Albergoni takes third podium in a row

As with the opening two rounds of the '08 World Enduro Championship, Simone Albergoni recorded the UFO Corse Yamaha team's best results in the Enduro 1 class at the Grand Prix of Spain in Sitges. Narrowly missing out on a podium result on day one when he finished fourth, Albergoni placed a comfortable third on day two and now holds the same position in the E1 championship standings. Although unsatisfied with his performances on the opening day, Simone showed that he had the speed to run with his E1 class rivals and were it not for several costly mistakes he would have finished on the podium. Mixing good and average form during the special tests throughout the opening day, two crashes - one on the third motocross test and another on the final extreme test, prevented Simone challenging eventual day one winner Mika Ahola or runner-up Ivan Cervantes. Simone eventually finished fourth. Determined to make up for his opening day disappointment Simone started day two well before again swinging between up and down results on the tests. Not a fan of the extremely high-speed enduro test the Italian managed to win one of the day's specials before going on to place third. Despite his frustration at seeing several mistakes prevent him from recording better results on each day Simone now sits just 15 points behind E1 class leader Mika Ahola Finishing just two places behind Albergoni on Day1 and three positions behind on Day2 Cristobal Guerrero performed well at his home round of the '08 WEC series despite still not being 100 per cent fit following his early season shoulder injury. Sixth on day one, Cristobal frustratingly missed a fifth place result by less than one second. Performing consistently throughout the duration he was then slightly off the pace in the final extreme test and this prevented the former Enduro Junior world champion from placing higher than sixth. On day two Cristobal again was sixth - a result that would have been better were it not for a costly mistake in the final extreme test. UFO Corse Yamaha rider Maurizio Micheluz was seventh on both days and was another rider who saw his results spoiled by a mistake on the extreme test. On day two he was holding fifth for most of the time before dropping to seventh following a last lap crash. Round four of eight takes place on June 15th in Poland. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 4th, Day 2: 3rd "I made a lot of mistakes this weekend. I would have one good test and then one bad test, all the way through the event. I didn't like the enduro test - I think it was too fast and not technical enough for a world championship special. On day one I crashed on the last extreme test, but also on the third motocross test. I'm not really happy with my results. I know I have good speed but it wasn't my weekend. I hope I can improve things at the next GP in Poland." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 6th, Day 2: 6th "It's not been a really good race for me, but also not a really bad one. Sixth on both days is ok, but I was less than one second from fifth on day one and not so far from fifth on day two. I had some good special tests but also some that were not so good. I hope that with some more training I can be faster in Poland." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 7th, Day 2: 7th "It's been an unbelievably dusty GP, but it has been quite good for me. It wasn't as hard as many riders thought it might be, but it was incredibly dusty, especially on the motocross test. I finished in seventh on both days, which isn't too bad, but I was fighting for fifth position all day on Day2. I made a big mistake on the first extreme test, which stopped me finishing higher than seventh. It is really close between a group of about four riders in the E1 class, without my mistakes I could have got a better result." Race 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 44'47.430 2, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 0'5.650 3, Eero Remes, KTM, FIN, 0'44.050 4, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 0'53.130 5, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 1'18.050 6, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 1'18.130 7, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 2'1.590 8, Daryl Bolter, Husqvarna, GBR, 2'45.390 9, Tom Sagar, KTM, GBR, 2'48.170 10, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 3'0.340 Race 2 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 39'25.570 2, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 0'0.620 3, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 0'25.310 4, Eero Remes, KTM, FIN, 0'53.100 5, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 1'9.630 6, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 1'23.180 7, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 1'24.900 8, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 2'17.640 9, Luca Cherubini, TM, ITA, 2'27.290 10, Daryl Bolter, Husqvarna, GBR, 2'37.720 Rider Standings 05/04/2008 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 142 2, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 127 3, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 126 4, Eero Remes, KTM, FIN, 112 5, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 84 6, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 80 7, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 72 8, Tom Sagar, KTM, GBR, 41 9, Daryl Bolter, Husqvarna, GBR, 36 10, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 35 11, Bartosz Oblucki, Husqvarna, POL, 29 12, Niklas Gustafsson, Honda, SWE, 28 13, Jordan Curvalle, Suzuki, FRA, 24 14, Luca Cherubini, TM, ITA, 24 15, Paulo