06/18/2002

World Enduro Championships Rd5 -Mikkeli FINLAND

The Finnish round of the World Enduro Championships is renown for it's difficult forest trails and boggy special tests, however this wasn't the case this year. Held in Mikkeli, Finland the round was not as challenging as expected. Riders were to complete 2 loops of 117km course and 3 specials tests. Many of the riders complained that they were not able to warm themselves up before the special tests as the interconnecting trail was mostly on the road!!

The special tests were quite odd too - two were set in sand quarrys, with half the test run through rough gravel. Over both days the sun shone and it was warm and dusty. In the hotly-contested 400cc 4 stroke class, Merriman dropped back to second position in the world championship classification as he had a bad crash in the dangerously fast enduro test. The enduro test, which was set on the town's bicycle trails, was ridden at an average speed of up to 63kmph.

Despite being in excess of the allowed speed for enduro test, it was still raced. Many riders crashed including Merriman, who badly injured his knee turning off a fast straight into a corner. The strong Australian rider continued to ride but was unable to race at his usual pace. Merriman has secured second position in the 400 class and will race next weekend in Sweden.