KTM Racing
Ivan Cervantes is off to a great start in 2009 trying to add the WEC to his collection of championships.
Rounds one and two of the Enduro E1 World championships series began with flair for KTM factory rider Ivan Cervantes when he took a double victory and a maximum of 50 championship points in Portugal at the weekend to launch his 2009 title bid.
Cervantes, returning to the big bike category this season as already satisfied after taking the top spot on Saturday saying: "I had three small crashes and lost some time but apart from that it was a perfect day and I feel very positive going into the season." Then on Sunday the Spaniard went out and picked up the double.
KTM factory teammate and reigning E3 world champion Samuli Aro can also be satisfied with his weekend with a second place on Saturday and a fourth on Sunday after getting into difficulties and sacrificing about 25 seconds.
"It was a very tough weekend but also a very positive one," KTM team boss Fabio Farioli said on Sunday. It has been two long hard days and the riders are very tired." Organisers on Sunday slightly altered the Extreme test making it somewhat easier than it had been on Saturday.
KTM's Offroad racing director Pit Beirer was also very satisfied. "It was an awesome weekend. It was great to see how well the team worked together and how our riders went out and were so strong."
The team planned to travel immediately to Spain to prepare for the next two rounds next weekend in Igualada about 60 km west of Barcelona.
KTM filled the podium during both races with Cervantes on top.
1. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
2. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM
3. Sebastien Guillaume, France, HUSQ
4. Christophe Nambotin, France, GAS
5. David Knight, Britain, BMW
E3 Sunday, Round 2
1. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
2. Christophe Nambotin, France, GAS
3. Sebastien Guillaume, France, HUSQ
4. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM
5. Marcus Kehr, Germany, KTM
Standings after Rounds 1 & 2
1. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM, 50
2. Sebastien Guillaume, France, HUSQ, 40
2. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM, 40
2. Christophe Nambotin, France, GAS, 40
5. Fabio Mossini, San Marino, HON, 31
BMW Motorsports
BMW rider David Knight made a solid push in round one, but withdrew in round two due to an injury.
The opening round of the ’09 World Enduro Championship – the GP of Portugal, staged in Penafiel close to Porto – proved to be a demanding one for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team. Confident of strong results following encouraging performances on behalf of all team riders at the recent opening round of the Spanish Enduro Championship, the two-day WEC event ended with team riders Juha Salminen, David Knight, Simo Kirssi and Marko Tarkkala failing to perform at their best on the lose, dry and dusty Portuguese special tests.
With the ’09 WEC opener starting with a Friday night ‘Super test’ all riders were well placed near the top of their respective classes ahead of the first full day of competition, with David Knight starting Saturday second in the Enduro 3 class. Encouraging special tests times followed for both David and Juha on the extreme tests on day one as both riders enjoyed class wins, but disappointingly they failed to match the pace of their class rivals on either the enduro and motocross tests.
In the Enduro 2 class Juha Salminen did everything he could to secure a podium finish yet despite winning two extreme tests and improving his pace as the day progressed was unable to finish higher than fifth in class. Finishing eighth following a consistent day’s riding was Juha’s Enduro 2 class team-mate Simo Kirssi.
On day two Juha twice crashed on the extreme test, which ended his chances of bettering his day one result. Losing a considerable amount of time on both occasions the Finn placed an eventual sixth in class with Kirssi two places behind in eighth following another consistent day.
Mirroring Salminen’s pace on the extreme test on day one David Knight secured four winning performances on the technical special test, but disappointingly also failed to reproduce those results on the enduro and motocross tests. Following several small falls and failing to perform at his best he placed sixth. Marko Tarkkala finished two places behind David in eighth.
Takkala worked his way up to finish seventh, one spot better than the previous race.
Unfortunately, on day two Knight was forced to withdraw after running over his foot and badly twisting his knee. Improving his day one result by one place Marko Tarkkala finished in seventh position.
The ’09 World Enduro Championship moves to Catalonia this coming weekend where the Moto Club Igualada hosts the GP of Spain.
Berti Hauser - BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “Clearly the results that we achieved are not the results we hoped for, and of course we are disappointed with the way the opening round of the ’09 World Enduro Championship has finished. Even though we knew that this year would be anything but easy, we were looking forward to the start of the new championship with real optimism.
Firstly, we have to analyze where and why our riders lost time in the enduro and motocross special tests. Therefore we need informative feedback from the riders. One thing that is certain is that we did not do enough testing on soft, lose tracks, like in Portugal. There were some positive points, like the fact that both Juha and David won some of the extreme tests, but sadly that was overshadowed by their eventual finishing results.
Although there is just one week before the next round of the world championship we will do everything we can to improve our competitiveness there. Everyone on the team is extremely motivated and want to put these results behind us as quickly as possible.”
Husaberg Racing
The Husaberg factory team launched a strong attack for the opening two rounds of the 2009 Enduro World championship in Portugal at the weekend even though the team had its share of mixed luck.
Mena topped the podium in the EJ class giving him the lead going in to the next event.
Star performer was the new member of the Enduro junior team, 21-year old Spanish rider Oriol Mena who excelled with two top podium places and a maximum of 50 championship points. The tough course suited the young Spaniard who professes to like “the tougher the better”. Speaking after savoring his first victory on Saturday, Mena said: “I am very happy. The bike is incredible and so is the team. They did a very good job all this week. I did make some mistakes and I will try to do better tomorrow.” And that is exactly what he achieved.
Ljunggren fastest on Friday’s prologue
Swedish rider Joakim Ljunggren started the weekend with a successful performance on Friday night, when the world championship series launched a new feature, a special test in a stadium atmosphere where riders competed on a one-on-one basis in front of a large crowd. Rider’s times counted for Saturday’s race. Ljunggren was fastest overall and although he had the edge for Saturday had his share of bad luck in that race. “I didn’t feel that good in the morning,” he said later. “I wasn’t that good in the motocross test but I worked really hard and was very good in the extreme, which I liked a lot. Then I was feeling great. I was going fast and standing up on the pegs then I went through a puddle of water and hit a stone. The chain came off and got stuck in the sprockets. I lost about 30 seconds getting the bike going again.” He finished seventh on the day and managed to improve two places on Sunday.
Improvement on Sunday
Ljunggren improved two places in round two making it in to the top-5.
Sunday’s race went much smoother for Ljunggren but he was a little disappointed that the organisers opted to make the extreme test a little easier on Sunday. “I liked it,” he said. “It was my favourite part of the course.” Ljunggren’s E2 Husaberg teammate Valtteri Salonen of Finland finished twelfth on Saturday and also improved up to ninth place on Sunday.
Bad luck for Björne
But while riders mostly agreed that the prologue on Friday night had been fun especially racing before a large crown of enthusiasts, it proved to be the downfall of Husaberg’s E3 contender Björne Carlsson. He got into difficulty in the extreme test and injured his knee. “I slipped on a log and put my foot down hard and I had the whole weight of my leg and the bike on my knee. It is very painful and swollen. I am very disappointed because we have been training and working hard to get ready for the season and the bike is great,” he said on Saturday. Carlsson had started in Saturday’s race but the pain was too severe and he had to withdraw.
Team boss Thomas Gustavsson said he was satisfied with the effort of the Husaberg lineup in the first two rounds. He also reported on Sunday that Carlsson’s knee was much improved on Sunday. “It is less swollen and I am quite confident that he will be able to race next weekend in Spain,” he said.
