MIKA AHOLA WINS 4TH WORLD ENDURO TITLE

Posted By: Ollie S
PR Courtesy of: Tom Hobbs/Honda Racing


Mika Ahola and Honda World Champions for the fourth consecutive time!

“Like a fine wine, Mika Ahola gets better with age” is a quote from the FIM World Enduro Championship website. I could not think of a better way to describe the exploits of the 36 year old Finn who sealed his fourth successive FIM EWC World Championship and fourth in a row with Honda and the formidable Honda- HM-Zanardo Team at the Grand Prix of France, Noiretable.


Mika Ahola took his CRF450R to victory on the first day of a wet Grand Prix of France. He was in imperious form across the wet terrain to defeat main rival Ivan Cervantes and claim the E2 category for the second time and add the latest accolade to the two previous E1 titles. Ahola has been one of the very best riders in the Enduro World Championship during the second half of the last decade and renewal of the number one plate after another reverential display in central France cements his status as one of the true greats of the sport.


Ahola had to negotiate slippery conditions on Saturday and even made a mistake in the Enduro test that increased the tension. With Cervantes not able to reach the Honda rider’s level in the second half of the competition that involved three cautious and demanding 70km laps, Ahola bided his time for a podium slot and was fortuitous when Fabien Planet suffered a mechanical problem in the final stages and the party could begin for the Italian squad thanks to their tenth winner’s trophy of the campaign.

With the championship in the bag Ahola elected to take it easy through Sunday and his absence from the top of the leader-board was the only blip on his 100% podium record across eight rounds and sixteen days of action.


“What a fantastic day for Mika, the team and also for Honda with four titles in a row,” commented Honda Motor Europe Off-road Racing Manager Roger Harvey. “It has been a long and hard season for the team to keep up that excellent record of results and it shows how competitive the battle with Ivan Cervantes actually was as the title fight went down to the final round despite the fact that Mika had not finished off the podium for seven grand prix. Full credit for the guys with their achievements on a new bike for 2010 and we are thrilled with their success.”

An in-depth interview with the new EWC E2 Champion will follow in a separate release shortly.

Read more...

HUSQVARNA 2010 ENDURO 1 WORLD CHAMPIONS

Posted By: Ollie S
PR Courtesy of: Husqvarna Racing


CH Racing Husqvarna Factory Enduro Team 2010
Enduro World Championship ‘10 – Round 8
Noiretable, France, 25/26.9.2010

ANTOINE MEO & HUSQVARNA 2010 ENDURO 1 WORLD CHAMPIONS

CH Racing Husqvarna team rider Antoine Meo is the ’10 Enduro 1 World Champion. Securing his first ever Enduro World Championship title with a winning result on the final day of the GP of France, the former motocross racer put the finishing touches to a hugely successful season. Placing his TE250 at the top of the competitive Enduro 1 class championship standings ahead of countryman Johnny Aubert and Finn Eero Remes, Antoine secured Husqvarna’s 46th enduro world championship.

Starting the event focused on just one thing – winning the ’10 Enduro 1 world championship, Antoine made a cautious start to the opening day. With heavy rain falling throughout the day conditions were extremely wet and muddy, causing many riders to have problems. Steadily improving his pace as the conditions dried, a final lap push saw Meo end the day third in class behind Johnny Aubert and Marc Germain.

With the title within his grasp Antoine again started steadily on day two, but soon started battling for the class win. Maintaining his pace and making no costly mistakes he claimed an eventual two-second winning margin to secure his eighth day win of the season and more importantly the ’10 Enduro 1 world title.


Seb Guillaume ensured the CH Racing Husqvarna team had another reason to celebrate in Noiretable as the seasoned Frenchman secured the runner-up position in the Enduro 3 championship aboard his WR300. With the title already decided before the French event Seb battled with Italian Simone Albergoni during both days of the GP of France, managing to claim the runner-up spot following two class wins. Starting the season injured and with broken bones in his hand Seb also ended his championship campaign injured. Despite having to battle his way through the GP of France win an injured knee, picked up during a French championship event, Seb performed faultlessly during both days of competition.


Antoine Meo – Enduro 1: ‘I’m so, so, happy to have won the Enduro 1 world championship. I’m happy for myself, because this is my first world title, but also extremely happy for Husqvarna, the CH Racing team, and my mechanic Fred. It’s been a long season, which was mostly very good, so to finally be able to say that I am world champion is just great. I didn’t feel like I was under so much pressure but it was a hard race because of the tough conditions. You can see that many riders had problems with their bikes because of the conditions but I have to say that my Husqvarna was perfect all weekend. I wasn’t so fast at the start of the first day, but I saw that I was faster towards the end of the day. So I pushed hard and finished third, which was very important. Day two was really slippery in the morning, but in the afternoon things dried out a lot and I was able to win. Winning the final day of the championship is exactly how I wanted to win the championship. I’m really so, so, pleased to finally be a world champion.’

Matti Seistola – Enduro 1: ‘It was a tough race for me, but I’m pleased that I didn’t have any major problems. The first day was so slippery – I really struggled to get into a good rhythm. I was a little disappointed that I finished seventh, but I finished and learned a lot about the wet conditions. The second
day was better because there was more traction on the tests. I guess it was an ok race for me, not great but not a disaster.’

Seb Guillaume Enduro 3: ‘This has been a very difficult race for me. Not so much because of the conditions, but because of my fight with Simone Albergoni for second in the E3 championship. I injured my knee in the French championship race the weekend before the GP of France so I was a little nervous before the start. But everything went really well on day one and by winning I managed to put myself in a strong position for the runner-up result in the championship. I hit my knee again at the start of day two, which made things difficult, but I gave the third and final lap everything I had. I managed to get the result I needed and second in the championship. Second, after the year I’ve had with my hand injury at the start of the season, is like winning the title.’

