    |
 |
|
|
|
Italian Enduro Championships - Pederobba, Treviso:
Merriman dominates Italian Enduro Champs with Honda:
By - Lexy Thorogood:
Merriman showed his strength in a variety of conditions on the weekend at the second round of the Italian Championships winning convincingly in dusty, stony, muddy and wet conditions that prevailed over the weekend in the small village of Pederobba. The weekend started dry and dusty after a week of dry sunny weather. The race set out appeared to be quite a challenge with four tests per lap and four laps to be completed on the first day and three on the second. There was three cross tests and one enduro test. The first test was a very difficult, tight stony cross test (see below). Merriman set the fastest time in this test over the weekend, the only rider to break 3 min mark at 2:59.16 on the second day. This test became very dusty and slippery over the first day as it became more cut up.
The second test of the day was an off cambered grass track. By the third lap on the first day Merriman was leading by a massive 25 seconds over closest rival, Samuli Aro. He came around a corner and down a fast downhill straight and hit a bump in the long grass at the bottom of the hill before heading up the other side. Merriman was thrown over the handlebars at full speed and was lucky to only recieve a black eye from the crash which cost him over 20 seconds to get going again. Despite suffering quite bad shock from the incident Merriman went on to beat Aro in the following two tests and take the first day win by 8 seconds from the Finnish KTM rider.
Day 1 - Overall Classification
Place - Rider - Bike - Total Time
1st Stefan Merriman (AUS) HONDA CRE 250 50:18.02
2nd Samuli Aro (FIN) KTM 250 50:25.69
3rd Alessandro Botturi (ITA) KTM 450 51:18.14
4th Rickard Larsson (SWE) TM 125 51:36.35
5th Mika Saarenkoski (FIN) HUS 125 51:39.86
6th Mika Ahola (FIN) VOR 500 51:41.62
7th Giovanni Sala (ITA) KTM 250 4T 51:46.07
8th Roberto Bazzuri (ITA) HUS 125 51:49.15
9th Stefano Passeri (ITA) Yamaha 250 52:00.10
10th David Knight (GBR) Yamaha 500 52:01.28
On Saturday night consistent rain brought a change to the conditions for Sunday. The powdery dust on all the tests became slippery mud. The light rain stopped on Sunday morning shortly after the race began, and the track dried out for the latter riders passing through almost one hour later. Despite the advantage for the four strokes starting later, Merriman continued to dominate the overall results on the second day. The organisers changed the second test where Merriman crashed and adjusted the third cross test and enduro test. Even though three of the four tests were changed only one was pre-ridden.
Merriman thought the Enduro test was particularly dangerous and despite protests by many riders it was included in the results. On the first day, a serious crash by one rider and then the next subsequent rider caused the race to be stopped temporarily whilst an ambulance was brought in to the track to remove the injured riders. The enduro test was set up a rocky river bed, directed up and down the banks at a very fast rate. The organisers didn\'t agree that it was dangerous, yet there were many riders crashing resulting in injury. The test was equivalent to the terrain of an extreme test in World Enduro but at the speed of a cross test. Merriman set the fastest time in the dangerous enduro test, putting his trials skills to good use setting a pace of 4:01.11, almost 30 seconds faster than the pace set by the pre rider.
Merriman finished the second day more than a minute in front of his World Enduro Champ rival, Samuli Aro and now leads the overall point standings by 40 points.
The next round will be held in Montepulciano, Toscana on the 6th July.
Day 2 - Overall Classification:
Place - Rider - Bike - Total Time
1st Stefan Merriman (AUS) HONDA CRE 250 39:05.45
2nd Alex Zanni (ITA) HONDA CRF 450 39:47.55
3rd Alessandro Botturi (ITA) KTM 450 39:49.16
4th David Knight (GBR) Yamaha 500 39:51.49
5th Samuli Aro (FIN) KTM 250 40:06.02
6th Giuseppe Gallino (ITA) YAM 250 4T 40:30.97
7th Stefano Passeri (ITA) Yamaha 250 40:36.58
8th Jarno Boarno (ITA) HONDA CRE 250 40:47.22
9th Fabrizio Ferrarini (ITA) SUZ 40:50.95
10th Roberto Bazzuri (ITA) HUS 125 40:52.49
