05/13/2002

HUSQVARNA'S TE 400 DOMINATES
WORLD ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP IN FRANCE

For most people, enduro races in France conjure up images of lush, grassy, cross tests - every riders dream. The fourth round of the World Enduro Championships held in Gelles, France was a deviation from the usual. There was one cross test with sections of grass, but also difficult rocky trial sections. The other cross test and the enduro test were tracks cut in the forest, littered with cut grass, roots and stumps hidden by fallen leaves.

All this amounted to a hard and difficult race. The field of 200 riders started from the paddock at 9am on a freezing cold and wet Saturday morning. During both days, they completed three loops of the slippery and muddy 219km course. The fastest bike of the weekend was the Husqvarna TE400 with current World Champion, Stefan Merriman behind the wheel. Merriman started the first day brilliantly, taking a 13 second lead from his rival Juha Salminen in the first test.

The conditions were hard, and became more difficult as the track wore in. Merriman lead the race for the entire day, despite a couple of small crashes. The second day was a much closer margin, but Merriman again finished winner of the 400cc class and leader of the overall classification.