With many riders commenting that the motocross and enduro special tests in Canada were similar to those found in Finland it was little surprise that Samuli Aro topped the Enduro 2 class on both days at the fifth round of the WEC. Having claimed the E2 class win on both days at the GP of Italy, Samuli continued his good form to claim two more day wins. On day one Yamaha riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert surrounded the Finn on the podium with the UFO Corse Yamaha team mates placing 30 seconds apart and in second and third places respectively.
On day two Aro was again the rider to beat and was joined by countryman Mika Ahola and Johnny Aubert on the podium. For Merriman numerous crashes early in the day knocked the Australian's confidence in the challenging conditions and saw him place in an eventual fifth position. For Aubert day two was also a difficult one, but for a very different reason. Having broken a rib at the GP of Italy Aubert had been unable to train or ride a bike prior to the Canadian GP and as a result found the event extremely hard. In the '06 Enduro 2 world championship standings Stefan Merriman is currently second to Samuli Aro while Aubert lays fourth, just 10 points off third.
Currant Enduro 3 world championship leader David Knight continued his domination of the E3 class in Canada topping the class on both days. Finishing three and a half minutes ahead of his team-mate Marko Tarkkala on day one the Manxman then placed close to five minutes ahead on day two and in doing so finished the weekend unbeaten in the E3 class. Claiming third on both days was French rider Seb Guillaume.
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Third, Day 2: Third "I feel extremely tired after the race because I wasn't able to train or ride since the last round of the world championship, because I broke some ribs. I have tried my hardest but I felt really tired at the end of each day. I made some small crashes on day one but apart from that everything went pretty well. I finished on the podium so I was happy with that. "I crashed once on each of the special tests on the first lap on day two and then twice on the extreme test on the final lap. Apart from being really tired during the race it has been a good event. It wasn't as difficult as the race in Italy, which was a good thing. The tests were difficult but the course was really enjoyable."
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Second, Day 2: Fifth "Day one went ok but my performances on the enduro test let me down. It was very similar to Finnish conditions, which obviously favoured Aro and Ahola. I pushed as hard as I could without wanting to ride over the limit but it was so difficult on the enduro test because there were tree roots, rocks and ruts everywhere. "Day two went badly right from the start because I crashed three times in the first enduro test. I just couldn't find any sort of a rhythm and every time I hit a tree root I seemed to crash before I knew what had happened. I lost a lot of time there. That knocked my confidence and it was hard to get it back. It was so easy to damage your bike in the enduro test so I just took it steadily. "The event was really good - the organisers have done a great job. I would have liked the ground conditions to have been a little harder but apart from that it has been great."
Race classification Enduro 2:Round: 5 - Parry Sound, Canada
Circuit: Parry Sound
Date: 16 July 2006
Crowd: 4000
Temp: 26ºC
Weather: Sunny
Race: day 1 1 S. Aro KTM FIN 45' 16.980
2 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +54.190
3 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +1' 23.920
4 M. Ahola Honda FIN +2' 24.540
5 F. Planet KTM FRA +2' 25.110
6 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +3' 24.000
7 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +3' 38.530
8 X. Galindo KTM ESP +3' 55.780
9 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +4' 22.090
10 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +4' 27.820
11 K. Caselli KTM USA +4' 35.630
12 N. Kanney Yamaha USA +4' 50.690
13 E. McConnell TM GBR +5' 28.700
14 G. Kearney Suzuki AUS +7' 44.720
15 G. Giroux Suzuki CAN +8' 16.740
16 K. Glasgow KTM CAN +9' 12.190
17 K. Graffunder KTM CAN +10' 51.960
18 R. Reed KTM CAN +12' 40.800
19 D. Watt HusaBerg CAN +12' 41.730
20 B. Rempel KTM CAN +12' 49.060
Race 2: day 2 1 S. Aro KTM FIN 58' 27.680
2 M. Ahola Honda FIN +52.650
3 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +1' 56.220
4 F. Planet KTM FRA +1' 59.320
5 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +2' 37.710
6 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +3' 6.000
7 X. Galindo KTM ESP +3' 22.660
8 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +3' 55.180
9 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +3' 58.010
10 K. Caselli KTM USA +4' 25.450
11 N. Kanney Yamaha USA +4' 30.760
12 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +4' 53.670
13 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +6' 32.650
14 K. Glasgow KTM CAN +6' 51.570
15 E. McConnell TM GBR +7' 42.090
16 G. Giroux Suzuki CAN +10' 28.030
17 D. Watt HusaBerg CAN +13' 5.760
18 I. McKill KTM CAN +13' 19.200
19 T. Burman HusaBerg SWE +13' 50.690
20 K. Graffunder KTM CAN +14' 7.000
Championship standings Enduro 2:1 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 228
2 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 205
3 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 200
4 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 190
5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 142
6 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 135
7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 131
8 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 92
9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 91
10 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 85
11 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 75
12 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 74
13 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 62
14 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 61
15 Euan McConnell TM GBR 58
16 Kurt Caselli KTM USA 40
17 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 39
18 Petteri Silvan KTM FIN 28
19 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 21
20 Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna FRA 20
Manufacturers standings Enduro 2:1 KTM 228
2 Yamaha 226
3 Honda 200
4 GasGas 139
5 HusaBerg 92
6 Aprilia 85
7 Husqvarna 83
8 Beta 67
9 TM 57
10 Suzuki 36
11 Sherco 31
12 Kawasaki 16
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