The UFO Corse Yamaha team claimed their best results of the 2006 World Enduro Championship at round three of the series, the GP of Euskadi staged at Gernika, Spain, where team riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert claimed a day win each in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Having both performed well at the GP of Portugal, where they also claimed a day win each, it was Merriman who was first to top the E2 class podium in Gernika after a consistent and incident free performance on day one. On day two Aubert claimed the win and moved to the top of the 2006 Enduro 2 world championship standings. With conditions wet and slippery on day one Merriman claimed the E2 class win and 25 important world championship points largely due to making fewer mistakes than his rivals. Remaining upright on all tests Stefan finished 15 seconds ahead of team-mate Johnny Aubert to make it a Yamaha one-two. Finishing third was Finn Samuli Aro. On day two WEC debutant Aubert simply proved too fast for his Enduro 2 class rivals and placed 47 seconds ahead of Merriman who claimed the runner-up spot. Despite having reversed their finishing order from day one Aubert's and Merriman's performances again ensured that Yamaha claimed a decisive one-two result with Aubert also moving to the head of the E2 world championship standings. Placing third, as he did on day one, was Samuli Aro. Johnny Aubert Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 First: "I know that I am fast in muddy and rutted conditions but when I heard that the race was going to be difficult I thought that I would struggle, especially in the time checks. Finishing second on day one and winning day two is much better than I ever thought I could do. I am so happy to have won again, especially now that it puts me in the lead of the Enduro 2 world championship. I made one big mistake on the extreme test on day one, which cost me some time, but apart from that it went well. I did also make one mistake on one of the difficult up hills on the enduro test but I was pushing hard at the time so mistakes happen when you are riding hard. Despite my errors I wasn't so far behind Stefan so I knew that if I could ride well on day two I could win. Day two went really well for me. I felt good all the day, although a little tired at the end, and put in some really good test times. I didn't make any big mistakes, in fact my only mistake was hitting neutral once on the motocross test on lap two. I am really, really happy with the way the race has gone for me. Leading the world championship is fantastic." Stefan Merriman Enduro 2 class - Day 1: First, Day 2: Second: "It's been a good weekend for me finishing in first and second in the Enduro 2 class, which I'm pleased with. Obviously I would have liked to have won on both days but Johnny Aubert was really fast on day two. Mika Ahola was actually a little faster than me on day one but he made a big mistake on the enduro test, which lost him a lot of time. I rode consistent on day one and that really helped me. I didn't have any problems and things went really well. On day two I found things really hard. Not being the biggest of riders it takes every bit of my energy to hold on to the bike when I'm pushing hard, especially on a long enduro test like we had. The race was a little too hard, I think. All the riders were really tired at the end of the first day and then at the end of the second day they were absolutely exhausted. We were lucky with the weather really because if it had rained hard on either day then it would have been extremely difficult." Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS 39' 58.620 2 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +40' 13.180 3 S. Aro KTM FIN +40' 36.810 4 M. Ahola Honda FIN +41' 43.410 5 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +41 ' 43.410 6 F. Planet KTM FRA +41' 50.300 7 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +42' 15.530 8 X. Galindo KTM ESP +42' 23.910 9 A. Belotti KTM ITA +42' 34.130 10 A. Beconi Beta ITA +42' 53.710 11 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +42' 57.500 12 E. McConnell TM GBR +43' 19.960 13 C. Nambotin Husqvarna FRA +43' 25.640 14 E. Albepart Honda FRA +43' 39.360 15 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +43' 51.510 16 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +43' 58.500 17 J. Curvalle Kawasaki FRA +44' 30.900 18 E. Memmi Sherco FRA +45' 31.110 19 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +46' 23.360 20 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +46' 43.080 Race 2: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA 51' 41.940 2 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +52' 29.600 3 S. Aro KTM FIN +52' 55.990 4 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +53' 11.890 5 M. Ahola Honda FIN +53' 11.500 6 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +53' 50.290 7 X. Galindo KTM ESP +54' 50.570 8 A. Belotti KTM ITA +54' 27.520 9 C. Nambotin Husqvarna FRA +55' 21.260 10 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +55' 2.510 11 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +55' 21.260 12 E. McConnell TM GBR +55' 23.440 13 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +55' 31.660 14 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +56' 44.240 15 F. Planet KTM FRA +56' 52.920 16 F. Mancinelli Beta ITA +59' 52.920 17 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +59' 45.060 Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 130 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 128 3 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 123 4 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 122 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 83 6 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 81 7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 73 8 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 62 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 52 10 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 49 11 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 47 12 Euan McConnell TM GBR 44 13 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 43 14 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 41 15 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 31 16 Petteri Silvan KTM FIN 28 17 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 27 18 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 21 19 Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna FRA 20 20 Riku Rihelainen HusaBerg FIN 19 Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 140 2 KTM 128 3 Honda 122 4 GasGas 85 5 Beta 52 6 HusaBerg 49 7 TM 43 8 Aprilia 41 9 Husqvarna 39 10 Sherco 31 11 Suzuki 13 12 Kawasaki 10 Enduro 1 : Micheluz faces gruelling conditions succesfully Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Date: 14 May 2006 Crowd: 6000 Temp: 24ºC Weather: Sunny Just as at the second round of the 2006 World Enduro Championship the UFO Corse Yamaha team were without the services of Spaniard Arnau Vilanova for the GP of Euskadi, staged in Gernika, Spain, due to the team's number one Enduro 1 class rider being unable to compete through injury. In his absence Italian Maurizio Micheluz, who claimed his best ever world championship result at the GP of Portugal one week earlier, again performed well aboard his WR250 to finish in sixth on both days of competition. Hoping to improve on his fourth place finish on day two at the second round of the WEC series Micheluz rode consistently on day one in Spain despite the wet and extremely challenging conditions. Finishing close behind former 125cc World Enduro Champion Petri Pohjamo on day one, Maurizio was one of just 12 Enduro 1 class finishers on day two - an indication of just how tough the race was. Having placed in sixth on both days Maurizio is now placed in sixth in the Enduro 1 world championship standings just 12 points behind the fifth placed rider. Reigning Enduro 1 world champion Ivan Cervantes topped the E1 class on both days finishing ahead of team-mate Alessandro Belometti on day one and ahead of Italian Simone Albergoni on day two. Maurizio Micheluz Enduro 1 class - Day 1 sixth, Day 2 sixth: "It has been a good weekend for me really. It was an extremely hard race on both days, but a good one. I crashed several times on day one and lost a lot of time, which affected my result a little. I wasn't able to match the pace of the top three riders in the E1 class, so I know I have some work to do on my speed, but I was happy with my riding. I finished in sixth on both days, which I am happy with so it has been a good enough race for me." Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 I. Cervantes KTM ESP 40' 50.200 2 A. Belometti KTM ITA +41 ' 8.170 3 B. Oblucki Husqvarna POL +41' 9.540 4 S. Albergoni Honda ITA +41' 35.040 5 P. Pohjamo TM FIN +42' 44.750 6 M. Micheluz Yamaha ITA +43' 2.440 7 H. Rodrigues Yamaha POR +43' 36.600 8 N. Deparrois Husqvarna FRA +43' 41.860 9 P. Bergvall Suzuki SWE +44' 5.900 10 J. Gauthier Honda FRA +44' 16.400 11 M. Hartmann KTM GER +44' 47.850 12 J. Jou Yamaha ESP +46' 42.170 13 E. Gutkin TM FRA +47' 57.040
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