UPDATE ON THE ENDURO IN FRANCE
23 September 2006 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

2006 FIM World Enduro Championship Rnd 8 Grand Prix of France (Boussac) – day 1 (23.09.2006)

KTM Enduro Factory Team riders Ivan Cervantes and Samuli Aro have become ’06 Enduro 1 and Enduro 2 World Champions. Finishing in fourth position in the E1 class on day one of the final round of the ’06 World Enduro Championship, the GP of France held in Boussac, Ivan claimed his second E1 world championship title while Aro lifted the E2 crown for the second year running with a winning ride in the E2 class. David Knight, who claimed the E3 world title at the penultimate round of the series in Slovakia, continued his perfect season by winning the E3 class.

Despite conditions in France being wet Spaniard Ivan Cervantes produced a strong performance aboard his 250cc four-stroke and although he missed out on a podium finish he did more than he needed to in order to claim the Enduro 2 World Championship. Missing out on a top three finish by just seven seconds Ivan kept a cool head and focused on winning his second world title. Despite running into troubles on the extreme test on the third and final lap of the day, a mistake that cost him a podium finish, Ivan finally lifted the E1 title.
While it was a good day for Ivan it wasn’t the best for his team-mate Alessandro Belometti. Despite finishing in fifth position in the E1 class Belometti lost valuable championship points and although currently placed third in the E1 championship he has just a one-point lead over fourth placed rider Bartosz Oblucki. Day two will be an important day for Belometti.

Although extremely nervous before the start of the GP of France the final round of the ’06 WEC series proved to be an extremely good one for Finn Samuli Aro. Having dealt with the pressure of leading the E2 championship from the start of the season Aro produced another great result in Boussac finishing eight seconds ahead of his KTM team-mate Frenchman Fabien Planet. Winning two of the day’s seven tests Aro put the finishing touches to what has been a superb season.
Making it a double celebration for KTM in the Enduro 2 class was the fact that Fabien Planet produced his best result of the season so far claiming the runner-up spot behind Aro aboard his 250cc two-stroke. Clearly enjoying performing in front of his home crowd Fabien won the opening special test of the day before going on to win two other tests and comfortably place ahead of Mika Ahola who claimed third.

Claiming the biggest winning margin of any rider in France David Knight topped the Enduro 3 class by 59 seconds. Having already claimed the ’06 Enduro 3 World Championship Knight continued his unbeaten win streak claiming his 15th day win of the ’06 WEC series. Topping all but one of the day’s seven tests Knight placed ahead of Frenchman Seb Guillaume and Swede Bjorne Carlsson. David’s team-mate Marko Tarkkala placed in fourth, 11 seconds behind Carlsson.

2006 World Enduro Championship Rnd 8
Grand Prix of France – Boussac, France – Day 1

Enduro 1
1. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 50:40.80; 2. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 50:55.16; 3. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 51:50.99; 4. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 51:58.24; 5. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 52:56.45; 6. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 53:08.26; 7. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) 53:11.70; 8. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 53:25.81; 9. Gregory Eyries (Yamaha) 55:34.91; 10. Damien Miquel (Kawasaki) 56:18.44; 11. Nicolas Deparrois (Husqvarna) 56:48.59; 12. Mike Hartman (KTM) 57:26.09; 13. Freddy Blanc (KTM) 58:20.12; 14. Ervard Gutkin (TM) 59:04.20; 15. Nicolas Joye (KTM) 1.00:33.33; 16. Greg Evans (KTM) 1.05:36.97

Enduro 2
1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 48:12.91; 2. Fabien Planet (KTM) 48:21.21; 3. Mika Ahola (Honda) 48:50.54; 4. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 48:55.89; 5. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 50:19.62; 6. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 50.21.01; 7. Nicolas Paganon (Husqvarna) 50:29.22; 8. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 51:04.92; 9. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 51:16.26; 10. Andrea Beconi (Beta) 51:27.95; 11. Euan McConnell (TM) 51:55.69; 12. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 52:40.17; 13. Thierry Klutz (Sherco) 52:53.77; 14. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 53:18.97; 15. Jordan Curvalle (Kawasaki) 54:14.25; 16. Daryl Bolter (Husqvarna) 55:38.49; 17. Juan Pedrero (Sherco) 59:30.18

Enduro 3
1. David Knight (KTM) 48:19.29; 2. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 49:19.16; 3. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 51:10.44; 4. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 51:21.56; 5. Alessio Paoli (TM) 52:28.57; 6. Anders Eriksson (Husqvarna) 52:36.40; 7. Markus Kehr (KTM) 52:36.67; 8. Jean Francois Goblet (Gas Gas) 53:03.31; 9. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 55:04.18; 10. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 55:11.65; 11. Jean Nicon (KTM) 56:54.92; 12. Daniel Persson (Husaberg) 57:07.59; 13. Laurent Bouffioux (Aprilia) 1.00:33.63; 14. Laurent Pannetier (KTM) 1.02:05.96; 15. Noe Vadic (TM) 1.23:09.93; 16. Hugues Forichon (Gas Gas) 1.23:38.24

Enduro Junior
1. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 51:13.41; 2. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 53:14.65; 3. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 54:02.65; 4. Jake Stapleton (TM) 54:20.30; 5. Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 55:12.26; 6. Sylvain Lebrun (Husqvarna) 56:48.22; 7. Lucas Puerto (KTM) 58:17.89; 8. Thomas Oldrati (Husqvarna) 58:21.16; 9. Jeremy Joly (Sherco) 59:25.10; 10. Patrik Wikman (KTM) 59:44.80; 11. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 1.01:49.01; 12. Benoit Fortunato (Honda) 1.02:25.51; 13. Yannick Tissot (Gas Gas) 1.03:37.41; 14. Pierre Pallut (KTM) 1.03:45.63; 15. Lee Edmondson (KTM) 1.04:54.31; 16. Benoit (Gas Gas) 1.08:21.21; 17. Jacub Horak (KTM) 1.10:22.19; 18. Harold Laplace (Yamaha) 1.10:55.90; 19. Carlo Conforti (Honda) 1.13:29.68; 20. Guillem Pares (Gas Gas) 1.15:02.01

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