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Enduro 2 : Tough weekend for Aubert
Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy
Circuit: Valli Bergamasche
Date: 18 June 2006
Crowd: 28500
Temp: 28ºC
Weather: Sunny
Coming into the fourth round of the '06 World Enduro Championship leading the highly competitive Enduro 2 class French UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert started the GP Valli Bergamasche suffering with Influenza. Disappointingly for Aubert things were to get worse rather than better as a crash in the closing stages of day one resulted in him failing to start day two. Unable to perform at his best due to feeling far from 100 per cent Aubert still managed to push reigning Enduro 2 world champion Samuli Aro hard for much of the day one but crashed heavily on the last special test of the day, which dropped him to third. Managing to fit new tyres to his Yamaha in readiness for day two Aubert was advised my event medical staff to go to hospital prior to the start of the second day as he was suffering with pain in his chest, which was feared might be blood clot. Aubert's pain was diagnosed as being a broken rib but having travelled to hospital he was unable to start day two. With Aubert placing in third on day one his UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Stefan Merriman claimed the runner-up spot with Finn Samuli Aro topping the class.
On day two Aro again claimed the E2 class win with Merriman second and Finn Mika Ahola third. By placing in second on both days in Italy Merriman, who scored poorly at the first round of the series in Sweden, lifted himself to the runner-up spot in the E2 championship standings, just 11 points behind class leader Samuli Aro. Despite being unable to match the pace of Aro, Merriman performed consistently on both days having not wanted to take any risks in the dry and rocky conditions. With four rounds of the WEC series remaining Stefan is now looking forward to the first ever WEC events to take place outside of Europe when the world champion ship travels to Canada and the States for rounds five and six.
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: third, Day 2: DNS "Day one was going really well for me but it was hard for me because I was suffering with Influenza before the race. I pushed as hard as I could but I wasn't going to beat Samuli. I think that second should have been my place on day one. But I crashed really hard on the last lap and dropped to third, which was disappointing. It was still a good result though but I could have been second. When I crashed I hurt my ribs so I went to the doctor before the start of day two. I wasn't in so much pain but I was blue and there was one place that hurt a lot. They told me to go to the hospital to get checked out properly, which I did, because they were afraid that I might be a blood clot. Thankfully I wasn't but I had broken some ribs. Because I went to the hospital I was not able to make the start of day two."
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: second, Day 2: second "If my team-mate Johnny Aubert hadn't of crashed on day one then I would have been third, so I guess his mistake was good for me and bad for him. Both Samuli Aro and Johnny were really fast on day one but I was happy to have finished in second. It was too easy to get injured here or to DNF because there were so many rocks. I wasn't prepared to take any risks.I made a few mistakes on both days but I didn't have any really big crashes. It would have been nice to have won but finishing second on both days is good for my championship. It was an extremely difficult race and it's frustrating that the organisers only made changes to the race during the race because it was clear that four laps on both days was going to be too difficult before the start of the event."
Race classification Enduro 2
Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy
Circuit: Valli Bergamasche
