Enduro
Italian rider does the business in a red hot second round of the 2013 Enduro World Championship.
Completing the final stop of its South America mini-tour, the Enduro World Championship arrived in San Juan for the GP of Argentina. After his debut EWC win on day two in Chile, Italy’s Alex Salvini grabbed the spotlight once again with two convincing wins in the Enduro 2 category.
KTM’s Antoine Meo claimed his third and fourth consecutive race wins of the season in the Enduro 1 class. In the Enduro 3 category race wins were shared between Christophe Nambotin (KTM) and Aigar Leok (TM), with Leok winning on day two.
In E1 the results show Meo collecting maximum points but in reality Husqvarna’s Juha Salminen made him work for it. With Salminen – the eight-time world champion – on top form, the duo battled hard all weekend. On day one Salminen looked to have established a comfortable lead until disaster struck on the third extreme test.
Getting plastic track marking tape wrapped around his rear brake the Finn lost valuable time and handed the lead to Meo – who rode on to collect the win. With Salminen reluctantly placing second, Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) claimed third.
On day two, Salminen and Meo again squared off with the Husqvarna rider leading early on. With little to separate them, Meo delivered a blisteringly fast time in the final enduro test to claim an 11-second margin of victory over Salminen. Recording his second podium result of the weekend, Seistola followed them home for third.
With confidence high following his debut win in Chile, Salvini quickly established himself as the rider to beat in E2. Fastest on Friday’s SuperTest, the Italian set about collecting win number two on day one. However, Husaberg’s Pela Renet had other ideas and pushed hard to beat the Honda rider. With the race lead changing hands several times, Salvini finally edged clear of Renet to clinch the win. With Renet second, KTM’s Johnny Aubert finished 35 seconds adrift of the leaders in third.
On day two Salvini again faced an early challenge from Renet. But it was short lived as the Frenchman crashed heavily on the third enduro test. But as Renet dropped back, Ivan Cervantes (KTM) stepped forward and promptly set his sights on winning by setting the fastest time in the final enduro test. But with the Italian holding enough of an advantage, Salvini took his second win of the weekend. With Cervantes placing as runner-up, Renet limped home to take third.
On day one Nambotin stamped his authority in Enduro 3 and claimed a convincing win. Setting the fastest time in all but three of the day’s 14 special tests the Frenchman secured a comfortable win over second placed Leok. Impressing all, Portugal’s Luis Correia (Beta) recorded his debut EWC podium with third position.
Looking all but assured of victory on day two, Nambotin’s luck ran out on the penultimate special test when his bike stopped. Losing almost two minutes, the Frenchman lost control of the race lead – slipping back to fourth. Not needing a second invitation, Leok gladly capitalised on his rival’s misfortune and recorded his first win of the season. Also benefitting from the Frenchman’s ill-fortune, Husaberg’s Joakim Ljunggren placed second with Italy’s Manuel Monni ending his day third overall.
In the Enduro Junior class both Matt Phillips (Husqvarna) and Rudi Moroni (KTM) recorded their debut EWC victories by winning day’s one and two respectively. Jamie McCanney (Husaberg) secured a double win in the Enduro Youth Cup.
The Enduro World Championship continues with round three in Spain on May 11/12.
