Albergoni claims second successive double podium result

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni claimed his second successive double podium result at a round of the '07 World Enduro Championship when the Italian claimed a runner-up and third place finish in the Enduro 1 class at the GP of USA, round five of the WEC series. Having stood on the podium twice at his home round of the championship in Italy Simone came agonisingly close to collecting his first win of the season on day one in Hancock when he placed just four seconds behind current Enduro 1 class leader Juha Salminen from Finland. With Albergoni finishing in second and third over the two days his Spanish team-mate Cristobal Guerrero didn't fair quite as well and placed in sixth and fifth while Yamaha France rider Marc Germain claimed fourth on day one and a well deserved second position on day two.   The opening day of the GP of USA was one of, if not the, toughest day of the '07 WEC series held so far this season. With each of the event's three special tests run within the same time check all riders were given just four five-to-ten minute breaks during the gruelling seven hours of riding. With heavy rain prior to the event leaving many sections of the course and special tests extremely wet the rocky terrain ensured a physically demanding event.

Despite the challenging conditions UFO Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni rose to the occasion and pushed six-time enduro world champion Juha Salminen harder than any rider has this season. Despite a steady start Albergoni upped his pace as the day progressed and in winning four of the six special tests came within four seconds of being the first rider to beat Salminen this season. Making few mistakes all day Albergoni finished comfortably ahead of third place rider Bartosz Oblucki from Poland.

Narrowly missing out on a podium result Yamaha France rider Marc Germain placed fourth on day one, just over five seconds behind Oblucki. A rider that normally excels in slippery, grassy conditions Germain showed that despite the severity of the Hancock special tests he was 100 per cent focused on a podium result. Two places behind Germain in sixth Cristobal Guerrero saw his day spoiled by two costly mistakes in the rock littered extreme test.

Showing that his day one result was no fluke Yamaha France rider Marc Germain again rode well on day two and thanks in part to mistakes from some of his closest rivals claimed the runner-up spot behind Salminen. For UFO Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero day two brought with it more disappointing luck as the young Spaniard, like Albergoni, derailed his chain on the final extreme test, costing him considerable time and dropping him to fifth. Claiming sixth on day two having finished in seventh on day one was the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz.    Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 Third: "Day one was really good for me. Finishing second and really close to Salminen is my best result of the season so far - it's always good to finish so close to the rider leading the championship. I felt pretty good all day although the conditions were really difficult. The second day wasn't so good. I made some mistakes and on the third lap my chain came off on the extreme test, which cost me some time. Finally I finished third because Oblucki and Guerrero had some problems, so things ended pretty good for me with two podium results." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fifth: "I crashed twice on the extreme test on day one and only put in one good time on that test so it meant that I was pushing hard all day to make up for those mistakes. I ended up finishing in sixth, which wasn't so bad but not as good as I could have finished. The second day wasn't so good for me. It was possible to finish second but my chain came off on the last extreme test, which cost me a lot of time and ended my chances of second. I finished in fifth. All day things went well but then right at the end of the day it went bad. I guess that can happen some times."   Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny     2007 Enduro 1 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 47'30.200 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'4.140 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'38.640 4 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'44.000 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'49.660 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'52.040 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'32.590 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'53.400 9 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 8'15.180 10 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 10'8.880 11 Steve Leivan Yamaha USA 15'2.330

Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 48'14.070 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 1'26.320 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 1'47.240 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 1'53.350 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 1'56.930 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 2'24.680 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'30.270 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 4'35.080 9 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 9'42.090 10 Kyle Nelson Honda USA 15'44.930

Rider Standings 21/07/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 250 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 182 3. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 175 4. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 170 5. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 167 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 163 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 128 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 117 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 79 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 51 13. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 14. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 15. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40

Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 250 2. Yamaha 204 3. Husqvarna 163 4. Honda 109 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48

RACE REPORT 23/07/2007 Aubert holds on third position in championship despite crash in USA  

Hoping to make up for the disappointment of scoring no points on the second day of the fourth round of the '07 WEC series UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert saw his chances of a podium finish on day one of the GP of USA ended when he crashed on the event's enduro test, squashing his right middle finger between his handlebars and one of the many rocks that littered the test. Losing two-and-a-half minutes due to his fall and injured finger Johnny continued but due to the time he'd lost was only able to place sixth - a good result considering the immediate and extensive swelling to his finger. Narrowly missing out on placing fifth, were it not for his crash Aubert would likely have placed as runner-up.

On day two Aubert tried his best to match the pace of battling Finns Mika Ahola, who topped day one, and reigning class champion Samuli Aro. With the two setting a blistering pace Aubert opted to settle for third mid way through the day yet still placed comfortably ahead of fourth place finisher Valtteri Salonen.    Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Third: "I crashed in the enduro test and squashed one of my fingers on my right hand between the handlebar and a rock, which was really painful and made things difficult for me on day one. I lost two and a half minutes in that one test, so that wasn't good at all. I still managed to finish in sixth, which considering how painful my finger was wasn't too bad. I really wanted to push as hard as I could on the second day, to try and make up for my disappointments on day one. But Ahola and Aro were too fast so there was no way I could win. Half way through the day I decided not to push too hard and to settle for third. I tried to push for a good result but things didn't quite go as well as I hoped they would this weekend."   Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny     2007 Enduro 2 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 46'4.960 2 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'31.560 3 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'32.630 4 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'42.020 5 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'20.230 6 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 3'25.170 7 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 3'29.750 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'30.150 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'56.610 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 3'57.700 11 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 3'59.110 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 5'46.510 13 Aaron Kopp Christini USA 9'38.080

Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 47'4.870 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'3.450 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'19.310 4 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'40.620 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'42.540 6 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 2'49.660 7 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'30.690 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'40.820 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'58.600 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'1.580 11 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 4'33.180 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 4'56.830 13 Justin Tucker Yamaha USA 15'33.540 14 Ryan Brown GasGas USA 23'50.040 15 Dan MC Caslin KTM USA 35'42.460

Rider Standings 21/07/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 233 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 207 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 187 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 162 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 158 6. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 114 7. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 108 8. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 105 9. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 10. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 101 11. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 12. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 71 13. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 59 14. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 15. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51

Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 233 2. KTM 211 3. Yamaha 199 4. Aprilia 166 5. Husqvarna 115 6. HusaBerg 114 7. Beta 102 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 60 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9 14. Christini 8