    |
 |
|
|
|
MA - Press Release:
The Kiwi born Aussie maestro, Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) displayed his full repertoire during a faultless performance to kick off the 2004 International Six Days’ Enduro (ISDE) in Poland on September 13.
The three-time world champion – and soon to be a four-time winner – was in a merciless mood aboard his WR450F, winning five of the six special stages (four cross and two enduro) during the 250km loop, which saw him complete day one with a 31.42sec lead over Finnish rider Samuli Aro (KTM) in the outright standings.
Merriman’s lead in his individual class (E2) is even more pronounced, with five-time world champion Juha Salminen (KTM), the second major cog in the Finnish offensive on this year’s ISDE, already a 40.65sec in arrears.
Merriman’s imperious deeds aside, three other Aussies finished in the top 20 in their respective classes on day one – two of them Merriman’s teammates in the six-man Senior Trophy team. They were E1 campaigner and ISDE veteran Damian Smith (Yamaha), who was 17th, and Brad Williscroft (KTM), who circulated to 14th in a tight E3 leaderboard.
Meanwhile, reigning Australian enduro champion Glenn Kearney (Yamaha), a Junior Trophy teamster, completed E2 proceedings in 16th – a disappointing final cross test his only difficult moment.
With Merriman, Smith and Williscroft providing the major thrust on day one, Australia’s Senior Trophy team lies in sixth position out of 21 nations, over a minute behind fifth-placed Great Britain – but four minutes and 34 seconds adrift of the lead. In a touch of déjà vu, Finland, which has three world champions in its arsenal, already leads from Italy and France – last year’s top three from the Brazil-hosted ISDE.
Finland has won five of the last eight Senior Trophy events, including the last two.
Australia’s three remaining Senior Trophy protagonists, Kirk Hutton (Yamaha, E2), Michael Oliver (KTM, E2) and Stuart Bennett (KTM, E3), finished 36th, 44th and 28th in their respective classes. ISDE rules dictate that only the best five results have to be counted in a single day’s competition, which means that Hutton’s score line – he finished nearly three minutes down on Merriman in E2 – was not counted in the Senior Trophy’s score.
The same scoring policy also applies in the Junior Trophy, where Australia – Kearney, Husqvarna’s Anthony Roberts (E1), TM’s Jake Stapleton (E1) and Yamaha’s Ben Grabham (E2) - also lies in sixth place after day one – but much closer to the lead than the senior brethren. The juniors are less than two-and-a-half minutes behind Italy, which is leading the way from Spain, Poland, Finland and Germany in the 13-team competition.
Australia is chasing its second Junior Trophy win, after first claiming the spoils in Poland in 1995.
In the ISDE club team event, an adjunct to the main world championship action, Australia has three entries in 2004 – with two of them currently in the top 10 of a 72-strong field. Motorcycling Australia No 3 (Brett Barrett, Blake Hore and Shannon Lewry) is eighth, one spot ahead of MA No 1 (Jehi Willis, Matthew Fish and Adam Lees). MA No 2 (Geoff Ballard, Riccardo Braico and Darren Lloyd) sits in 23rd.
Of the nine club riders, Lewry (Husaberg) was the most impressive on day one, circulating to 27th in E3 – one position in advance of Bennett.
Day two of the ISDE will again take riders on a 250km waltz through the Polish countryside.
CURRENT STANDINGS (after day one of six)
TEAM Senior Trophy 1 Finland 3:10.18 2 Italy 3:48.15 3 France 4:38.96 4 Great Britain 6:33.38 6 Australia 7:44.82 7 Portugal 8:54.35 8 Spain 9:38.45 9 Poland 10:37.04 10 Netherlands 10:38.05 Junior Trophy 1 Italy 2:26.94 2 Spain 2:33.08 3 Poland 3:00.11 4 Finland 3:31.79 5 Germany 3:58.99 6 Australia 4:55.83 7 France 5:14.81 8 Great Britain 5:17.25 9 Slovakia 5:40.54 10 Sweden 6:39.05 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS E1 1 Bartosz Oblucki Poland Yamaha 34:15.23 2 Simone Albergoni Italy Honda +2.43sec 3 Paul Edmondson Great Britain Honda +18.04 4 Marc Germain France Yamaha +25.66 5 Michal Szuster Poland Yamaha +27.41 6 Mario Rinaldi Italy Yamaha +27.61 7 Fabien Planet France KTM +29.86 8 Pedro Tragter Netherlands Honda +31.86 9 Alessandro Belometti Italy KTM +32.27 10 Simone Tonelli Italy Yamaha +38.24 Australians 17 Damian Smith Yamaha +1:02.29 26 Jake Stapleton TM +1:27.43 29 Anthony Roberts Husqvarna +1:35.24 43 Jehi Willis KTM +2:10.37 71 Brett Barrett Yamaha +3:12.64 74 Geoff Ballard Yamaha +3:18.93 E2 1 Stefan Merriman Australia Yamaha 33:19.88 2 Juha Salminen Finland KTM +40.65 3 Valtteri Salonen Finland Honda +56.18 4 Arnau Vilanova Spain Honda +1:04.10 5 Kurt Caselli USA KTM +1:06.84 6 Xavier Puigdemont Spain KTM +1:15.11 7 Alessandro Botturi Italy KTM +1:18.88 8 Sebastian Guillaume France Gas Gas +1:21.42 9 Petri Pohjamo Finland Gas Gas +1:23.76 10 Mika Saarenkoski Finland Husqvarna +1:30.40 Other Australians 16 Glenn Kearney Yamaha +1:50.11 32 Ben Grabham Yamaha +2:34.43 36 Michael Oliver KTM +2:42.35 44 Kirk Hutton Yamaha +2:53.47 51 Blake Hore Yamaha +3:08.44 57 Darren Lloyd Husqvarna +3:35.83 144 Riccardo Braico KTM +9:18.59 E3 1 Samuli Aro Finland KTM 33:51.30 2 Mike Ahola Finland Husqvarna +15.29 3 David Knight Great Britain KTM +15.82 4 Ivan Cervantes Spain KTM +20.11 5 Alessandro Zanni Italy Honda +41.83 6 Bjorne Carlsson Sweden Husaberg +42.73 7 Marko Tarkkala Finland Husaberg +44.05 8 Anders Ericksson Sweden Husqvarna +51.56 9 Thierry Klutz Belgium Gas Gas +1:01.17 10 Marcus Kehr Germany KTM +1:05.91 Australians 14 Brad Williscroft KTM +1:28.68 27 Shannon Lewry Husaberg +2:24.92 28 Stuart Bennett KTM +2:31.50 31 Matthew Fish KTM +2:56.73 40 Adam Lees Husaberg +3:50.76
