Cervantes wins Round Four of E1 World Championship
KTM Enduro Factory Team rider Ivan Cervantes put in a great performance in Round Four of the E1 World Championship in Vale de Cambra, Portugal for his first victory of the season.
Cervantes who won the E3 title in 2007 was third in Saturday's race, fought on and off torrential rain and mud to triumph in the second race at the venue on Sunday. "I really had to push hard but I managed to do that, and it worked for me," Ivan said. "The weather was changing all the time and in the morning the rain was incredible. It was very hard and muddy in the special tests and there was often only one line."
Tom Sagar, the young Briton who came up from the junior ranks last season to join the KTM Factory Team was a very creditable fifth in what was a tough weekend's racing where the riders covered a complex 60 km circuit three times.
With his victory on Sunday, Cervantes fulfilled the wishes of team boss Fabio Farioli who said after Saturday that he expected the Spanish rider to "push hard" on Sunday. Riders now go to Spain for the two rounds in what will be familiar territory for Cervantes. "It's a good atmosphere and there will be a lot of fans at the races," he said.
Results Round Three
1. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
2. Simone Albergoni, Italy, Yamaha
3. Mika Ahola, Finland, Hondo
4. Eero Remes, Finland, KTM
5. Tom Sagar, Britain, KTM
Salminen tops podium in Round Four of Enduro E2 World Championships
In a tough day of racing, KTM Enduro factory rider Juha Salminen improved on Saturday's second place when he topped the podium in Vale de Cambra in Portugal on Sunday in Round Four of the E2 World Championships.
Salminen, the runaway winner in the E1 class last season has been on the E2 podium in all four events so far this season. He scored a first and a third in Sweden in the snow in February and his good results in Portugal lay the foundation for his second successful season after returning from USA at the end of 2006.
"Today was hard racing and very tricky especially for the first guys out on the course. It was wet and there was a lot of mud." Salminen said he is looking forward to the next two rounds in Spain, territory that is very familiar to him because he trains a lot there in the winter months.
Salminen's factory rider teammate Alessandro Belometti of Italy finished fourth, a repeat of his finish on Saturday. He adds this new 36 world championship points to the 28 he already has collected to stay well up with the elite group in the class going into the Spain races.
Results Round 3
1. Juha Salminen, Finland, KTM
2. Jonny Aubert, France, Yamaha
3. Valtteri Salonen, Finland Husaberg
4. Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM
5. Nicolas Paganon, France, Aprilia
Aro second in Round Four of E3 World Championships
Samuli Aro continued his run of success in the E3 big bike category in the Enduro World Championship series on Sunday with a second place to follow on from his victory in Portugal the previous day.
Aro and KTM Enduro Factory Team teammate Marko Tarkkala, both from Finland, have had a stranglehold on the four races so far held this season in what is a hotly contested racing category. Although all was not pain sailing for Tarkkala in the second race in Vale de Cambra, Portugal, south of the city of Porto, he still managed to finish fifth for valuable world championship points. KTM supported rider Marcus Kehr of Germany had a good day on his KTM and finished third on the podium.
Riders had a very tough day in the mud and what was often torrential rain but team boss Fabio Farioli still drew a positive line under the factory team's results for the weekend. The 60 km course, which riders had to circle three times, offered very big challenges and levels of difficulty even for these extreme and highly skilled professionals. The Enduro competition now departs for the second two races on the Iberian Peninsular in Spain. The area is familiar to the KTM riders, many of whom train there during the off-season.
Results Round Three E 3
1. Christophe Nambotin, France, Gas-Gas
2. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM
3. Markus Kehr, Germany, KTM
4. Stefan Merriman, New Zealand, Aprilia
5. Marko Tarkkala, Finland, KTM
Rattray and Goncalves on podium at Emmen
In another signal about the strength of the KTM MX2 Factory Team, Tyla Rattray and Rui Goncalves occupied first and second place on the podium at the pre-season International Motocross event at Emmen, The Netherlands on Sunday.
Rattray was in a form that drew praise from team boss Stefan Everts who said he was "in a class on his own" while Goncalves underlined that his training on good starts was beginning to pay off. He took the holeshot in both races.
But in the heat of the battle Rattray did have a minor crash in the first race. In pursuit of teammate Rui in the early stages of the race he took a different line then slipped off the foot peg and came unstuck on one of the tabletops. The South African made up for the error by winning the second race to finish overall second for the day. He now plans to prepare for the start of the world championship season proper with some light training, some testing and physical training.
Goncalves, who is in his first year as a factory rider with the Red Bull KTM team started well in the first race but got tangled in the pack of lapped riders and had to settle for second place. He again took the holeshot in the second race but was overtaken by Rattray. He then crashed after choosing the wrong line and finished in third place. "Rui is doing well and he has his confidence back," Everts said later. "We still have a few things to work on but we are going in the right direction."
Results International Motocross Emmen
1. Erik Eggins, 47 points
2. Tyla Rattray, KTM 43
3. Rui Goncalves, KTM 42
4. Xavier Boog, 34
5. Rinus v.d. Ven, 27
Max Nagl second at International Motocross Emmen
Max Nagl, new this season to the Red Bull KTM MX1 Factory Team put in a sold performance at the International Motocross Event in Emmen, The Netherlands on Sunday to finish in second place.
Nagl won the first moto and was second in the second race.
"He took the holeshot and had a lead of some seven seconds, but ran up against the lapped riders and lost his rhythm," said KTM team boss Stefan Everts. Multi-world champion Everts said the German rider was learning a lot in his first year and like team newcomer in the Red Bull KTM MX2 team, Rui Goncalves, he now needed to keep up the pressure and gather mental strength.
MX1 Results
1. Marc de Reuver, Honda
2. Max Nagl, KTM
3. Aigar Leok, Estonia, Yamaha
4. Bas Verhoeven, Kawasaki
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- KTM-Sportmotorcycles, Mattighofen, Austria-
