The penultimate round of the E1 Enduro World Championship was missing the dominant rider of the season, the KTM Enduro Factory Team's Juha Salminen.
The absence of the injured Finn may have allowed someone else a place on to top podium but he still leads the points.
Salminen has won every race this season up to this weekend's event in the Slovakian ski resort of Krompachy but he broke a collarbone competing in a race in Britain three weeks ago and decided to sit out this weekend to give his injury another two weeks to heal. He returns to the circuit for the last event in France, which will hopefully also wrap up the title in his favour.
"It might have been possible for Juha to race here but he decided not to take any risk so that he would be 100 percent fit for the last races," said KTM team boss Fabio Farioli. "I think that was the right decision."
Salminen may have let someone else enjoy the top spot this weekend but he still has a commanding lead in the championships. Meanwhile his KTM teammate Alessandro Belometti came in fourth on Saturday behind Cristobal Guerrero, Simone Albergoni and Marc Germain, leaving the points order unchanged.
The 55km of trail, covered three and a half times each day of this two day event making up the Grand Prix of Slovakia, offered a good mix of surfaces and was very competitive for the riders. They did have to contend with a big downpour of rain in the last lap, which added another edge to the competition.
Results - Cristobal Guerrero, Spain, Yamaha
- Simone Albergoni, Italy, Yamaha
- Marc Germain, France, Yamaha
- Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM
- Bartosz Oblucki, Poland Husqvarna
Related News
