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, March 21-22, to launch his 2009 title bid.
Cervantes, returning to the big bike category this season, said on Saturday: “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.” Organizers on Sunday slightly altered the Extreme test making it somewhat easier than it had been on Saturday.
Second place on Sunday went to French rider Christophe Nambotin, riding for Gas Gas. But second overall coming out of the first two rounds is another French rider, Sebastien Guillaume of the CH Racing Husqvarna team. Guillaume’s 3-3 finish in the E3 division puts him at the head of a three-way tie in points with Aro and Nambotin.
“The competition is really strong in the E3 class so any mistakes are really hard to overcome,” Oblucki commented. “The changes made to the extreme test on the second day suited me and I managed to make some fast times in all of the tests. To finish on the podium on both days is good.”
Top honors in the E2 division also went to a double victor. Newly aboard a KTM with the factory team, Johnny Aubert notched two first-place finishes over the weekend followed by Alessandro Belometti and Bartosz Oblucki on Saturday and then Cristobal Guerrero and Rodrig Thain on Sunday.
The E1 division was dominated by Honda rider Mika Ahola who topped the field by over a minute on each day. Antoine Meo and Simone Albergoni joined him on the round one podium with Meo giving Husqvarna its first podium finish for the all-new TC250. Albergoni advanced one position to second in E1 on Sunday with Thomas Oldrati getting on the box on Sunday.
2009 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of Portugal – Day 1
Enduro 1 class
1. Mika Ahola (Honda) 56:41.57; 2. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 57:46.89; 3. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 57:51.89; 4. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 57:57.79; 5. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 58:34.57; 6. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 58:47.26; 7. Fabien Planet (KTM) 58:53.38; 8. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 59:12.42; 9. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 59:34.55; 10. Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 59:42.01; 11. Eero Remes (KTM) 59:51.16; 12. Greg Evans (KTM) 1:00:22.81; 13. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 1:01:25.39; 14. David Cadek (KTM) 1:02:56.64; 15. Maurizio Gerini (KTM) 1:03:49.32; 16. Nicolas Paganon (Kawasaki) 1:05:57.33; 17. Jakub Horak (KTM) 1:06:10.31;
Enduro 2 class
1. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 56:33.43; 2. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 57:57.56; 3. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 58:22.46; 4. Rodrig Thain (TM) 58:29.14; 5. Juha Salminen (BMW) 58:34.69; 6. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 58:56.74; 7. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 58:57.10; 8. Simo Kirssi (BMW) 59:17.45; 9. Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas) 1:00:00. 38; 10. Luca Cherubini (TM) 1:00:18; 88; 11. Fabrizio Dini (Beta) 1:00:19.70; 12) Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 1:00:52; 61; 13. Aaron Bernardez (BMW) 1:01:16.02; 14. Simon Wakely (Husqvarna) 1:01:26.70; 15. Kevin Gauniaux (Gas Gas) 1:01:46.73; 16. Paulo Felicia (Husqvarna) 1:01:49.50; 17. Hans Vogel (Yamaha) 1:02:03.94; 18. Joan Jou (Kawasaki) 1:02:27.93; 19. Emmanuel Albepart (Kawasaki) 1:02:44.34; 20. Paulo Goncalves (BMW) 1:03:56.43
Enduro 3 Class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 57:35.65; 2. Samuli Aro (KTM) 58:03.79; 3. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 58:18.52; 4. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 58:39.35; 5. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 58:36.94; 6. David Knight (BMW) 58:59.87; 7. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 59:16.97; 8. Marko Tarkkala (BMW) 59:23.49; 9. Tom Sagar (Husaberg) 1:00:20.98; 10. Fernando Ferreira (Yamaha) 1:02:04.44; 11. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 1:02;12.56; 12. Adrian Garrido (Yamaha) 1:04:32.92; 10. Mark Risse (Gas Gas) 1:18:25.90
Enduro Junior class
1. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 59:02.48; 2. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 59:16.56; 3. Sebastien Bozzo (Husqvarna) 59:22.62; 4. Jeremy Joly (Honda) 59:54.33; 5. Vanni Cominotto (KTM) 1:01:42.32; 6. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 1:01:50.99; 7. Matthieu Gagnoud (Honda) 1:01:56.66; 8. Antoine Basset (Husqvarna) 1:02:20.09; 9. Edoardo D’Ambrosio (KTM) 1:02:47.72; 10. Ellie Vecchie (Gas Gas) 1:02:50.41; 11. Marc Sola (Gas Gas); 12. Armand Monleon Hernandez (Gas Gas) 1:03.17.41; 13. Michael Pogna (KTM) 1:03:32.16; 14. Ashley Wood (Gas Gas) 1:03:36.93; 15. Pierre Pallut (Husqvarna) 1:03:41.80; 16. Jonathon Manzi (Husqvarna) 1:04:24.40; 17. Arnaud Devisy (Gas Gas) 1:04:26.84; 18. Romain Dumontier 1:04:29.70; 19. Carrecero Dominguez Daniel (Gas Gas) 1:04:53.19; 20. Josep Rallo Genover (Yamaha) 1:04:54.90
2009 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of Portugal – Day 2
Enduro 1 class
1. Mika Ahola (Honda) 55:54.00; 2. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 56:59.20; 3. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 56:49.31; 4. Eero Remes (KTM) 57:01.81; 5. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 57:05.86; 6. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 57:34.39; 7. Fabien Planet (KTM) 57:43.13; 8. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 58:23.39; 9. Nicolas Paganon (Kawasaki) 58:32.77; 10. Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 58:58.63; 11. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 59:15.08; 12. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 59:30.07; 13. Greg Evans (KTM) 59:33.96; 14. Maurizio Gerini (KTM) 59:53.73; 15. David Cadek (KTM) 1:00:58.20; 16. Jakub Horak (KTM) 1:05:52.64; 17. Norberto Teixeira (Yamaha) 1:19:05.44
Enduro 2 class
1. Johnny Aubert (TM) 55:36.98; 2. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 57:06.18; 3. Rodrig Thain (TM) 57:20.10; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 57:21.51; 5. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 57:31.15; 6. Juha Salminen (BMW) 58:03.84; 7. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 58:12.62; 8. Simo Kirssi (BMW) 58:24.68; 9. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 58:37.53; 10. Luca Cherubini (TM) 58:57.58; 11. Fabrizio Dini (Beta) 59:05.42; 12. Mike Hartmann (Husaberg) 59:08.27; 13. Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas) 59:09.57; 14. Hans Vogel (Yamaha) 59:39.94; 15. Jean-Francois Goblet (BMW) 1:00:18.80; 16. Joan Jou (Kawasaki) 1:00:58.08; 17. Kevin Gauniaux (Gas Gas) 1:0130.55; 18. Luis Correia (Yamaha) 1:01:31.00; 19. Oscar Balletti (Honda) 1:01:37.27; 20 Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) 1:02:07.20
Enduro 3 Class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 56:12.51; 2. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 56:56.80; 3. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 57:16.79; 4. Samuli Aro (KTM) 57:19.39; 5. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 57:38.50; 6. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 57:46.58; 7. Marko Tarkkala (BMW) 58:20.29; 8. Jordi Figueras (Gas Gas) 1:00:50.17; 9. Fernando Ferreira (Yamaha) 1:00:50.17; 10. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 1:01:52.67; 11. Adrian Garrido (Yamaha) 1:02:50.84; 12. Marc Risse (Gas Gas)1:03:36.91
Enduro Junior class
1. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 58:03.74; 2. Jeremy Joly (Honda) 58.20.68; 3. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 58:25.20; 4. Sebastien Bozzo (Husqvarna) 58:40.77; 5. Benoit Fortunato (Yamaha) 59:19.55; 6 Vanni Cominotto (KTM) 59:59.16; 7. Philip Mclaughlin (TM) 1:00:21.96; 8. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 1:00.51.43; 9. Calle Sjoo (Husaberg) 1:00:52.52; 10. Elie Vecchi (Gas Gas) 1:01:17.38; 11. Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) 1:01:27.03; 12. Michael Pogna (KTM) 1:01:37.19; 13. Jonathon Manzi (Husqvarna) 1:01:40.02; 14. Armand Hernandez Monleon (Gas Gas) 1:01:46.62; 15. Matthieu Gagnoud (Honda) 1:02:30.55; 16. Pierre Pallut (Husqvarna) 1:02:42.88; 17. Marc Sola (Gas Gas) 1:02:49.29; 18. Ashley Wood (Gas Gas) 1:03:04.73; 19. Guillem Pares Camps (Gas Gas) 1:03:24.48; 20. Milan Ensel (KTM) 1:03:46.16
