First day podium for Albergoni in wet Wales

Starting the second half of the 2008 World Enduro Championship in style Italian UFO Course Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni narrowly missed out on claiming the Enduro 1 class win on day one of the Grand Prix of Wales, claiming an eventual second place behind Yamaha France rider Marc Germain. With the opening day of the fifth round of the series the wettest of the calendar so far, it also proved to be one of the hardest, but despite the atrocious conditions the two Yamaha riders battled one another for the top spot on the podium finishing comfortably ahead of E1 class leader Mika Ahola in third. Due to incredibly difficult circumstances in Wales, being able to complete special tests without any mistakes was the key to good results but seemed impossible to do as over half the event's entry list failed to finish the opening day. Topping the opening two tests on day one it looked like the Germain was going to walk away with the E1 class win but Albergoni maintained pressure on his French rival to ensure the day's result wouldn't be decided until the very last special test. Despite both riders making errors during the outing neither was able to open up and maintain any real advantage with the ninth and final special test deciding the final result. With Albergoni managing to pull back Germain's near 30 second mid-day advantage the two riders were neck-and-neck going into the final test. With just two seconds separating them in Germain's favour the Yamaha France rider collected a well-deserved victory with Albergoni runner-up. Although there was drier weather on Day2 the demanding Welsh course and three challenging special tests ensured the second attempt was almost as difficult as day one. Returning to his best form after placing third on day one Finn Mika Ahola claimed victory followed by Spaniard Ivan Cervantes with Germain and Albergoni 3rd and 4th respectively. Winning three of the day's special tests Germain wasn't able to reproduce the form that had seen him top Day1, missing the second step of the podium by an agonising two seconds. For Albergoni Day2 started well as the Italian looked to be headed toward a repeat of his runner-up result. But a mistake within sight of the finish of the extreme test on lap three cost him close to 20 seconds, which ended his hopes of a podium and saw him place 4th. For UFO Course Yamaha team riders Cristobal Guerrero and Maurizio Micheluz the GP of Wales proved to be a challenging one. Competing with a badly inflamed right forearm Maurizio rode through the pain barrier to claim 8th on both days. Finding the slippery Welsh conditions difficult to master, Cristobal finished 7th on Day1 before improving to sixth on Day2. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 2nd, Day 2 4th: "Day one was really good for me. I had a great fight with Marc Germain, who is really good in slippery, wet and muddy conditions, so to finish second and less than five seconds behind him is not too bad. I made a mistake on the last extreme test on day two, which lost me about 20 seconds. I crashed, had to push the bike, and then fell again. I lost second or third position with that crash but more importantly championship points. It's been a real enduro - very hard but very good." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 7th, Day 2 6th: "It's been a tough race for me. It's hard to train in conditions like in Wales when you live in the south of Spain. But I tried to push as hard as I could and I had a pretty good race. The conditions on day one were really hard. With the mud and the rain I found it really hard. I was terrible in the extreme test, having to push my bike at times when I got stuck. It was just a very difficult day. Day two was better for me. I was much closer to the third and fourth place riders, which I was happy about." