    |
 |
|
|
|
By - Lexy Thorogood:
01/11/02
Indoor Enduro, Barcelona
The last race of the year was the Indoor Enduro in Barcelona last weekend.
14,000 motorsports enthusiasts came to see the world´s leading Off Road riders perform on a tight, technical and demanding circuit. Stefan was riding the Husky 250 2 stroke. The indoor arena was transformed, tonnes of dirt trucked in for the event was moulded into a challenging track - including sections of sandy whoops, rocky boulders, stacked logs, hillclimbs rivers and wet stones.
The race format is two heats of six riders in the two stroke class, the riders with the most points go through to the final. Then the winners of the two stroke final go through to a superfinal with the winners of the four stroke final.
In the first heat whilst Stefan got off to a good start getting the holeshot, he took a bad line around the second corner, allowing Finnish rider Petri Pohjamo past.
To make matters worse, as he crossed the next section of big rocky boulders a rock moved throwing him off the bike, leaving him to start at the back. He finished last in that heat, as the heats are only three laps long (1.3mins each).
The second heat Stefan did not get the holeshot but passed through to first position in the second heat. He was unstoppable and finished first. With a first and sixth placing he did not have enough points for the final and so competed in a last chance heat with six remaining riders.
He was second off the start, behind fellow husky rider, Bazzuri. Stefan was unable to pass Bazzuri, despite Bazzuri crashing on the stack of logs and falling off the bike. His bike was left blocking the track and the remaining riders would have had to rider over his bike to pass.
Stefan finished second behind Bazzuri and was effectively excluded from the two stroke final. David Knight won the two stroke final and Juha Salminen won the four stroke final. The superfinal was won by Salminen.
Merriman now returns to Italy to finish contract negotiations for 2003.
