Tough weekend for Aubert

Coming into the fourth round of the '06 World Enduro Championship leading the highly competitive Enduro 2 class French UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert started the GP Valli Bergamasche suffering with Influenza. Disappointingly for Aubert things were to get worse rather than better as a crash in the closing stages of day one resulted in him failing to start day two. Unable to perform at his best due to feeling far from 100 per cent Aubert still managed to push reigning Enduro 2 world champion Samuli Aro hard for much of the day one but crashed heavily on the last special test of the day, which dropped him to third. Managing to fit new tyres to his Yamaha in readiness for day two Aubert was advised my event medical staff to go to hospital prior to the start of the second day as he was suffering with pain in his chest, which was feared might be blood clot. Aubert's pain was diagnosed as being a broken rib but having travelled to hospital he was unable to start day two. With Aubert placing in third on day one his UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Stefan Merriman claimed the runner-up spot with Finn Samuli Aro topping the class. On day two Aro again claimed the E2 class win with Merriman second and Finn Mika Ahola third. By placing in second on both days in Italy Merriman, who scored poorly at the first round of the series in Sweden, lifted himself to the runner-up spot in the E2 championship standings, just 11 points behind class leader Samuli Aro. Despite being unable to match the pace of Aro, Merriman performed consistently on both days having not wanted to take any risks in the dry and rocky conditions. With four rounds of the WEC series remaining Stefan is now looking forward to the first ever WEC events to take place outside of Europe when the world champion ship travels to Canada and the States for rounds five and six. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: third, Day 2: DNS "Day one was going really well for me but it was hard for me because I was suffering with Influenza before the race. I pushed as hard as I could but I wasn't going to beat Samuli. I think that second should have been my place on day one. But I crashed really hard on the last lap and dropped to third, which was disappointing. It was still a good result though but I could have been second. When I crashed I hurt my ribs so I went to the doctor before the start of day two. I wasn't in so much pain but I was blue and there was one place that hurt a lot. They told me to go to the hospital to get checked out properly, which I did, because they were afraid that I might be a blood clot. Thankfully I wasn't but I had broken some ribs. Because I went to the hospital I was not able to make the start of day two." Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: second, Day 2: second "If my team-mate Johnny Aubert hadn't of crashed on day one then I would have been third, so I guess his mistake was good for me and bad for him. Both Samuli Aro and Johnny were really fast on day one but I was happy to have finished in second. It was too easy to get injured here or to DNF because there were so many rocks. I wasn't prepared to take any risks.I made a few mistakes on both days but I didn't have any really big crashes. It would have been nice to have won but finishing second on both days is good for my championship. It was an extremely difficult race and it's frustrating that the organisers only made changes to the race during the race because it was clear that four laps on both days was going to be too difficult before the start of the event." Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy Circuit: Valli Bergamasche Race 1: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Aro KTM  FIN  83' 3.690  2   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +1' 46.720  3   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  +1' 55.720  4   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +2' 13.980  5   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +3' 48.200  6   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +3' 57.970  7   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +4' 0.090  8   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +4' 8.010  9   P. Edmondson Honda  GBR  +4' 54.290  10   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +4' 58.770  11   K. Caselli KTM  USA  +5' 30.780  12   A. Beconi Beta  ITA  +5' 32.860  13   S. Tonelli Honda  ITA  +5' 34.050  14   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +5' 40.450  15   A. Toresson Suzuki  SWE  +6' 38.020  16   E. Albepart Honda  FRA  +6' 38.050  17   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +7' 1.950  18   J. Curvalle Kawasaki  FRA  +7' 12.230  19   G. Canova Husqvarna  ITA  +8' 21.350  20   J. Simoncini Suzuki  ITA  +9' 11.400  Race 2: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Aro KTM  FIN  85' 44.810  2   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +24.010  3   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +1' 42.480  4   A. Belotti KTM  ITA  +2' 9.930  5   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +2' 12.030  6   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +2' 51.210  7   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +2' 57.570  8   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +3' 11.140  9   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +3' 15.080  10   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +4' 5.860  11   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +4' 15.290  12   K. Caselli KTM  USA  +4' 38.410  13   S. Tonelli Honda  ITA  +5' 7.390  14   E. Albepart Honda  FRA  +5' 25.050  15   A. Beconi Beta  ITA  +5' 56.630  16   A. Toresson Suzuki  SWE  +6' 58.340  17   G. Canova Husqvarna  ITA  +7' 1.240  18   G. Falgari Kawasaki  ITA  +7' 28.290  19   J. Simoncini Suzuki  ITA  +8' 6.920  20   F. Mancinelli Beta  ITA  +10' 52.500  Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Samuli Aro KTM  FIN 178  2   Stefan Merriman Yamaha  AUS 167  3   Mika Ahola Honda  FIN 160  4   Johnny Aubert Yamaha  FRA 150  5   Cristobal Guerrero GasGas  ESP 109  6   Fabien Planet KTM  FRA 108  7   Xavier Galindo KTM  ESP 104  8   Paul Edmondson Honda  GBR 74  9   Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg  