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| Stapleton closes in on Enduro Junior world championship lead May 24, 2006 Electraction TM UK riders Jake Stapleton and Euan McConnell produced a mixed set of results at the third round of the 2006 World Enduro Championship, the GP of Euskadi staged in Gernika, Spain, where Jake placed in fourth and first position in the Enduro Junior class and Euan in 12th place in the Enduro 2 class on both days. Despite a challenging course, wet conditions on day one and hot conditions on day two, both riders finished the event without too many problems, which is something few riders managed to do. With an extremely long enduro test, a tough and technical extreme test, and a demanding course the event proved to be even harder than the second round of the championship in Portugal. For Jake the event started in the worst possible way as he crashed twice on the first timed extreme test on day one. Having to play catch up with the EJ class leaders from that point onwards the slippery conditions meant that Jake never really felt settled and as a result failed to make it onto the podium. Despite posting the second quickest EJ class times on four of the opening day’s tests a handful of off the pace times meant that he finished the day one and a half minutes behind class winner Marc Bourgeois from France, but just six seconds off third. Thankfully day two was a much more productive day for Jake. Determined to win he started as he meant to go on and posted the quickest EJ time on the opening special test. Going on to top four more tests, and finish no lower than third, Jake claimed a well earned win finishing 20 seconds ahead of day one winner Bourgeois. In topping day two Jake claimed his first win of the ’06 WEC series. Encouraged by the wet conditions Euan McConnell failed to perform as well as he had hoped in Spain, due in part to using a different suspension set-up to that fitted to his bike at the second round of the WEC series in Portugal. Finishing in 12th position on both days Euan made few mistakes yet had several ‘moments’ due to pushing hard. Unable to improve his special test times on day two McConnell again finished in 12th but placed ahead of Husaberg and KTM factory riders Valtteri Salonen and Fabien Planet. “Winning on day two made up for the disappointments of day one though. The conditions were a lot drier, which suited me better, but I was on a mission because I was really disappointed about day one. I felt that I rode well and only made one mistake all day – a crash on the enduro test. I still put in a good time so I knew that gave my confidence a boost. I knew that if I didn’t make any more mistakes I would be able to win, which thankfully I was able to do. I’m second in the Enduro Junior championship now and just 12 points behind Joakim Ljunggren who is leading so I’m going to be training really hard in Italy ahead of the GP of Italy.” Euan McConnell: “I thought that the tests were going to be right up my street this weekend, apart from the motocross test, but I wasn’t able to perform quite as well as I hoped I would. The team fitted some new suspension to my bike but I wasn’t really able to set it up properly. It was too soft and I struggled with it a little bit and had a few close moments. I’m a bit gutted to have only finished in 12th on both days because I feel like I’ve put in a lot more effort than that. But I guess that’s just the way it goes some times. A better result wasn’t for a lack of trying. “Day two was very much the same as day one. I didn’t feel comfortable and able to really attack anything but I was having to because my times were really bad. I had some fun on the extreme test going straight up the final hill, which no other rider was doing. The result wasn’t what I wanted but it’s been a really tough and enjoyable event. I’ll get my suspension sorted and hopefully be able to get a better result in
Enduro 2 1. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 39:58.62; 2. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 40:13.18; 3. Samuli Aro (KTM) 40:36.81; 4. Mika Ahola (Honda) 41:43.41; 5. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 41:43.41; 6. Fabien Planet (KTM) 41:50.30; 7. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 42:15.53; 8. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 42:23.91; 9. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 42:34.13l; 10. Andrea Beconi (Beta) 42:53.71; 11. Nicolas Paganon (Husqvarna) 42:57.50; 12. Euan McConnell (Electraction TM) 43:19.96; 13. Christophe Nambotin (Husqvarna) 43:25.64; 14. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 43:39.36; 15. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 43:51.51; 16. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 43:58.50; 17. Jordan Curvalle (
Enduro Junior 1. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 41:40.92; 2. Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 43:04.85; 3. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 43:04.87; 4. Jake Stapleton (Electraction TM) 43:11.79; 5. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 43:24.66; 6. Oscar Baletti (Honda) 46:22:94; 7. Yannick Bossi (Husqvarna) 48:29.78; 8. Robert Kapajcik50:10.25; 9. Jean-Charles Gilbert (
Results – day two Enduro 2 1. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 51:41.94; 2. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 52:29.60; 3. Samuli Aro (KTM) 52:55.99; 4. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 53:11.89; 5. Mika Ahola (Honda) 53:11.5; 6. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 53:50.29; 7. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 54:50.29; 8. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 54:27.52; 9. Christophe Nambotin (Husqvarna) 54:50.57; 10. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 55:02.51; 11. Nicolas Paganon (Husqvarna) 55:21.26; 12. Euan McConnell (Electraction TM) 55:23.44; 13. Alessandro Botturi (Aprilia) 55:31.66; 14. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 56:44.24; 15. Fabien Planet (KTM) 56:52.92; 16. Federico Mancinelli (Beta) 59:52.92; 17. Juri Simoncini (Suzuki) 59:45.06
Enduro Junior 1. Jake Stapleton (Electraction TM) 53:56.92; 2. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 54:17.38; 3. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 55:00.31; 4. Oriol Mena (Gas Gas) 55:46.80; 5. Robert Kapajcik (Yamaha) 55:52.83; 6. Jean Charles Gilbert ( |
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