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World Enduro Championships, Kalavrita - Greece. Day One:
By Lexy Thorogood:
Despite snowstorms and rain leading up to the Greek round, the track was mostly hard and dry. The race started on Saturday morning with a little dew and quite overcast and turned out to be a beautiful, warm day. The enduro test and the cross test was almost identical to the race of last year. The only difference being the extreme test which was set on a steep hill with loose rocks and through an old ruin. Merriman was the fastest overall in the extreme test on all occasions. He was also the fastest overall on the grassy enduro test in two out of three laps. The biggest problem was trying to compete with the four stokes in the fast, open and graded smooth motocross test, which Salminen and Cervantes took the lead.
About the first day in Kalavrita, Merriman said,
\"I am really happy with my riding and the bike was running well today. The four stokes had a little of an advantage today in the fast flat corners and the open long straights. Some races favor the four strokes and some the two strokes and this is definitely a race I would rather do on a four stroke. I had a crash in the motocross test on the third lap which cost me three seconds. Salminen and Cervantes were on the gas, and whilst I won the class I had to settle for third overall.\"
RESULTS;
Day 1 WEC - Kalavrita, Greece
Overall Classification
Place - Rider - Bike - Total Time
1st Juha Salminen (FIN) KTM 520 42:13.42
2nd Ivan Cervantes (SPA) KTM 520 42:13.73
3rd Stefan Merriman (AUS) HONDA CRE 250 42:18.08
4th Samuli Aro (FIN) KTM 250 42:35.00
5th Roman Michalik (CZE) VOR 450 42:43.96
6th Mika Ahola (FIN) VOR 500 43:02.49
7th Bjorne Carlsson (SWE) HBG 500 43:24.08
8th Anders Eriksson (SWE) HUSQVARNA 450 43:24.89
9th Freddy Blanc (FRA) HUS 250 2T 43:33.48
10th Petri Pohjamo (FIN) GAS GAS 125 43:36.27
Bill W - Perhaps reports and results may be On This Page later.
Yes, they are there now and you will note that Paul Whibley is in a pretty respectable 28th overall position and 8th 250 2T [35 started].