Felicia, Kawasaki, POR, 14 Manufacturer Standings 05/04/2008 Pos., Manufacturer, Points 1, Honda, 142 2, KTM, 131 3, Yamaha, 127 4, Husqvarna, 65 5, TM, 24 6, Suzuki, 24 7, Kawasaki, 14 ---------- RACE REPORT - 07/04/2008 Aubert aces Spain with double victory UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert's hopes of winning the 2008 Enduro 2 world championship title took a very sizeable step in the right direction at the Grand Prix of Spain, staged in Sitges, as the Frenchman claimed a convincing double E2 class win. Riding almost faultlessly in the dry and dusty Spanish conditions, Aubert saw bad luck strike his closest championship rival Juha Salminen on Day1 as the multi-world champion failed to finish. Winning Day1 comfortably before going on to beat Salminen by almost 16 seconds on Day2 Aubert now sits 25 points clear at the top of the Enduro 2 championship standings. As expected Aubert and Salminen quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the Enduro 2 class riders on Day1, with Aubert not quite able to match the pace of his Finnish rival. With little to separate the battling duo on any of the first day's special tests, Johnny took the lead as the day neared a conclusion to claim a sizeable eventual winning margin over countryman Antoine Meo and Italian Alessandro Belometti. Despite winning four of the day's special tests Aubert, by his own admission, wasn't expecting to claim the day win but following Salminen's retirement saw his hard work rewarded with a perfect result. The Enduro 2 class was again dominated by Aubert and Salminen on Day2 as they broke free from the pack by over a minute. However unlike on Day1 where Aubert had been unable to match Salminen's blistering pace, on Day2 it was the Yamaha rider who was the man to beat as he won three of the opening four special tests to open up a lead that wouldn't be caught. Never placing lower than second in the class throughout the whole day Johnny claimed a deserved E2 class win finishing 16 seconds up on Salminen and in doing so separating himself from Salminen in the E2 championship standings by some 25 points. The GP of Spain was also a good one for Aubert's UFO Corse Yamaha team mate Fabrizio Dini. Sixth on Day1, but only five seconds behind the fifth-placed rider, on Day2 Fabrizio moved into the fifth place position and were it not for a couple of costly crashes would have grabbed fourth. Nevertheless Dini claimed two solid results and now sits seventh in the E2 world championship standings. Round four of eight will occur in Poland on June 15th. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: 1st, Day 2: 1st "It's been a great weekend for me. On day one Juha was riding really well and if he hadn't had the problem with his bike I think he would have won and I would have been second. But I had some luck and Juha didn't finish the race. It's not a nice way to win but that's the way it can go sometimes. I'm so happy to have won on day two - in the right way! On the first lap I rode really well on the enduro and motocross tests and was about eight or nine seconds ahead of Juha. I kept pushing and slowly managed to open up a 16 second advantage coming into the final extreme test. I knew then that it was my day. Things are good for me at the moment but I'm not thinking about the championship. I know Juha won't give up." Fabrizio Dini (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: 6th, Day 2: 5th "I crashed a lot on day one but I still finished sixth. I felt good most of the day and I'm quite happy with my result. Day two started badly for me. I crashed in the first motocross test and made a mistake on the logs on the extreme test but after that I rode well. I finished fifth but I was only a few seconds behind the fourth place rider. I'm pleased with my results." Race 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 44'35.970 2, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 1'21.250 3, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 1'24.360 4, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 1'44.930 5, Valtteri Salonen, HusaBerg, FIN, 2'2.410 6, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 2'7.630 7, Alessandro Zanni, Honda, ITA, 2'8.590 8, Simo Kirssi, BMW, FIN, 2'12.800 9, Rodrig Thain, TM, FRA, 2'19.750 10, Fabio Mossini, Honda, ITA, 2'52.210 Race 2 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 38'36.740 2, Juha Salminen, KTM, FIN, 0'15.760 3, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 1'21.890 4, Rodrig Thain, TM, FRA, 2'10.010 5, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 2'13.010 6, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 2'13.790 7, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 2'16.770 8, Valtteri Salonen, HusaBerg, FIN, 2'21.610 9, Fabio Mossini, Honda, ITA, 2'35.930 10, Alessandro Zanni, Honda, ITA, 2'40.280 Rider Standings 05/04/2008 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 139 2, Juha Salminen, KTM, FIN, 114 3, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 99 4, Valtteri Salonen, HusaBerg, FIN, 85 5, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 81 6, Rodrig Thain, TM, FRA, 81 7, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 73 8, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 72 9, Fabio Mossini, Honda, ITA, 51 10, Jari Juha Mattila, Honda, FIN, 41 11, Simo Kirssi, BMW, FIN, 40 12, Alessandro Zanni, Honda, ITA, 36 13, Nicolas Paganon, Aprilia, FRA, 31 14, Fritz Andersson, KTM, SWE, 24 15, Andrea Belotti, KTM, ITA, 18 Manufacturer Standings 05/04/2008 Pos., Manufacturer, Points 1, Yamaha, 139 2, KTM, 134 3, HusaBerg, 119 4, Honda, 82 5, TM, 81 6, Husqvarna, 73 7, BMW, 40 8, Aprilia, 31 9, GasGas, 11