THIRD FOR AUBERT
23 July 2006 - Yamaha Racing

Finnish riders Samuli Aro and Mika Ahola shared victory in the Enduro 2 class at the fifth round of the 2006 WEC series, the GP of USA held in Hancock, New York State

Reigning E2 world champion and ''06 championship leader Aro won on day one with just a three seconds margin. With Ahola a close second UFO Corse Yamaha star Johnny Aubert rounded off the podium in third position having ridden well to place just 20 seconds adrift of the second placed rider.

On day two things were equally as close at the top of the Enduro 2 class as the two Finnish riders Aro and Ahola battled it out for the class lead along with Aubert. With little to separate the three riders during the first half of the second day Mika Ahola edged ahead during the third lap going on to claim his first WEC win in four years. Placing 19 seconds ahead of Aro, Johnny Aubert saw his hopes of victory slip when he crashed on the second timed extreme test of the day. Despite his mistake the former motocross racer again claimed third and sits in fourth place in the E1 championship standing just one-point behind team-mate Stefan Merriman.

Stefan Merriman

The GP of USA proved to be a hugely disappointing one for former world champion Merriman as the UFO Corse Yamaha rider fell heavily on the extreme test on day one and failed to recover. Struggling to master the slippery conditions Stefan saw numerous crashes on both days keep him down the E2 class results and he placed in 10th on day one and sixth on day two. In the Enduro 3 class Manxman David Knight once again shone winning each and every test during the weekend to remain unbeaten in ''06. Claiming a convincing class win on day one, Knight upped his pace to win by more than two minutes on day two. In doing so he finished as the event''s overall fastest rider on both days. Placing second on both days was French rider Seb Guillaume with Finn Marko Tarkkala rounding off the podium on each day

Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Third, Day 2: Third ''Overall it has been a good race for me. Day one was really difficult with the rain but it was a nice day. I made a few mistakes, a few crashes, which affected my result a little but I finished in third so I was happy with that. I crashed in the second lap in the extreme test on day two and lost at least 15 seconds there but I was still happy to finish on the podium. I was fighting for the class win before that, and putting in good special test times, so my speed was good and that is important.''

Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Tenth, Day 2: Sixth ''It''s not been a good weekend for me, not good at all. I had many, many crashes on day one, and it wasn''t any different on day two. It''s going to be really hard for me to win the Enduro 2 world championship now, I''m really disappointed. On day one I had a couple of big crashes, which I guess knocked the wind out of my sails. The biggest was on the extreme test, where my team-mate Johnny Aubert crashed today. I lost the front wheel going up a step and ended up under my bike. I hurt my shoulder in that crash and then landed on it again heavily on day two. I''m sick of crashing. The problem is I''m not sure why I made the mistakes.''

Circuit Length:
Temp: 24
Crowd: 3500
Weather: Changeable


2006 Enduro 2 United States 23/07/2006
Race 1 - 1 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 36''19.350
2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0''3.230
3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 0''23.260
4 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 1''8.360
5 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 1''30.440
6 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 1''35.100
7 Kurt Caselli KTM USA 1''36.710
8 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1''39.200
9 Nathan Kanney Yamaha USA 1''54.730
10 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 2''19.420
11 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 2''54.370
12 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 3''24.040
13 Euan McConnell TM GBR 4''14.970
14 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 4''27.850
15 Guy Giroux Suzuki CAN 6''39.610

Race 2 - 1 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 41''43.110
2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0''19.100
3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 0''56.160
4 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 1''28.970
5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1''54.410
6 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 1''58.480
7 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 2''8.510
8 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 2''9.690
9 Kurt Caselli KTM USA 3''1.370
10 Euan McConnell TM GBR 3''32.260
11 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 4''39.440
12 Guy Giroux Suzuki CAN 7''56.030
13 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 8''18.420
14 Glenn Kearney Suzuki AUS 9''57.660
15 Tobias Burman HusaBerg SWE 10''30.660

Rider Standings 23/07/2006

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points
1. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 275
2. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 247
3. Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 231
4. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 230
5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 171
6. Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 164
7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 164
8. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 109
9. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 109
10. Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 107
11. Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 94
12. Euan McConnell TM GBR 77
13. Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 74
14. Kurt Caselli KTM USA 66
15. Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 65

Manufacturer Standings 23/07/2006

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1. KTM 275
2. Yamaha 266
3. Honda 247
4. GasGas 164
5. Husqvarna 115
6. HusaBerg 109
7. Aprilia 94
8. Beta 77
9. TM 77
10. Suzuki 51
11. Sherco 32
12. Kawasaki 16

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