Cervantes salvages third place on Sunday in E1 in ItalyKTM Enduro 1 factory rider Ivan Cervantes of Spain was not at the top of his form this weekend in Italy but still managed a Sunday podium to salvage a 4-3 result in the two races in the penultimate round of the 2008 season.
Cervantes tacked the tough and at times stony track at Piediluco in Italy and lost some ground in the points reckoning with championship leader Mika Ahola. But with 50 point still up for grabs in the final round in two weeks time, it is still possible for the Spaniard to get his act together and seize the title. Cervantes will however need two solid results to bridge the 21-point gap on his Finnish rival.
His younger teammate Tom Sager of Britain, riding in his rookie season with the KTM Factory team was out of sorts with a hand injury. He finished ninth on Day One but was a non finisher on Sunday.
Day One Results E1 1. Mika Ahola, Finland, Honda
2. Marc Germain, Yamaha, France
3. Maurizio Micheluz, Italy, Yamaha
4. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM 5. Simone Albergoni, Italy, Yamaha
9. Tom Sagar, Britain, KTM
Day Two Results E1 1. Mika Ahola, Finland, Honda
2. Marc Germain, Yamaha, France
3. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM 4. Maurizio Micheluz, Italy, Yamaha
5. Eero Remes, Finland
DNF Tom Sagar, Britain KTM
Standings after seventh of eight rounds 1. Mika Ahola, Finland, Honda, 325
2. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM, 304 3. Simone Albergoni, Italy, Yamaha, 267
4. Marc Germain, Yamaha, France, 242
5. Maurizio Micheluz, Italy, Yamaha, 196
Two E2 podiums for KTM's Salminen in ItalyKTM Enduro 2 factory rider Juha Salminen brushed off flu symptoms on Saturday to come back strong in the second race of round seven of the E2 World Championship to snatch the top podium position from rival Jonny Aubert.
Team boss Fabio Farioli said after the races in the area of Terni in Italy that the multi champion Finn had made a strong comeback on Sunday to better his second place on Saturday. "Juha was pushing hard right from the first test on Sunday and he was fighting with Aubert all the way," he reported after the race.
Salminen's factory teammate Alessandro Belometti, fresh from an excellent result in the recent ISDE in Greece was also on the podium on day two in Italy and was fourth in Saturday.
The E2 title will be decided in Mende, France at the GP of Europe, where Salminen can still take honours with a good race weekend, He currently trains Aubert by 13 points but there are still 50 up for grabs.
Results Day One 1. Jonny Aubert, France, Yamaha
2. Juha Salminen, Finland, KTM 3. Rodrig Thain, France TM
4. Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM 5. Fabrizio Dini, Italy, Yamaha
E2 Results Day Two
1. Juha Salminen, Finland, KTM 2. Jonny Aubert, France, Yamaha
3. Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM 4. Antoine Meo, Husqvarna,
5. Rodrig Thain, France TM
Standings after seven of eight rounds 1. Jonny Aubert, France, Yamaha, 319
2. Juha Salminen, Finland, KTM, 303 3. Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM, 223 4. Rodrig Thain, France TM, 196
5. Thomas Ljunggren, Sweden, Husaberg, 189
Luckless E3 weekend for the KTM Factory Team in Italian GPThe KTM Endurance 3 factory team riders came away empty-handed from the penultimate round seven of the world championship in Italy on Sunday after a weekend that failed to yield the usual podium lineups.
Samuli Aro battled to overcome injury problems with his knee and hand and still managed to finish fourth and sixth on the two days of racing on the tough and stony track at Piediluco in the area of Terni. KTM teammate Marko Tarkkala struggled to find rhythm and form throughout the weekend and finished eighth and fifth respectively.
Aro still leads the championship standings and Tarkkala is still in third, but they are both under siege from Frenchmen Sebastien Guillaume and Christophe Nambotin respectively. All indications are that the final eighth round will go right down to the wire.
Oldrati secures Junior World Championship While the KTM riders in the big bike category struggled this weekend, at the other end of the scale, in the Junior World championship Italian Thomas Oldrati, riding his KTM secured the title.
E3 Day One Results 1. Stefan Merriman, Australia, Honda
2. Sebastien Guillaume, France, Husqvarna
3. Christophe Nambotin, France, Gas-Gas
4. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM 5. Antoine Letellier, France, Aprilia
8. Marko Tarkkala, Finland, KTM E3 Day Two Results 1. Stefan Merriman, Australia, Honda
2. Christophe Nambotin, France, Gas-Gas
3. Sebastien Guillaume, France, Husqvarna
4. Alessandro Botturi, Italy, Honda
5. Marko Tarkkala, Finland, KTM
6. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM Standings after seven of eight rounds 1. Samuli Aro, Finland, KTM, 288 2. Sebastien Guillaume, France, Husqvarna, 274
3. Marko Tarkkala, Finland, KTM 272 4. Christophe Nambotin, France, Gas-Gas, 270
5. Stefan Merriman, Australia, 221
Photographer: Edmunds J. KTM Images
