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Enduro 2 : Merriman dominates French GP
Round: 6 - Grand Prix of France
Circuit: Digne
Date: 24 July 2005
Crowd: 25000
Temp: 33ºC
Weather: Sunny
UFO Corse Yamaha rider Stefan Merriman claimed a double Enduro 2 class win at the sixth round of the World Enduro Championship. The Australian finished comfortably ahead of E2 championship leader Samuli Aro on both days. Winning in the dry and dusty conditions by 35 seconds on day one, Merriman then topped day two by just under 10 seconds.
The four time world champion also climbs up up to second in provisional standings. Stefan's point standings is now starting to recover from the three days of racing he missed due to injury. Merriman has 219 points, Aro leads with 270 points, and Fabien Planet is third with 209 points.
Finishing behind Merriman on both days, Finn Samuli Aro maintained his lead at the top of the E2 championship standings but was unable to compete against the Yamaha rider. With Merriman claiming the victory on both days, and Aro claiming two runner-up finishes, Italian rider Alessandro Botturi (KTM) claimed third on both days.
The French round of the WEC series saw Dakar hero David Frétigné return to the world enduro series and was a strong fourth in the E2 class on day one. On day two Frétigné's result suffered due to catching slower riders on several of the special tests and was then unable to see safely due to the dust.
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Day 1: First , Day 2: First: "It's been a really good weekend for me as everything has gone to plan. The special tests were really dry and dusty and the extreme test was really challenging. I didn't make any mistakes on either day, which I was pleased about. I only got beaten on three special tests on day one in the E2 class on day one but on day two I didn't want to push too hard as there were so many rocks on the tests. It's great to win again though."
David Frétigné (Yamaha Moto France) Day 1: Fourth, Day 2: 11th: "Day one went very well. The special tests all went well for me but the day was very hard. I didn't make too many mistakes and got a good result, which I wanted. I didn't have any luck on day two because I had a rider crash ahead of me on the first special test. I caught him up and couldn't see anything in his dust. I had to keep closing the throttle where I needed to be accelerating, which was really frustrating and meant that I was going to struggle to finish with a good result. Then it happened again on the second test - I couldn't believe it. Now I have to start preparing for the Dakar."
Race classification Enduro 2
Round: 6 - Grand Prix of France
Circuit: Digne
