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From - Anita Merriman:
Check out the WEBSITE: of Stefan Merriman, the Kiwi born Enduro ace (across the ditch they claim him as an Aussie) for photos (including this event) his profile, events calendar, etc.
Well what a fantastic weekend Stefan had in Slovakia. He just blitzed the field both days on his Yamaha 250 4 stroke and the result showed his best performance for the season. What a great win for the Yamaha team. It was with some help from Lexy's brother 'Andrew' who was visiting enroute to England.!!! He was a tremendous help to Stefan racing between stages to give some 'expert' advice to Stefan on some of the more difficult mud sections.Lexy normally does this but with her ' fat belly' (her words not mine!!!) (You will recall that Lexy is pregnant) she is finding it hard to get between stages in time for Stefan.
Slovakia provided hard ground, no ruts and fast tests which suited Stefan, however rain on Thursday and Friday made the ground slippery. The stages consisted of muddy sections, difficult stony downhills and uphill exits into narrow canyons. The laps were aprox 80km long and riders were to complete this lap 3 times. There were 4 time checks per lap. Unfortunately the stages were not finished until late on Thursday so the usual pre-walk for Stefan was cut to a minimum.
Results for Day 1
Enduro 1 ( 2-strokes 100cc-125cc plus 4 strokes 175cc-250cc)
1 Merriman Yam Aust
2 Albergoni Honda Italy +53sec
3 Oblucki Yam Poland +1.08.64
Enduro 2 ( 2-stroke175cc-250cc plus 4 stroke 290cc-450cc)
1 Salminen KTM Finland
2 Edmondson Honda Britain + 49.23sec
3 Botturi KTM Italy + 50.19
7 Whibley Husky NZ +1.38.38
Enduro 3 ( 2-stroke250cc-500cc plus 4 stroke475cc-650cc)
1 Aro KTM Finland
2 Knight KTM Britain +25.46sec
3 Guillaume Gas Gas France +34.69sec
Overall
1Merriman
2Salminen +19.67sec
3Aro +28.63
4Albergoni +52.86
24 Whibley NZ 1.58.05
Sunday
E1
Merriman (massive time difference here)
Albergoni 1.23.86
Oblucki 1.34.85
E2
Salminen
Bouttri 57.30
Vilanova (Spain Honda) 1.07.72
8 Whibley 2.18.95
E3
Aro
Knight 12.89
Cervantes (Spain KTM) 31.85
Overall
Merriman
Salminen 16.63
Aro 47.52
Knight 1.00.44
23 Whibley 2.35.58
Overall points to date after 12 rounds
1 Salminen 243
2 Aro 238
3 Knight 216
4 Merriman 208
5 Cervantes 186
21 Whibley 30
Stefan is now back to Italy for an Italian Championship and then back to Australia in July to the Sports Institute to prepare the Australian Team for the ISDE in Poland 13-18th September.
He will be here in NZ for a short time in late July.
Greece and Germany World rounds are after the ISDE.
Regards Anita
Note that Whibs results are also featured.