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E1 Enduro World Championships Round One Ostersund Sweden: Day 2
KTM factory rider Juha Salminen of Sweden concluded a perfect weekend on Sunday with a victory in the E1 class in Ostersund, Sweden, his second top podium place in two days of competition for the launch of the world championship season.
Salminen is rejoining the world championship competition after competing in the USA and his weekend double leaves none of his opponents in doubt about his intentions to go for the E1 title in 2007. He had not raced on snow for six or seven years, he said and admitted he was glad to be back in the world championship action competition and that it had been a fun weekend on his KTM 250 EXC-F machine.
“Salminen made no mistakes today and looked really good,” team boss Fabio Farioli said. “It has been a great weekend for us.”
For the second day running Salminen’s KTM factory rider team-mate Alessandro Belometti of Italy finished the competition in fifth place.
On Sunday the riders were confronted with continual snowfall after Saturday’s light dusting of snow. With between 20-30cm of fresh snow on the course, conditions were favourable for the Scandinavian riders but rather unusual for other European competitors.
E2 Enduro World Championships Round One Ostersund Sweden: Day 2
Reigning world E2 world champion Aro Samuli had to settle for second place in the second day of competition in the first round of the Enduro World Championships in Oresund, Sweden on Sunday after winning the first competition over snow on Saturday.
Samuli, who is defending his world championship title this season was forced to concede victory to his countryman Mika Ahola on the second day of competition after beating him by just 0.2 seconds on Saturday. For the second day running, Samuli’s factory team-mate Fabian Planet of France ended the long day of competition in place seven, the same finishing position as Saturday.
“It was snowing all day and there was 20-30 cm of fresh snow on the course,” Team boss Fabio Farioli said after the event. “We can be very satisfied with the weekend, even though we had to settle for second place in the E2 after yesterday’s victory. Today Ahola was just too fast for us.”
On Saturday riders went out in light snow and temperatures just climbed into the low plus degrees as the event progressed through the day.
E3 Enduro World Championships Round One Ostersund Sweden: Day 2
KTM Enduro factory rider Finland’s Marko Tarkkala stormed home on his 525 EXC Racing machine for his second E3 victory in two days to celebrate the opening of the world championship season with flair in Sweden’s Ostersund.
Tarkkala signalled the dominance of the KTM factory riders on the big machines with his Spanish team-mate Ivan Cervantes again finishing third for his second podium in the first weekend of world championship competition. It was a near perfect weekend for the Finnish rider who has his sights set on the title. He had said after Saturday’s victory that it was the best start to the season that he could imagine.
“It was a very good position for Tarkkala,” team boss Fabio Farioli said after Sunday’s race. “His style was very impressive.” He added that it had been much more difficult for Tarkkala’s team-mate Ivan Cervantes because the Spaniard was not used to riding in the snowy conditions. Cervantes therefore also had a good weekend with his second podium for the weekend.
Riders had to battle with around 20-30 cm of fresh snow in the Central Swedish race location after lighter conditions on Sunday.
