Lupi di Irlanda (2)
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RESULTS SERVICE Electraction TM UK’06 World Enduro Championship – round 1: Ostersund, Sweden 18-19/3/2006 Promising start to ’06 WEC series for Stapleton and McConnell Electraction TM UK riders Jake Stapleton and Euan McConnell both made promising starts to their ’06 World Enduro Championship campaigns with Jake placing in third and fourth positions in the Enduro Junior class and Euan claiming 10th and 16th place finishes in the Enduro 2 class at the opening round of the series in Ostersund, Sweden. Setting himself the goal of winning the ’06 Enduro Junior world championship after his impressive runner-up class finish in ’05 Jake was well aware that the slippery Scandinavian conditions wouldn’t suit him. Still determined to give the event his all, and posting some impressive special test times along the way, the Australian youngster was also well aware that he would find it hard to place on the podium - especially when competing against Swede Joakim Ljunggren, the factory Husaberg rider with years of experience of racing in winter conditions. Despite a cautious start to day one, and more than a few spills along the way, Jake managed to place second to Ljunggren on four of the opening day’s special test and finished on the podium in third place. On day two Ljunggren was again the rider to beat in the Enduro Junior class while a slow start to laps one and two saw Jake with a lot of ground to make up during the second half of the race. Again managing to place second to the Swede on several of the day’s tests some below par rides on several of the other special tests saw Jake place fourth at the end of the day. Despite being disappointed not to have made it onto the podium on day two Jake now sits joined third in the Enduro Junior world championship standings with seven rounds remaining. Euan McConnell’s ’06 WEC season started well in Sweden when the Scot placed in 10th in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Like most non-Scandinavian riders in the event McConnell was pleased to find out that conditions weren’t as winter like as expected. Placing in and around the top 10 of the E2 class on all but one test Euan ended the day 10th. On day two Euan’s results took a slight turn for the worst having failed to fit a new front tyre at the end of day one. Struggling for front-end traction during day two Euan fell several times and placed in 16th. Despite his frustrating second day Euan was pleased with his performances in Sweden. |
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Euan McConnell: “It’s been a pretty good weekend. The race wasn’t as extreme as I was expecting it to be – it was pretty much just like riding on hard pack only with different tyres. Riding in the deep snow was a bit different to anything I’ve done before but there wasn’t too much of that, which I guess was a good thing. I guess I’ve had a good steady start to the world championship. I wasn’t all that quick this weekend, although I did put in a few good test times on both days. I’m still adjusting to the four-stroke so that, on top of trying to get my head around riding in the snow and ice, has made for an interesting weekend. “I went way too soft with my suspension expecting the weather to stay cold and icy, which it didn’t. I really suffered with that at the end of both days, especially day two, because my bike was bouncing around all over the place. I didn’t change my front tyre at the end of day one, which was a mistake. I ended day two with no spikes on either side of my front tyre on day two, which isn’t the one when you’re trying to ride in these conditions. I spent a lot of time either crashing or nearly crashing as a result. No, on the whole I’m happy enough with how it all went - I just wish I’d have had a better tyre on day two so I could push harder.” |
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Jake Stapleton: “The weekend hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be. To be honest the hardest part of the weekend was the trails between the special tests. It didn’t matter what technique I tried I just couldn’t master how to ride legs out with both feet sliding on top of the snow with my bike in the big, long snow rut. The terrain was really unpredictable, I didn’t know when I could push hard with the front end and when it was going to start moving around on me. All up though it’s been a good weekend. “I was going ok on day one but I crashed on the motocross test on two separate occasions and then got stuck on the extreme test as well. I was pretty fortunate to salvage what I did on day one really, it could have been a lot worse. “I didn’t really get into things on the first few laps on day two, I went pretty slowly for some reason. I then spent the afternoon getting my head down and trying to make back what I lost in the morning. I’m really happy with the way the weekend went because it was a damage limitation exercise really because I knew that I wouldn’t be that fast in these conditions. It’s certainly not my thing so it’s better than I expected. I’m looking forward to getting back to the dirt now.” |
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Results – day one Enduro 2 1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 1.04:53.34; 2. Mika Ahola (Honda) 1.05:20.06; 3. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 1.05:52.94; 4. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 1.07:02.43; 5. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 1.07:30.89; 6. Fabien Planet (KTM) 1.07:58.47; 7. Petteri Silvan (KTM) 1.08:02.21; 8. Patrik Wicksell (KTM) 1.08:47.69; 9. Riku Rihelainen (Husaberg) 1.08:52.98; 10. Euan McConnell (TM) 1.09:09.47; 11. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 1.09:18.84; 12. Thierry Klutz (Sherco) 1.09:21.84; 13. Andrea Beconi (Beta) 1.09:39.88; 14. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 1.09:01.85; 15. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 1.10:29.32; 16. Giuseppe Canova (Husqvarna) 1.10:51.38; 17. Johan Bjerkert (KTM) 1.11:09.94; 18. Pentti Nurminen (Husaberg) 1.11:25.08; 19. Tobias Burman (Husaberg) 1.11:53.36; 20. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 1.11:57.43
Enduro Junior 1. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 1.05:56.88; 2. Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 1.08:17.15; 3. Jake Stapleton (TM) 1.08:46.16; 4. Robert Kapajcik (Yamaha) 1.09:31.14; 5. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 1.10:23.67; 6. Ricard Wressel (Husaberg) 1.11:04.18; 7. Patrick Wikman (KTM) 1.11:44.01; 8. Roni Nikander (KTM) 1.12:04.97; 9. Jonas Karlsson (KTM) 1.12:09.82; 10. Olli Turma (KTM) 1.12:32.17; 11. Oskari Kantonen (Husqvarna) 1.12:42.54; 12. Frederik Kvarnstrom (KTM) 1,12:46.02; 13. Martin Sundin (KTM) 1.13:05.29; 14. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1.13:25.78; 15. Jari Pulkkinen (Yamaha) 1.13:58.15; 16. Markus Luthstrom (Yamaha) 1.14:15.54; 17. Kristoffer Jonsson (Gas Gas) 1.14:27.23; 18. Anton Nordh (KTM) 1.15:03.59; 19. Lucas Puerto (KTM) 1.15:08.26; 20/ Jakub Horak (KTM) 1.15:39.12
Results – day two 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 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 |
