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Photo - Stefan merriman:
After dismembering his opposition in round six of the Maxxis Enduro World Championship at Povazska Bystrica in Slovakia on June 26-27, Australians (and New Zealanders. Ed) can all but toast another title for Stefan Merriman.
The 31-year-old scored maximum points on his UFO Corse Yamaha WR250F in Slovakia’s round six, extending his Enduro 1 lead over teammate Bartos Oblucki to 56pts (285 to 229) with just four races remaining – a maximum of 100pts.
In other words, if Oblucki collected those 100pts on offer, Merriman could still afford to finish at least 10th in all the four races – as incongruous as it seems – and still claim the silverware on a countback.
However, the 31-year-old former New Zealand supercross champion isn’t yet speaking in championship terms, preferring to concentrate on his on-going courtship with his new Yamaha after last year spent on a two-stroke Honda.
“I’ve had a really good feeling with my bike this weekend and I’ve also been able to keep my concentration right until the end of all the special tests,” said Merriman. I went to watch a round of the motocross world title a couple of weekends ago in Italy and I was able to learn more about how to get the best from a 250cc four-stroke. I’m now riding a little bit more aggressive, and it seems to be working – to win the overall on both days is great.
“With the tests being quite slow and technical I didn’t really get out of third gear on the cross-country test, but I guess it was the same for all the riders. My goal was to try and win every race this season in the E1 class, and I was able to do that here in Slovakia. I opened up a gap from the second placed rider on both days but I didn’t want to stop pushing because that’s when mistakes happen. I knew that it was going to be safer to keep pushing and that is why I wanted to focus on the overall. It’s great to have won the overall on both days.
“I’m still improving the way I ride at every race. I fell that I’m getting stronger with each race and that I can still go faster. My bike is going really, really well but I’m still finding out new things about it and learning how to ride it faster.”
Merriman was the complete package on both days in Slovakia, besting Italian Simone Albergoni (Honda) by 52.86sec in the opener, and by well over a minute on day two – performances so exquisite that the scratch (overall) honours all came his way. Merriman has now won nine of the 12 races in 2004, including the last four as he zeroes in on his imperious mid-season form of 2003 – six wins in a row.
Oblucki was third in both Enduro 1 outings, with Albergoni now just 9pts (229 to 220) in arrears.
Clean sweeps were also the staple in the other two world enduro classes at Slovakia, with five-time world champion Juha Salminen (KTM Racing) continuing to show little mercy for his Enduro 2 rivals. Fellow KTM rider and countryman Samuli Aro dominated Enduro 3.
In the scratch battle, it was the same Merriman-Salminen-Aro trifecta on both days, which saw the Aussie jump a spot into fourth on 208pts, with Salminen continuing to lead on 243 from Aro (238) and KTM’s David Knight (216).
The penultimate round of the title will be held in Greece on October 2, before which Merriman will return home to finalise preparations for the 2004 International Six Days’ Enduro with his Australian teammates.
Results
Enduro 1 day one
1 STEFAN MERRIMAN Yamaha
2 Simone Albergoni Honda
3 Bartos Oblucki Yamaha
4 Helder Rodrigues KTM
5 Alesio Paoli TM
6 Petteri Silvan KTM
7 Fabien Planet KTM
8 Alessandro Belometti KTM
9 Richard Larsson TM
10 James Boano Honda
Enduro 1 day two
1 MERRIMAN
2 Albergoni
3 Oblucki
4 Bazurri
5 Silvan
6 Mario Rinaldi Yamaha
7 Rodrigues
8 Belometti
9 Paoli
10 Planet
Current Enduro 1 standings (after six eight rounds): 1 MERRIMAN 285; 2 Oblucki 229; 3 Albergoni 220; 4 Silvan 216; 5 Bazurri 167; 6 Larsson 155; 7 Belometti 148; 8 Planet 140; 9 Rinaldi 139; 10 Rodrigues 127.
Enduro 2 day one
1 Juha Salminen KTM
2 Paul Edmonson Honda
3 Alessandro Botturi KTM
4 Arnau Vilanova Honda
5 Giovanni Sala KTM
6 Vatteri Salonen Honda
7 PAUL WHIBLEY Honda
8 Mika Saarenkoski Husqvarna
9 Andrea Beconi Yamaha
10 Joakim Ljunggren KTM
Enduro 2 day two
1 Salminen
2 Botturi
3 Vilanova
4 Edmondson
5 Alessandro Zanni Honda
6 Salonen
7 Saarenkoski
8 WHIBLEY
9 Beconi
10 Andreas Toresson Husaberg
Current Enduro 2 standings (after six of eight rounds): 1 Salminen 272; 2 Edmondson 238; 3 Botturi 216; 4 Vilanova 197; 5 Saarenkoski 163; 6 Whibley 161; 7 Salonen 154; 8 Sala 138; 9 Toresson 137; 10 Petri Pohjamo 111.
Enduro 3 day one:
1 Samuli Aro KTM
2 David Knight KTM
3 Sebastien Guillaume Gas Gas
4 Mike Ahola Husqvarna
5 Marl Tarkkala Husaberg
6 Ivan Cervantes KTM
7 Anders Eriksson Husqvarna
8 Bjorne Carlsson Husaberg
9 Jani Laaksonen Gas Gas
10 Swen Enderlein KTM
Enduro 3 day two
1 Aro
2 Knight
3 Cervantes
4 Ahola
5 Eriksson
6 Carlsson
7 Tarkkala
8 Guillaume
9 Laaksonen
10 Enderlein
Current Enduro 3 standings (after six of eight rounds): 1 Aro 280; 2 Knight 257; 3 Cervantes 241; 4 Ahola 195; 5 Carlsson 176; 6 Eriksson 174; 7 Tarkkala 158; 8 Laaksonen 130; 9 Guillaume 118; 10 Enderlein 110.
Mark Fattore
Media Manager
Motorcycling Australia