Finn Samuli Aro wrapped up the 2006 Enduro 2 world championship on day one of the GP of France by claiming his eighth E2 class win of the series. Winning just two of the opening day's seven special tests Aro placed eight seconds ahead of Frenchman Fabien Planet. Finishing in third was Finn Mika Ahola some 29 seconds behind Planet while Australian UFO Corse Yamaha rider Stefan Merriman placed in fourth five seconds behind Ahola having lost valuable seconds when he got wire wrapped around his rear wheel on one of the day's extreme tests.
On day two Mika Ahola improved on his day one result to top the E2 class finishing 32 seconds ahead of Merriman. With just 13 riders reaching the finish of the second day in the E2 class due to the severity of the conditions Merriman was followed home by Aro. With Aro topping the 2006 E2 world championship UFO Corse Yamaha team mates Merriman and Johnny Aubert placed in third and fourth.
French UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert's hopes of a good result at both his home round of the series and the final round of the championship ended when the former motocross rider DNF the opening day after just one timed special test. Crashing as he crossed a slippery wooded bridge on the extreme test Aubert took no further part in the event having injured his ankle. Although in pain at the time of his incident Aubert returned to the race on Sunday.
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: DNF, Day 2: DNS"I crashed on the first timed enduro test, on one of the bridges. I am not sure what happened exactly but I had a lot of pain in my ankle. I had some problem with the bones but I don't think that anything is broken. On Monday I will go to Paris and there I will have a doctor examine my foot. I can walk on it but something is not right. I hope it is nothing too serious."
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Fourth, Day 2: Second"I got stuck in a fence on the extreme test on the last lap. I was just going up a rocky uphill, slipped backwards, and got caught up in the fence. I lost some time getting the wire out of the wheel, so that didn't help me. I had a fall on one of the tests earlier in the day as well but thankfully they were the only problems I had. With the conditions the way they were it could have been a lot worse. It would have been nice to have got onto the podium but fourth wasn't so bad. Day two was really tough. On the last enduro test I met one of the other riders coming towards me after he'd made a mess of one of the uphill. I had to try and dodge him, figure out where he'd come from, and I ended up getting stuck myself. It was a bit tricky in places. I find it difficult to ride at my best when I know that I can't win a championship. The race hasn't been too bad, despite the weather, and although there were a lot of ruts it's been pretty enjoyable."
Temp: 12
Crowd: 20000
Weather: Rain
2006 Enduro 2 - Race 1 - 1 Laps:1 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 48'12.910
2 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 0'8.300
3 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'37.630
4 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 0'42.980
5 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 2'6.710
6 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 2'8.100
7 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 2'16.310
8 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 2'52.010
9 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 3'3.350
10 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 3'15.040
11 Euan McConnell TM GBR 3'42.780
12 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 4'27.260
13 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 4'40.860
14 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'6.060
15 Jordan Curvalle Kawasaki FRA 6'1.340
Race 2 - 1 Laps: 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 32'20.250
2 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 0'32.870
3 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'58.450
4 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 1'4.460
5 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 1'7.060
6 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'14.160
7 Euan McConnell TM GBR 1'50.890
8 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 1'52.570
9 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 1'58.090
10 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 4'2.040
11 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'12.110
12 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 7'55.330
13 Jordan Curvalle Kawasaki FRA 9'23.220
Rider Standings 24/09/2006: 1. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 360
2. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 328
3. Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 318
4. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 277
5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 239
6. Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 210
7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 185
8. Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 153
9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 141
10. Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 135
11. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 134
12. Euan McConnell TM GBR 108
13. Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 105
14. Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 98
15. Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 92
Manufacturer Standings 24/09/2006: 1. KTM 360
2. Yamaha 356
3. Honda 328
4. GasGas 210
5. Husqvarna 165
6. Aprilia 135
7. HusaBerg 134
8. Beta 112
9. TM 108
10. Sherco 58
11. Suzuki 52
12. Kawasaki 30
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