Coming into the fourth round of the '06 World Enduro Championship leading the highly competitive Enduro 2 class French UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert started the GP Valli Bergamasche suffering with Influenza. Disappointingly for Aubert things were to get worse rather than better as a crash in the closing stages of day one resulted in him failing to start day two. Unable to perform at his best due to feeling far from 100 per cent Aubert still managed to push reigning Enduro 2 world champion Samuli Aro hard for much of the day one but crashed heavily on the last special test of the day, which dropped him to third. Managing to fit new tyres to his Yamaha in readiness for day two Aubert was advised my event medical staff to go to hospital prior to the start of the second day as he was suffering with pain in his chest, which was feared might be blood clot. Aubert's pain was diagnosed as being a broken rib but having travelled to hospital he was unable to start day two. With Aubert placing in third on day one his UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Stefan Merriman claimed the runner-up spot with Finn Samuli Aro topping the class.
On day two Aro again claimed the E2 class win with Merriman second and Finn Mika Ahola third. By placing in second on both days in Italy Merriman, who scored poorly at the first round of the series in Sweden, lifted himself to the runner-up spot in the E2 championship standings, just 11 points behind class leader Samuli Aro. Despite being unable to match the pace of Aro, Merriman performed consistently on both days having not wanted to take any risks in the dry and rocky conditions. With four rounds of the WEC series remaining Stefan is now looking forward to the first ever WEC events to take place outside of Europe when the world champion ship travels to Canada and the States for rounds five and six.
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: third, Day 2: DNS "Day one was going really well for me but it was hard for me because I was suffering with Influenza before the race. I pushed as hard as I could but I wasn't going to beat Samuli. I think that second should have been my place on day one. But I crashed really hard on the last lap and dropped to third, which was disappointing. It was still a good result though but I could have been second. When I crashed I hurt my ribs so I went to the doctor before the start of day two. I wasn't in so much pain but I was blue and there was one place that hurt a lot. They told me to go to the hospital to get checked out properly, which I did, because they were afraid that I might be a blood clot. Thankfully I wasn't but I had broken some ribs. Because I went to the hospital I was not able to make the start of day two."
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: second, Day 2: second "If my team-mate Johnny Aubert hadn't of crashed on day one then I would have been third, so I guess his mistake was good for me and bad for him. Both Samuli Aro and Johnny were really fast on day one but I was happy to have finished in second. It was too easy to get injured here or to DNF because there were so many rocks. I wasn't prepared to take any risks.I made a few mistakes on both days but I didn't have any really big crashes. It would have been nice to have won but finishing second on both days is good for my championship. It was an extremely difficult race and it's frustrating that the organisers only made changes to the race during the race because it was clear that four laps on both days was going to be too difficult before the start of the event."
Race classification Enduro 2:Round: 4 - Bergamo, Italy
Circuit: Valli Bergamasche
Date: 18 June 2006
Crowd: 28500
Temp: 28ºC
Weather: Sunny
Race 1: 1 Laps1 S. Aro KTM FIN 83' 3.690
2 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +1' 46.720
3 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +1' 55.720
4 M. Ahola Honda FIN +2' 13.980
5 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +3' 48.200
6 X. Galindo KTM ESP +3' 57.970
7 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +4' 0.090
8 F. Planet KTM FRA +4' 8.010
9 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +4' 54.290
10 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +4' 58.770
11 K. Caselli KTM USA +5' 30.780
12 A. Beconi Beta ITA +5' 32.860
13 S. Tonelli Honda ITA +5' 34.050
14 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +5' 40.450
15 A. Toresson Suzuki SWE +6' 38.020
16 E. Albepart Honda FRA +6' 38.050
17 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +7' 1.950
18 J. Curvalle Kawasaki FRA +7' 12.230
19 G. Canova Husqvarna ITA +8' 21.350
20 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +9' 11.400
Race 2: 1 Laps1 S. Aro KTM FIN 85' 44.810
2 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +24.010
3 M. Ahola Honda FIN +1' 42.480
4 A. Belotti KTM ITA +2' 9.930
5 X. Galindo KTM ESP +2' 12.030
6 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +2' 51.210
7 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +2' 57.570
8 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +3' 11.140
9 F. Planet KTM FRA +3' 15.080
10 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +4' 5.860
11 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +4' 15.290
12 K. Caselli KTM USA +4' 38.410
13 S. Tonelli Honda ITA +5' 7.390
14 E. Albepart Honda FRA +5' 25.050
15 A. Beconi Beta ITA +5' 56.630
16 A. Toresson Suzuki SWE +6' 58.340
17 G. Canova Husqvarna ITA +7' 1.240
18 G. Falgari Kawasaki ITA +7' 28.290
19 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +8' 6.920
20 F. Mancinelli Beta ITA +10' 52.500
Championship standings Enduro 2: 1 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 178
2 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 167
3 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 160
4 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 150
5 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 109
6 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 108
7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 104
8 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 74
9 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 73
10 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 72
11 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 70
12 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 62
13 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 61
14 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 45
15 Euan McConnell TM GBR 44
16 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 39
17 Petteri Silvan KTM FIN 28
18 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 21
19 Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna FRA 20
20 Kurt Caselli KTM USA 19
Manufacturers standings Enduro 2:1 Yamaha 184
2 KTM 178
3 Honda 160
4 GasGas 113
5 HusaBerg 73
6 Aprilia 72
7 Beta 67
8 Husqvarna 53
9 TM 43
10 Sherco 31
11 Suzuki 24
12 Kawasaki 16
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