FIN 73  10   Alessandro Botturi Aprilia  ITA 72  11   Fabrizio Dini Yamaha  ITA 70  12   Andrea Beconi Beta  ITA 62  13   Andrea Belotti KTM  ITA 61  14   Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna  FRA 45  15   Euan McConnell TM  GBR 44  16   Emmanuel Albepart Honda  FRA 39  17   Petteri Silvan KTM  FIN 28  18   Thierry Klutz Sherco  BEL 21  19   Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna  FRA 20  20   Kurt Caselli KTM  USA 19  Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 184  2  KTM 178  3  Honda 160  4  GasGas 113  5  HusaBerg 73  6  Aprilia 72  7  Beta 67  8  Husqvarna 53  9  TM 43  10  Sherco 31  11  Suzuki 24  12  Kawasaki 16  Enduro 1 : Micheluz produces his best ever result & Vilanova back in Championship Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy Circuit: Valli Bergamasche Date: 18 June 2006 Crowd: 28500 Temp: 28ºC Weather: Sunny Italian UFO Corse Yamaha rider Maurizio Micheluz produced his best ever World Enduro Championship result at the 40th GP Valli Bergamasche finishing in third place in the Enduro 1 class on day one. Having performed consistently in the first three rounds of the '06 WEC series Maurizio claimed his first ever world championship podium aboard his WR250F placing behind reigning E1 world champion Ivan Cervantes and countryman Simone Albergoni. Winning the first test of day one in the E1 class, and then going on to perform well throughout the day, Maurizio again rode well on day two to finish fourth. Despite not managing to place on the podium for a second time Maurizio's results lifted him to fourth in the Enduro 1 world championship standings where he lies just nine points adrift of third. The fourth round of the '06 World Enduro Championship saw Spaniard Arnau Vilanova make his debut ride for the UFO Corse Yamaha team having been forced to sit out the first three rounds of the WEC series due to injury. Disappointingly for Arnau a lack of race pace and fitness resulted in him placing in 11th on day one. With day one having taken its toll on Arnau he opted not to start day two. Claiming a double class win in Italy was reigning Enduro 1 world champion Ivan Cervantes. With his team-mate Alessandro Belometti having set the pace for much of day one Ivan inherited the lead when Belometti bent his rear sprocket and dropped seven minutes. Joining Cervantes on the podium on day one were Simone Albergoni and Maurizio Micheluz while on day two it was Belometti and Albergoni who stood either side of Cervantes on the rostrum. Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: third, Day 2: fourth "I am really happy with my weekend because I finished in a good position on both days. I am really happy with my result from day one because I claimed my first ever world championship podium. Finishing on the podium for the first time at my home GP is great. It was a really difficult race though, especially because of the heat and the dust. It was really physical on both days. Although it was a difficult race we have to remember that this is enduro. But I hope that the races don't get any harder than this." Arnau Vilanova (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 11th, Day 2: DNS "It was a really difficult race to start my '06 world championship. Since I injured my foot I have been training at home but that is very different to racing at world championship level. I struggled a little bit but I didn't make any big mistakes. I need to work on my speed because the other riders have been racing all season."    Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy Circuit: Valli Bergamasche Race 1: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  84' 21.040  2   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  +6.790  3   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +1' 51.530  4   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +2' 17.810  5   R. Bazzurri Husqvarna  ITA  +2' 29.000  6   F. Blanc KTM  FRA  +4' 8.760  7   N. Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA  +4' 56.750  8   H. Rodrigues Yamaha  POR  +5' 9.630  9   J. Gauthier Honda  FRA  +5' 49.710  10   M. Pievani KTM  ITA  +6' 15.740  11   A. Vilanova Yamaha  ESP  +7' 6.700  12   F. Georgsson KTM  SWE  +9' 5.270  13   N. Nicoli KTM  ITA  +9' 44.670  14   N. Joye KTM  CHE  +11' 0.710  15   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +21' 21.230  Race 2: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  85' 0.410  2   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +40.500  3   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  +1' 31.020  4   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +3' 21.490  5   R. Bazzurri Husqvarna  ITA  +4' 46.090  6   H. Rodrigues Yamaha  POR  +5' 12.850  7   M. Hartmann KTM  GER  +5' 35.200  8   M. Pievani KTM  ITA  +6' 30.140  9   N. Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA  +6' 44.330  10   F. Scovolo Suzuki  ITA  +7' 46.440  11   F. Blanc KTM  FRA  +9' 54.470  12   F. Georgsson KTM  SWE  +11' 1.650  13   N. Nicoli KTM  ITA  +11' 27.800  14   N. Joye KTM  CHE  +14 ' 25.940  15   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +20' 47.250  Championship standings Enduro 1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Ivan Cervantes KTM  ESP 194  2   Simone Albergoni Honda  ITA 165  3   Alessandro Belometti KTM  ITA 138  4   Mauricio Micheluz Yamaha  ITA 129  5   Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna  POL 127  6   Petri Pohjamo TM  FIN 105  7   Helder Rodrigues Yamaha  POR 97  8   Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA 75  9   Freddy Blanc KTM  FRA 74  10   Mike Hartmann KTM  GER 70  11   Peter Bergvall Suzuki  SWE 52  12   Julien Gauthier Honda  FRA 43  13   Frederik Georgsson KTM  SWE 41  14   Roberto Bazzurri Husqvarna  ITA 32  15   Joan Jou Yamaha  ESP 27  16   Robert Carlsson Yamaha  SWE 26  17   Manuel Pievani KTM  ITA 24  18   Andre Raphael Kawasaki  FRA 24  19   Pär Olsson Yamaha  SWE 19  20   Evrard Gutkin TM  FRA 18  26   Fernando Ferreira Yamaha  POR 13  27   Alexandre Mendes Yamaha  FRA 12  30   Arnau Vilanova Yamaha  ESP 10  32   Andre Fernandez Yamaha  POR 6  34   Santos Helio Yamaha  ESP 4  Manufacturers standings Enduro 1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 194  2  Honda 165  3  Husqvarna 137  4  Yamaha 134  5  TM 105  6  Suzuki 77  7  Kawasaki 24