Bartosz Oblucki Enduro 3: ‘It’s been a tough race, but I enjoyed it. I enjoy wet conditions so I was a little disappointed not to be on the podium on day one. But fourth wasn’t too bad. I was battling for second position on day two but I lost my rear brake on the enduro test and had a big, big, crash. I damaged the bike a little and it dropped me to fifth.’

Fabrizio Azzalin – CH Racing Husqvarna Team Manager: ‘I am so proud of Antoine and Seb, as well as everyone in the team. Antoine has had a fantastic season. We had a small problem in Greece and he didn’t have the best of races in Turkey, but here in France he has really shown that he is an exceptional rider. He really deserves this title. Antoine really had the situation under control this weekend, he was so calm during both days and on day two really rode really well. This win means a lot to everyone in the team and everyone in Husqvarna.’

2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 1

Enduro 1
1. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 1.01:56.53; 2. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 1.02:04.21; 3. Antoine Meo (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:18.09; 4. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.02:32.09; 5. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1.03:14.26; 6. Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) 1.03:57.05; 7. Matti Seistola (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.04:45.28; 8. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 1.05:01.46; 9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 1.06:05.17; 10. Maurizio Micheluz (TM) 1.06:44.96; 11. Chris Hollis (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.07:22.77

Enduro 3
1. Seb Guillaume (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:20.19; 2. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 1.02:29.15; 3. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 1.02:48.63; 4. Bartosz Oblucki (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.03:22.41; 5. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 1.03:24.22; 6. Michal Kadlecek (TM) 1.05:30.92; 7. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.05:44.02; 8. Antoine Lettelier (Beta) 1.07:13.15; 9. Alessandro Botturi (Husaberg) 1.07:54.29; 10. Romain Barberger (Sherco) 1.08:32.81

2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 2

Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.00:14.80; 2. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 1.00:16.80; 3. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 1.00:32.98; 4. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.00:39.88; 5. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 1.00:43.51; 6. Matti Seistola (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:06.07; 7. Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) 1.03:14.77; 8. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 1.04:04.80; 9. Maurizio Micheluz (TM) 1.04:11.71; 10. Chris Hollis (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.04:14.32

Enduro 3
1. Seb Guillaume (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.01:32.78; 2. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 1.01:33.93; 3. David Knight (KTM) 1.01:58.12; 4. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.02:02.31; 5. Bartosz Oblucki (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:06.76; 6. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 1.03:24.33; 7. Kevin Hamard (Husaberg) 1.12:12.90; 8. Nicolas Boyer (Gas Gas) 1.13:40.03

Read more...

AHOLA ON BRINK OF 4TH WORLD TITLE

The AMV Grand Prix of France at Noiretable this weekend will wrap-up the 2010 Enduro World Championship and could be another remarkable event in the illustrious career of Honda- HM-Zanardo Team’s Mika Ahola. The 35 year old is on the precipice of his fourth crown in succession and second in the E2 (450cc) category. The Finn holds a 28 point lead over sole title rival Ivan Cervantes with both days of the GP yielding a total of 50; even if he finishes second to the Spaniard on the first day of action in central France then a fourth World Championship with Honda will be assured.


The veteran has enjoyed an excellent season on the modified CRF450R, earning nine day wins from the fourteen held in the seven rounds so far and has not dropped out of the top three in all outings.

Ahola – who was 3rd and 4th in the E1 class in France in 2009 – admitted in his personal blog that the weekend will hold special significance. ‘The last GP will be in France. It's gonna be in Noiretable which is the same place where I confirmed my first world title in 2007, so I have a nice memories and I'm looking forward to a good race like back then! My lead over Ivan Cervantes is 28 points which more than enough but there's no space for big mistakes either. Just have to keep calm and focused. Easy to say but can't help the pressure building.’


Noiretable is a familiar course to the riders of the E1, E2 and E3 classes and the entry lists are likely to be swelled in what is a popular event. The 70km lap involves the standard Enduro, Motocross and Xtreme tests and stand-out features involve two steep hill sections, a long 10km Enduro zone and a fast MX area. The race could be complicated by a poor weather forecast.

“It will be an important weekend for us obviously but also a bit nervous because anything can still happen especially if rain arrives,” said Team Manager Franco Mayr. “Mika likes slippery and technical conditions and was actually practicing in something similar in Finland recently but wet terrain also carries more risk; we will have to wait and see.”

“We will arrive there on Thursday and have a look at the course and be ready to change the setting of the bike if the rain falls,” he added.

Oscar Balletti is likely to finish 2010 with 6th in the E2 class as the Italian needs 32 points over Swede Joakim Ljunggren to enter the top five. Balletti enjoyed his best day of the season two weeks ago in Greece so will be aiming to end the campaign on a similar note. Fabio Mossini has options to break into the top fifteen (he is 16th) after a difficult and injury-riddled season in E1. The Italian was able to take his CRF250R to a double point-score in Greece however.


Ahola could be Honda’s second World Champion in off-road motorcycling this year after Repsol Montesa-Honda’s Toni Bou dominated the 2010 Indoor and Outdoor Trial competitions. Fingers are crossed at Honda that the flying Finn can do the business this weekend and cement the pace he has shown all year aboard the Honda CRF450R.

For a full report on the final Grand Prix of the season, visit www.hondaproracing.com throughout the course of the weekend.

Read more...