04/08/2002

Italian Enduro Championships Round 2- Pievebovigliana MACERATA

The second round of the Italian Enduro Championships was held in Pievebovigliana, near Macerata. After very cold weather and patchy rain the skies were clear both days of racing. There were three motocross tests on one on a steep grassy paddock and two on rocky, hard ground. The latter two tests were up on a plateau of a mountain, over 900m which had snow only days before the race. The tests were all quite short, less than 4 minutes long. Husqvarna triumphed on the first day, with current World Champion, Stefan Merriman winning the scratch on the TE400. He was a little concerned before the race as his thumb which he injured in Portugal had caused him some pain. Second was Czech rider, Roman Michalik. He was less than one second from Stefan for three tests, which provided a little nail-biting action, until his crashed in the second to last test and Stefan took a 10 second lead. Here are the overall results for day 1... (note.... the time is the combined time of all nine special tests, and the points is the allocated points for the race)

1.Stefan Merriman (HUSQUARNA) 29.00.15 25pts

2.Roman Michalik (VOR) 29.10.82 20

3.Mika Ahola (VOR) 29.18.99 16

4.Samuli Aro (HUSQUARNA) 29.22.56 13

5.Jarno Boarno (HONDA) 29.28.76 11

6.Rickard Larsson (TM) 29.30.59 10

7.Alex Zanni (HONDA) 29.34.02 9

8.Roberto Bazzuri (HUSQVARNA) 29.38.66 8

9.Simone Girolami (HONDA) 29.39.37 7

10.Stefano Passeri(YAMAHA) 29.40.08 6

The second day was a little more difficult for the riders of Husqvarna. Husqvarna's Samuli Aro took the lead early on battling with teammate Merriman. Merriman crashed in the second test and dropped back to tenth. A brilliant time in the third test saw Merriman move back up to third position and by the final test it was a battle between the two Husqvarna riders, Aro and Merriman and Finnish rider, Mika Ahola separated by less than 5 seconds. Aro and Merriman both were unlucky and crashed in the final test, allowing Ahola to slip through and take first place. The final results were…

1.Mika Ahola (VOR) 19.31 98 25

2.Samuli Aro (HUSQUARNA) 19.33.86 20

3.Simon Wiik (TM) 19.37.60 16

4.Roberto Bazzuri (HUSQVARNA) 19.38.01 13

5.Peter Bergvall (YAMAHA) 19.38.48 11

6.Mats Andreasson (YAMAHA) 19.38.48 10

7.Rickard Larsson (TM) 19.39.74 9

8.Stefano Passeri(YAMAHA) 19.40.63 8

9.Giovanni Sala (KTM) 19.40.91 7

10.Stefan Merriman (HUSQUARNA)19.41.87 6

The current point Standings in the Italian Enduro Championshipsis Aro 73, Ahola 72, Merriman 60, Bazzuri 45, Larsson 43, Wiik 39, Bergvall 38, Andreasson 29.