Yamaha rules Enduro 1 in Slovakia

UFO Corse Yamaha team riders Cristobal Guerrero and Simone Albergoni made the most of reigning Enduro 1 world championship class leader Juha Salminen's absence at the GP of Slovakia, held in Krompachy, Slovakia. They both claimed a day win each aboard their WR250F machines.

With Salminen absent due to an injury sustained prior to the event, Guerrero and Albergoni took to the start as favourites to finish on the top step of the E1 class podium and duly did so as they shared top honours. With Guerrero finishing close to 14 seconds ahead of Albergoni on day one it was Albergoni who topped day two ahead of Yamaha France rider Marc Germain as two costly mistakes denied Guerrero the chance to repeat his day one win, he still managed third.
 
With Yamaha riders occupying the top three positions in the E1 class on day one in Krompachy Spaniard Guerrero topped the opening test to take an early lead. Continuing to perform well the E1 class rookie maintained his lead and even when the dry special tests became wet and slippery due to heavy rain, the former Enduro junior world champion remained mistake-free going on to claim his first ever senior enduro world championship class win.
Behind Cristobal his UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Simone Albergoni finished second having been unable to get to grips with the Slovakian special tests. Making it the perfect day for Yamaha Frenchman Marc Germain continued his impressive season to finish third, which resulted in an all blue podium. After starting day one in the best possible way and winning the opening special test, Cristobal Guerrero started day two badly due to a slow-speed, but costly, fall on the opening enduro test. Placing fourth in class on test one Guerrero went on to make one further mistake, again on the enduro test, which essentially ended his hopes of a repeat win and despite his best efforts he could do no better than finish third. Improving his result one position from the first day Yamaha France rider Marc Germain secured the runner-up position having performed consistently all day before going on to win the event's final two tests.

In leading five of the day's 10 special tests Simone Albergoni celebrated his first E1 class victory of '07, having topped the opening test before going on to dominate during the second of the day's three laps. Earning what has been a long overdue winning result for the Italian, Simone importantly strengthened his runner-up position in the '07 E1 world championship standings.
 
Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 First
: "My result on the first day was really disappointing. I don't know why but I didn't find a good feeling with my bike. I couldn't work out why, I didn't crash, I just wasn't able to ride at 100 per cent. I was just too slow.
"The second day went well. I started well with a good time in the first enduro test and that set me up well for the day. I didn't really make any changes for day two, but I felt much better. I was able to attack, especially in the enduro and extreme test, so it was good to win."
 
Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 First, Day 2 Third:
"The first day was great for me. I didn't make any mistakes and was able to really concentrate on all of the special tests, even when it started to rain. I thought that Marc Germain and Simone Albergoni would move ahead of me in the results, but I was able to stay ahead of them. It felt really, really good to claim my first ever world champion win in the Enduro 1 class. My bike was perfect, I felt good - it was a great day.
"The second day started badly. I crashed on the first enduro test and lost quite a lot of time. It was a small mistake but I had to turn my bike around before I could go again so I lost around 10 seconds. Then in the second enduro test I crashed again, and again lost more time. In the motocross and extreme tests I was riding well, but because of my mistakes I wasn't able to fight for the win."
 
Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fourth:
"I found things hard on day one, I don't know why. I finished sixth and wasn't able to attack like I wanted to. The second day was much better though as I finished in fourth and was able to fight a little bit more with the top three riders. I made two crashes, but it didn't affect my result. I enjoyed the race, for me it has been the best race of the season so far. I'm happy with the way it went for me." 
 
2007 Enduro 1 Slovakia 02/09/2007
 
Race 1
1 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 50'27.730
2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'13.980
3 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'24.910
4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'40.360
5 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'55.840
6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'40.290
7 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 2'4.790
8 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 2'41.470
9 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 3'54.380
10 Pär Olsson Yamaha SWE 4'42.620
11 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 5'16.450
12 Fernando Ferreira Yamaha POR 6'46.870
13 Thomas Hostinsky KTM CZE 7'1.940
14 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 8'38.360
15 Helio Santos Yamaha POR 9'50.050
 
Race 2
1 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 58'10.510
2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'10.200
3 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'26.410
4 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'29.590
5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'49.480
6 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 2'12.570
7 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'6.910
8 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 4'6.550
9 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 4'16.180
10 Pär Olsson Yamaha SWE 5'47.400
11 Fernando Ferreira Yamaha POR 6'13.970
12 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 6'19.940
13 Thomas Hostinsky KTM CZE 8'11.470
14 Helio Santos Yamaha POR 9'15.930