Paul Whibley Disqualified On Day One

Honda Racing Fast Eddy rider Paul Edmondson claimed a fine second place finish on day two in the Enduro 2 class at the second round of the World Enduro Championship held in Guimaraes, Portugal this past weekend after posting a disappointing fifth in class on day one.

Making it a memorable weekend for the HRFE team was the fact that Paul’s team-mate, New Zealander Paul Whibley, claimed a fine fifth place finish in the Enduro 2 class on day two, his highest ever WEC result.

For Paul, finishing fifth on day one certainly wasn’t the result that he was looking for. With the season opener having passed without Paul visiting the podium, the Honda rider was hoping that Portugal would see a change in his fortunes – and it did.

Off the pace and finishing much further down the results than he had hoped on day one, Edmondson was more than a little fired up on day two and it showed in his riding. Much more aggressive than he had been on day one, Paul became locked in a three way battle for the runner-up position with Italian Alessandro Botturi and Spaniard Arnau Vilanova.

Determined to get the better of his class mates, Paul ended up placing just over four seconds ahead of Botturi to claim a long overdue runner-up finish.

With almost a month now until the next round of the championship in Italy in late April, Paul plans on returning home to England to spend some time with his wife and family before starting testing and training to try and ensure a double podium visit in Italy.

Paul Edmondson: "Finishing fifth on day one certainly wasn’t ideal but maybe it gave me the kick up the arse that I needed because finishing second on day two is great. I think that I just need to believe in myself a little bit more and let it hang out on the tests.

"Having had so much to do in setting up the Honda Racing Fast Eddy team I’m now able to just focus solely on my riding. I was just more aggressive today; from the first test I rode a little bit harder and pushed a little bit more. You just have to push, push and push some more at world championship races now and not worry too much about trying to be really smooth.

"I feel that second in the championship is definitely on for me. Like all riders I want to win but being realistic I’m not going to beat Juha Salminen. I’ve just got to work hard now, do some more testing and focus on finishing second as often as I can. That way if anything does happen to Juha then I will be right there. Hopefully I can repeat this result again at the next round of the series in Italy.

"I’m just really pleased for my sponsors. With the day two result I hope to have opened a few peoples eyes and got some exposure for the companies supporting me this year. I know that I can do it now so it’s just a case of pushing as hard as I can right from the off at each of the remaining rounds of the championship."

For the Honda Racing Fast Eddy team’s second Enduro 2 class rider the Portuguese event certainly was a mixed one. Provisionally placing eighth in class on day one, Whibley found himself disqualified after receiving outside assistance when he fouled a plug just as he entered the cross-country test early in the day.

Equally as fired up as his team-mate Edmondson at the start of day two Whibley produced his best ever WEC performance to place fifth in class. After the disappointments of day one, Whibley showed that when conditions get rough he’s a rider not to be overlooked.

Paul Whibley: "Day one would have been pretty good if it hadn’t been for getting disqualified. The bike fouled a plug just before the cross-country test and I took a plug spanner of an outrider, which is against the rules. In the heat of the moment you don’t stop to think that something as simple as being handed a spanner might get you excluded. I had some good tests and would have been eighth in class.

"Day two was pretty good. I finished fifth in class, which I’m really happy with. It’s my best finish so far in the WEC so I’m really happy. The bike and new team are going well. The series seems to be much better than last year all ready; the race in Spain was a joke last year but this years both of the opening races have been really good. I was eighth after the first round, which is the position I finished in the 250cc class last year, so I want to try and improve on that really this year. It’s going to be hard having not scored any points on day one here in Portugal but looking at some of the special test times I’ve done I’m sure I can finish higher than eighth.

1. Juha Salminen (KTM) 46:30.21; 2. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 47:44.05; 3. Arnau Vilanova (Hon) 47:54.02; 4. Mika Saarenkoski (Hsq) 48:06.72; 5. Paul Edmondson (Honda Racing Fast Eddy) 48:13.77; 6. Miki Arpa (Hsq) 48:28.84; 7. Thierry Klutz (Gas) 48:29.01; 8. Gerard Farres (KTM) 48:39.22; 9. Andrea Beconi (Yam) 48:41.91; 10. Andreas Toresson (Hsb) 48:43.43; 11. Giovanni Sala (KTM) 48:52.50; 12. Valtteri Salonen (Hon) 48:54.13; 13. Alessandro Zanni (Hon) 48:55.57; 14. Andrea Belotti (Hsq) 49:16.93; 15. Olivier Samofal (Hsb) 49:30.42; 16. Olivier Pain (KTM) 49:44.41; 17. Maurizio Micheluz (KTM) 49:47.77; 18. Edward Jones (KTM) 49:49.84; 29. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 49:54.59; 20. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 49:59.33

1. Juha Salminen (KTM) 48:21.06; 2. Paul Edmondson (Hon) 49:11.87; 3. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 49:15.95; 4. Arnau Vilanova (Hon) 49:19.69; 5. Paul Whibley (Honda Racing Fast Eddy) 49:57.46; 6. Andreas Toresson (Hsb) 50:04.25; 7. Valtteri Salonen (Hon) 50:09.43; 8. Thierry Klutz (Gas) 50:11.69; 9. Miki Arpa (Hsq) 50:13.01; 10. Mika Saarenkoski (Hsq) 50:25.82; 11. Gerard Farres (KTM) 50:32.25; 12. Andrea Beconi (Yam) 50:44.72; 13. Giovanni Sala (KTM) 51:38.47; 14. Alessandro Zanni (Hon) 51:49.86; 15. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 51:54.58; 16. Maurizio Micheluz (KTM) 51:58.32; 17. Daniel Persson (Hsb) 51:59.35; 18. Olivier Samofal (Hsb) 52:21.84; 19. Mario Patrao (Yam) 52:37.67; 20. Edward Jones (KTM) 52:46.03