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 8th, Day 2 8th: "It's been an especially tough race for me because I have been suffering with my right wrist. It wasn't too much of a problem during the first lap on day one but then it started to become painful. I knew early on that it would be difficult to finish so I was just focused on trying to complete the race. I was eighth on both days but it was so difficult for me. I'm just pleased that I was able to finish." Race 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 54'25.300 2, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 0'4.340 3, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 0'33.690 4, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 0'40.350 4, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 0'40.350 5, Tom Sagar, KTM, GBR, 1'17.890 6, Bartosz Oblucki, Husqvarna, POL, 2'22.210 7, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 2'42.040 8, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 4'51.620 9, Graham Jarvis, Sherco, GBR, 7'9.310 10, Robert Jones, Yamaha, GBR, 9'30.860 11, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 11'13.410 12, Jordan Curvalle, Suzuki, FRA, 12'7.460 13, Andy Edwards, KTM, GBR, 14'47.090 14, Jakub Horak, KTM, CZE, 18'12.160 15, Richard Hay, KTM, GBR, 40'58.490 Race 2 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 49'55.000 2, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 0'21.650 3, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 0'23.290 4, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 0'40.710 5, Tom Sagar, KTM, GBR, 0'47.140 6, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 1'6.370 7, Bartosz Oblucki, Husqvarna, POL, 1'24.480 8, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 2'25.730 9, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 3'28.110 10, Jordan Curvalle, Suzuki, FRA, 3'32.110 11, Luca Cherubini, TM, ITA, 5'1.920 12, Danielle Tellini, Suzuki, ITA, 5'19.410 13, Andy Edwards, KTM, GBR, 7'3.830 14, Robert Jones, Yamaha, GBR, 7'22.680 15, Jakub Horak, KTM, CZE, 7'30.030 16, Gonzalo Reis, KTM, ITA, 8'53.540 17, Richard Hay, KTM, GBR, 10'43.200 Rider Standings 19/07/2008 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Ivan Cervantes, KTM, ESP, 234 2, Mika Ahola, Honda, FIN, 231 3, Simone Albergoni, Yamaha, ITA, 205 4, Marc Germain, Yamaha, FRA, 160 5, Cristobal Guerrero, Yamaha, ESP, 147 6, Maurizio Micheluz, Yamaha, ITA, 129 7, Eero Remes, KTM, FIN, 112 8, Jordan Curvalle, Suzuki, FRA, 106 9, Tom Sagar, KTM, GBR, 100 10, Mike Hartmann, KTM, GER, 97 11, Luca Cherubini, TM, ITA, 73 12, Bartosz Oblucki, Husqvarna, POL, 58 13, Daryl Bolter, Husqvarna, GBR, 58 14, Jakub Horak, KTM, CZE, 53 15, Gonzalo Reis, KTM, ITA, 47 Manufacturer Standings 19/07/2008 Pos., Manufacturer, Points 1, Honda, 231 2, KTM, 221 3, Yamaha, 212 4, Husqvarna, 116 5, Suzuki, 106 6, TM, 73 7, Kawasaki, 47 8, Sherco, 12 ---------- RACE REPORT - 21/07/2008 Excellent Day2 victory for Aubert UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert showed just how determined he is to claim the 2008 Enduro 2 world championship at the Grand Prix of Wales as the current E2 series leader finished on the podium on both days including a stunning 45-second victory over his title rival Juha Salminen on day two. With conditions on Day1 wetter than they have been at any round of the '08 WEC series so far this season Aubert topped the event's opening special test before recording the second fastest time on test two to lead the E2 class at the end of the first lap. But as conditions worsened Aubert was unable to hold his position at the front of the class and although placing no lower than sixth on any of the day's special tests, found himself behind rival Juha Salminen and wildcard rider David Knight come the end of the day. Winning the final test Aubert claimed an eventual 3rd place result having failed to gel with the slippery extreme test. With conditions a little drier on Day2 Aubert started as he intended to go on and comfortably topped the first motocross special test before then recording the fastest Enduro 2 times on the opening seven tests. Winning on the event's motocross test, the event's enduro test, and on the extreme test (that on day one he'd struggled to master) Aubert failed to win just one section and forged a 45-second winning margin ahead of Salminen with Knight third. He now leads the series by 17 points over Salminen. For Aubert's UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Fabrizio Dini the demanding Welsh conditions saw the Italian placing 10th on day one and 15th on day two. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 3rd, Day 2 1st: "After a difficult first day I'm really pleased to have won on day two. I felt good and everything went well. The first day was really tough for me though, but I couldn't work out why I was having problems. I just didn't have a good feeling. I used a rear mousse that was a little bit too hard on day one, which didn't work well. I changed it for the second day and it was much better. The special tests were also a lot drier on day two, which I liked. The Extreme test was where I struggled the most on day one. I didn't have a good feeling, I couldn't find good lines and I struggled. I pushed hard but all I did was tire myself out. I also found things tough in the enduro test. But day two was great. I hope I can carry my winning result into my home race next weekend." Fabrizio Dini (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 10th Day 2 15th: "This is my third year in the World Enduro Championship and the GP of Wales has been the hardest enduro race I've done. But it's been a good race. It was a real challenge on day one simply to remain on time and not collect any penalties, which I managed to do. In the enduro test I had a problem with my rear mousse because it came out and I had to push the bike to the finish. I changed it at the time control but I lost a lot of time in that special test. The second day was also tough but I didn't have any big problems. I enjoyed the race but it was very difficult." Race 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Juha Salminen, KTM, FIN, 52'30.260 3, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 2'8.480 4, Paul Edmondson, Honda, GBR, 3'15.320 5, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 3'21.650 6, Nicolas Paganon, Aprilia, FRA, 3'56.130 7, Jari Juha Mattila, Honda, FIN, 4'2.660 8, Simo Kirssi, BMW, FIN, 4'29.520 9, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 4'54.130 10, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 6'46.580 11, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 7'11.660 12, Nicolas Deparrois, GasGas, FRA, 7'16.410 13, Rudy Cotton, Beta, FRA, 8'22.100 14, Valtteri Salonen, HusaBerg, FIN, 8'54.210 15, Felipe Zanol, Yamaha, ESP, 14'30.110 16, Kevin Murray, Yamaha, GBR, 15'39.080 17, Justin Wilson, Yamaha, GBR, 20'33.720 18, Darren Wheeler, HusaBerg, GBR, 20'37.260 19, Chris Hockey, Honda, GBR, 21'23.320 20, Rich Warner, KTM, GBR, 29'46.000 Race 2 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 48'12.580 2, Juha Salminen, KTM, FIN, 0'45.310 3, David Knight, KTM, GBR, 1'29.370 4, Paul Edmondson, Honda, GBR, 3'26.700 5, Rodrig Thain, TM, FRA, 3'34.690 6, Jari Juha Mattila, Honda, FIN, 3'38.230 7, Nicolas Paganon, Aprilia, FRA, 3'38.730 8, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 3'45.430 9, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 3'57.180 10, Simo Kirssi, BMW, FIN, 4'19.290 11, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 4'48.880 12, Felipe Zanol, Yamaha, ESP, 5'51.860 13, Nicolas Deparrois, GasGas, FRA, 5'55.150 14, Rudy Cotton, Beta, FRA, 6'1.740 15, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 6'2.880 16, Fabio Mossini, Honda, ITA, 7'9.650 17, Hans Vogel, KTM, NED, 8'8.550 18, Chris Hockey, Honda, GBR, 8'17.670 19, Kevin Murray, Yamaha, GBR, 8'24.930 20, Aaron Bernandez, Husqvarna, ESP, 8'38.510 21, Mario Patrao, Suzuki, POR, 10'1.180 Rider Standings 19/07/2008 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Johnny Aubert, Yamaha, FRA, 228 2, Juha Salminen, KTM, FIN, 211 3, Joakim Ljunggren, HusaBerg, SWE, 155 4, Alessandro Belometti, KTM, ITA, 155 5, Rodrig Thain, TM, FRA, 126 6, Fabrizio Dini, Yamaha, ITA, 122 7, Antoine Meo, Husqvarna, FRA, 115 8, Valtteri Salonen, HusaBerg, FIN, 114 9, Simo Kirssi, BMW, FIN, 100 10, Nicolas Paganon, Aprilia, FRA, 91 11, Jari Juha Mattila, Honda, FIN, 88 12, Fabio Mossini, Honda, ITA, 82 13, Alessandro Zanni, Honda, ITA, 78 14, Nicolas Deparrois, GasGas, FRA, 75 15, Felipe Zanol, Yamaha, ESP, 38 Manufacturer Standings 19/07/2008 Pos., Manufacturer, Points 1, KTM, 231 2, Yamaha, 228 3, HusaBerg, 176 4, Honda, 142 5, Husqvarna, 140 6, TM, 126 7, BMW, 119 8, Aprilia, 91 9, GasGas, 75 10, Beta, 36 11, Suzuki, 26