CH Racing Husqvarna team rider Bartosz Oblucki claimed a well deserved third place podium finish on day one of the first round of the '07 World Enduro Championship aboard a pre-production version of Husqvarna's new 250cc four stroke enduro bike. In doing so the Pole proved the bike's reliability and competitiveness despite relatively little time spent testing and setting-up the all new machine prior to the race.
On the pace from the start of day one Oblucki placed as the first non-Scandinavian rider in the Enduro 1 class before going on to finish fourth on day two following two big crashes.
Despite the snow covered special tests and frozen conditions giving the Scandinavian riders competing in Sweden an early season advantage Bartosz Oblucki was determined to start '07 with a strong result and did just that by finishing third in the E1 class on day one. Performing well on each of the event's three special tests by placing on the podium Bartosz gave Husqvarna's pre production 250cc four stroke an extremely encouraging debut result. One day two Oblucki again started well as he battled for the runner-up position during the opening special tests.
But crashing on the second timed enduro test Bartosz was unable to hold his early position and following two further falls dropped to fourth.
Despite missing the podium by one position on day two Bartosz made an extremely promising start to his '07 Enduro 1 world championship.
In the Enduro 2 class American Nate Kanney and Frenchman Nicolas Deparrois found the slippery conditions challenging and like many non-Scandinavians saw their results suffer as a result. With Nate competing aboard Husqvarna's 450TE, the WEC newcomer steadily improved his speed on day one placing just ou tside the top 10 in 12th. On day two, with conditions a lot colder than on day one, Nate simply couldn't adjust to the conditions as well as he hoped he would and finished in 18th. Despite his on paper result not being as good as his day one result, Nate finished as the 11th placed non-Scandinavian rider in class. Nicolas Deparrois placed as the team's highest finishing rider in the E2 class with a 15th placed result on day one and a 13th place finish on day two.
Like Kanney Deparrois also struggled to master the very specialist ‘winter’ conditions. Competing in his home round of the '07 WEC series seven-time World Enduro Champion Anders Eriksson placed fourth and fifth in the Enduro 3 class on his return to full-time racing following his '05 accident. Starting day one extremely well by leading after the first of three laps, Anders dropped back during the final lap but still held on to claim a deserved fourth. On day two, with conditions much colder than on day one, Anders again performed well placing fifth. Disappointingly day one ended prematurely for CH Racing Husqvarna's Seb Guillaume.
Second on the opening two special tests the recent Open de France d’Enduro Indoor event winner was forced to withdraw from the day due to a problem with his bike's cylinder lining. On day two Seb found the conditions tough but battled on to claim sixth behind team-mate Eriksson. In the Enduro Junior class Marc Bourgeois had a frustrating weekend failing to finish day one due to a carburetion problem. On day two he, like many riders, failed to gel with the frozen conditions and placed 11th.
Bartosz Oblucki:"Day one went well. I finished third, which I was happy with. Most of the riders that will compete in the whole world championship this season were behind me, apart from Juha – he was riding a level ahead of everyone in the Enduro 1 class. The good thing is that the new bike performed really well. It's been a hard race and we didn’t have any problems with the bike at all. Being completely new we are still learning how to set it up to get the best out of it. On day two the frozen track became really rough and the suspension was a little too soft. But apart from that the bike was great. The motor was fantastic. “The second day started well and I was fighting for second. But then in the second enduro test I crashed and after that I didn't do so well. I crashed in the next test, the one after that, and then I caught another rider. It was an ok day and I’m happy with finishing fourth. It's been a good start to the season."
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