UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni put his disappointing result at the opening round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series behind him at round two of the series staged in Puerta Lumbreras, Spain, where the Italian placed in third and second position in the Enduro 1 class. Feeling completely at home on his WR250, and having recorded some strong results in the opening rounds of the Italian Enduro Championship ahead of the Spanish event, Simone showed that despite his frustrating start to the WEC series he now has the speed to battle for E1 class victory.
With conditions much different to those found at the series' opening winter enduro in Sweden, day one proved to be extremely difficult in places as a result of heavy rain on Friday evening. Leaving each of the events three special tests extremely slippery it was Finn Juha Salminen who managed to deal with conditions the best and claimed victory ahead of Italian Alessandro Belometti with Albergoni 10 seconds behind in third. Winning the third timed test of the day had it not been for a costly mistake in the day's eighth timed tests Simone would have placed as runner-up. Following Albergoni home on day one, and finishing less than half a second behind his more experienced team-mate, was Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero. Encouraged by his home crowd Guerrero, like Albergoni, topped one special test to claim his best result since winning the Enduro Junior world championship in '05.
On day two it was again Finn Salminen that set the pace winning all but four of the day's special tests in the E1 class. But behind the six-time enduro world champion both Simone Albergoni and Cristobal Guerrero managed to get ahead of Alessandro Belometti to claim the runner-up and third place positions respectively. With Albergoni winning two special tests to place 28 seconds behind Salminen. Guerrero again placed less than one second behind his team-mate in third. In finishing third Cristobal claimed his first ever podium finish in senior WEC competition.
Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third E1 class rider Maurizio Micheluz the second round of the '07 WEC series didn't go as well as the Italian had hoped. Having shown good speed in the Italian championship Maurizio struggled to get to grips with the conditions and as a result placed in seventh on both days.
Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 third, Day 2 second:"I am really pleased with the way the GP of Spain has gone because the first round of the championship in Sweden was terrible. I am really happy because I now have a good feeling with the bike and am able to push hard. Finishing third on day one was really good. The start of the season was difficult for me because I struggled to adjust to my Yamaha as quickly as I hoped I would, but now I am really pleased with the performance of the bike.
"The second day was tough - there were several riders that we really fast so to finish second is great. I had a really good fight with my team-mate Cristobal Guerrero, which was good. I am much happier with my result and the way I am riding."
Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Third:"It's been a great weekend for me and my first podium finish in the WEC since I won the Enduro Junior championship in '05. On day one I missed the podium by one second, which was disappointing but at the same time it was good to know that my speed was good enough to fight with the riders at the top of the class. I only made one crash so it was a good day.
"Day two was really tough. The tests were much rougher than on day one and it was really close between myself, Simone Albergoni, Bartosz Oblucki and Alessandro Albergoni. I could have finished second but Simone finished less than one second ahead of me. I am really pleased with the way the weekend has gone. I'm looking forward to Portugal now."
Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 Seventh: "It's been a bad weekend for me. I didn't feel good on the bike and just didn't have a good feeling with the special tests. I finished seventh on both days, which isn't good. I crashed many times on day one and things weren't much better on day two. I hope things will be better in Portugal."
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Race 1 - -2007 Enduro 1 Spain: 1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 50'3.520
2. Alessandro Belometti - KTM ITA 50'14.070
3. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha - ITA 50'44.690
4. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 50'45.140
5. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 51'8.520
6. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna - POL 51'33.690
7. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 51'50.430
8. Julien Gauthier - Honda - FRA 52'10.220
9. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 52'12.080
10. Luca Cherubini - Honda - ITA 52'47.890
11. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 52'57.100
12. Miquel Damien - Kawasaki -FRA 53'40.870
13. Danielle Tellini - KTM - ITA 54'23.110
14. Gonzalo Reis - KTM - ITA 55'14.550
15 .Gregory Eyries - Yamaha - FRA 55'35.030
Race 2:1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 49'53.300
2. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha - ITA 50'21.750
3. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 50'21.830
4. Alessandro Belometti - KTM - ITA 50'23.930
5. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna -POL 50'48.840
6. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 50'51.260
7. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 51'14.940
8. Luca Cherubini - Honda - ITA 52'17.090
9. Julien Gauthier - Honda - FRA 52'21.400
10. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 52'26.210
11. Fabio Mossini - Honda - ITA 53'15.260
12. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 53'16.410
13. Danielle Tellini - KTM - ITA 53'49.770
14. Miquel Damien - Kawasaki - FRA 50'1.470
15. Gonzalo Reis - KTM - ITA 54'29.070
Rider Standings: 1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 100
2. Alessandro Belometti - KTM - ITA 72
3. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna - POL 69
4. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 66
5. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha - ITA 62
6. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 59
7. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 49
8. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 41
9. Tomi Peltola - Suzuki - FIN 38
10. Frederik Georgsson - KTM - SWE 36
11. Niklas Gustafsson - KTM - SWE 34
12. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 33
13. Julien Gauthier - Honda - FRA25
14. Luca Cherubini - Honda - ITA 24
15. Tobias Burman - KTM - SWE 21
Manufacturer Standings:1. KTM 100
2. Yamaha72
3. Husqvarna 69
4. Honda 44
5. Suzuki 38
6. Kawasaki 16
7. TM 3
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