 seconds ahead early on so it looked like I was going to have another relatively easy day. Then Stefan was really fast in the enduro test and took quite a lot of time off me. I made a mistake on the enduro test on the third lap and I struggled to start my bike. I had stopped in a really difficult place so I lost some time getting going again. Thankfully I was riding well on the stony motocross test and I was able to win.”

Kurt Caselli: “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. 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 US will be a tough as this, which is a good thing.
“I finished 11th on the first day, which I was a little disappointed with. I wasn’t riding well in the extreme and motocross tests so I was just trying not to crash. Day two was pretty much the same. It was so rough and dusty and rocky — it was brutal. I’m glad I finished both days as there were a lot of riders that didn’t but I didn’t really enjoy it.”

David Knight: “It’s been a great weekend for me but I’m certainly glad that all world championship events aren’t as tough as this — it was too hard really because of the heat and having to ride four laps on both days. I had a big crash on the un-timed enduro test on day one, which woke me up a bit. I was just trying to ride relaxed and push just hard enough. It was so easy to make a mistake so I just made sure that I didn’t do anything stupid. When Marko Tarkkala crashed out of the event on day one I knew that baring any mistakes I would be able to win. My times were good on all the special tests so I guess riding smooth and relaxed was exactly what you needed to do.
“I rode the same on day two as I did on day one — relaxed and smooth. It was so easy to bash your foot on a rock, or damage your bike, so I just took it steady in the really dodgy places. The tests were so long that just keeping your concentration the whole way was difficult.”

2006 World Enduro Championship Rnd 4
Grand Prix Valli Bergamasche (Italy) — Day 2

Enduro 1 class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 1.25:00.41; 2. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 1.25:40.91; 3. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 1.26:31.43; 4. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 1.28:21.90; 5. Roberto Bazzurri (Husqvarna) 1.29:46.50; 6. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) 1.30:13.26; 7. Mike Hartman (KTM) 1.30:35.61; 8. Manuel Pievani (KTM) 1.31:30.55; 9. Nicolas Deparrois (Husqvarna) 1.31:44.74; 10. Fausto Scovolo (Suzuki) 1.32:46.85; 11. Freddy Blanc (KTM) 1.34:54.88; 12. Fredrik Georgsson (KTM) 1.36:02.06; 13. Arnaldo Nicoli (KTM) 1.36:28.21; 14. Nicolas Joye (KTM) 1.39:26.35; 15. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 1.45:47.66

Enduro 2 class
1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 1.25:44.81; 2. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 1.26:08.82; 3. Mika Ahola (Honda) 1.27:27.29; 4. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 1.27:54.74; 5. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 1.27:56.84; 6. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 1.28:36.02; 7. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 1.28:42.38; 8. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 1.28:55.95; 9. Fabien Planet (KTM) 1.28:59.89; 10. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 1.29:50.67; 11. Nicolas Paganon (Husqvarna) 1.30:00.10; 12. Kurt Caselli (KTM) 1.30:23.22; 13. Simone Tonelli (Honda) 1.30:52.20; 14. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 1.31:09.86; 15. Andrea Beconi (Beta) 1.31:41.44; 16. Andreas Toresson (Suzuki) 1.32:43.15; 17. Giuseppe Canova (Husqvarna) 1.32:46.15; 18. Giuliano Falgari (Kawasaki) 1.33:13.10; 19. Juri Simoncini (Suzuki) 1.33:51.73; 20. Federico Mancinelli (Beta) 1.36:37.31

Enduro 3 class
1. David Knight (KTM) 1.24:04.43; 2. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 1.28:18.48; 3. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 1.28:51.57; 4. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.29:35.85; 5. Paolo Bernardi (Honda) 1.30:10.20; 6. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 1.32:46.43; 7. Alessandro Zanni (Aprilia) 1.32:56.72; 8. Erwin Plekkenpol (KTM) 1.33:42.06; 9. Maurizio Facchin (Husqvarna) 1.33:58.63; 10. Daniel Johansson (Gas Gas) 1.34:04.73; 11. Jean Francois Goblet (Gas Gas) 1.34:37.85; 12. Ralf Moser-Dennem (Beta) 1.35:01.33; 13. Gianluca Amighetti (KTM) 1.35:17.26; 14. Michal Vucevic (Sherco) 1.36:26.64; 15. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 1.39:20.84; 16. Cristian Spreafico (TM) 1.42:19.09; 17. Pierangelo Leoni (KTM) 1.48:36.82

Enduro Junior class
1. Jake Stapleton (TM) 1.30:16; 2. Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 1.30:59.24; 3. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 1.31:51.51; 4. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 1.32:26.15; 5. Carlo Conforti (Honda) 1.33:24.77; 6. Lucas Puerto (KTM) 1.34:13.19; 7. Thomas Oldrati (Husqvarna) 1.34:16.57; 8. Yannick Bossi (Husqvarna) 1.34:38.91; 9. Maurizio Gerini (Honda) 1.35:37.55; 10. Sylvain Lebrun (Husqvarna) 1.35:50.99; 11. Vanni Cominotto (Kawasaki) 1.37:22.32; 12. Jubak Horak (KTM) 1.38:30.08; 13. Michael Pogna (Husqvarna) 1.39:46.07; 14. Gustavo Gaudenico (Husqvarna) 1.40:19.77; 15. Armand Monleon (KTM) 1.41:21.59; 16. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 1.43:07.28; 17. Davide Roggeri (Suzuki) 1.43:30.38; 18. Guillem Pares (Gas Gas) 1.44:30.38; 19. Fredrik Berg (KTM) 1.44:22.57; 20. Morja Nieto (KTM) 1.44:45.35

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