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David Knight wins E3 World Enduro Championship with final round in hand.

D3-Racing.com
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The rain in Spain stayed mainly in the plain but Ivan Cervantes (E1), Stefan Merriman (E2) & David Knight (E3) won both days on a muddy course that left many riders with time penalties. Paul Edmondson picked up another podium place with a 3rd in the E1 class on Day 1 & a 5th on Day2. Daryl Bolter finished 3rd in the Juniors on Day 2.

David Knight dominates World Enduro Championship opener

KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli rider David Knight got his '05 World Enduro Championship campaign off to the best start possible by dominating the season's opening round in Guadalajara, Spain on both days. Aboard his 525cc KTM David topped the Enduro 3 class comfortably as well as finishing the event as the fastest overall rider on both day one and two.

Topping the E3 class by a massive two minutes and 19 seconds on day one from his team-mate Marko Tarkkala, Knighter extended his winning margin on day two by a further 11 seconds from Finn Mika Ahola. Confident of a good result not even David himself expected to finish as far ahead of his rivals as he did.

Due to heavy rain during the opening day of the GP of Spain the season opener turned out to be a much harder race than most expected. With the rain and soft Spanish terrain resulting in a heavily rutted motocross special test, a slippery extreme test and a rough and challenging enduro test, Knighter was able to dominate the first day's proceedings with relative ease. Enjoying riding in the challenging conditions, the Manxman simply proved too strong for those hoping to challenge him for the E3 class win.

With day two a much drier day David again dominated the E3 class and the unofficial overall classification, again with almost effortless ease. Extremely fast on the long and demanding cross-country special test, Knighter also proved fast and consistent on the event's extreme test as well as extremely quick through the motocross test. As a result he was unchallenged on day two, just as he had been on day one.

David Knight: "Things couldn't have started better for me really. Both days went well and I didn't have any real problems at all, just a few small mistakes that's all really. Day one was really slippery to start with and going straight into the tight and twisty motocross test was a bit tricky. Being behind the E1 and E2 classes meant that the conditions were much better for us than they were for the other classes but it was still pretty slippery. The extreme test was pretty good even though it was wet, and the enduro test was also good. "As the day went on the tests got better and better. The course was pretty easy apart from one hill, which was slippery, but I knew that check was pretty tight on time so I just pushed on. I got held up a bit by some slower riders but I still had two minutes at the end of it. The last timed motocross test was slippery for the E3 class riders and I high-sided. I still managed to win that test though but it was horrible because there was no grip. "Day two went really well. I rode steady on the motocross and extreme tests and pushed pretty hard on the enduro test. I was putting in good times all day and I can't work out how come I was so far ahead of Marko Tarkkala and Mika Ahola. Every test all weekend, pretty much, I've been riding pretty steady. I've had a couple of scary moments on the last enduro test because I was trying to beat my time from the second lap but apart from that I felt really comfortable with my riding. I've just been trying to enjoy my riding and I'm still getting good times. I was riding feet up on the foot pegs through the enduro test and my times were good. "I hope that I can keep things going the way they did this weekend at the next round of the series in Portugal. My bike was really, really good here in Spain and I have to thank the Farioli KTM team and D3-Racing's Julian Stephens because their support has been great."

Edmondson finishes on the podium at WEC opener

Honda Racing Fast Eddy PAR Homes rider Paul Edmondson claimed a podium finish in the competitive Enduro 1 class at the opening round of the ’05 World Enduro Championship finishing third on day one before then placing fifth on day two. With heavy rain during the opening day’s competition making for an extremely tough event, Edmondson battled back from a slow start to join Spain’s Ivan Cervantes and Frenchman Marc Germain on the podium.

Competing in WEC competition aboard a 250cc four-stroke for the first time in three years, Edmondson, like most E1 class four-stroke riders, struggled in the slippery conditions early on day one. With all three of the event’s special tests proving extremely tricky for the E1 class riders due to the class being the first onto all tests, Edmondson managed to work his way up the results and moved to third with a strong ride through the day’s last test.

On day two Edmondson started well and again looked as if he would finish on the podium but was unable to match the pace of those at the front of the class. Still performing better than several of the classes expected front runners, Edmondson ended the day fifth. Although slightly disappointed, the two strong point scoring results at the opening round of the championship are results that Edmondson is pleased with.

For The Honda Racing Fast Eddy team’s Enduro 2 class rider Euan McConnell the series opener proved to be both a good and bad event. Day one turned out to be a disaster due to McConnell losing time on two separate occasions with day two seeing the Scot place a strong seventh in class. For Enduro Junior class rider Si Wakely the event proved to be a challenging one. Losing time on day one due to slower riders ahead of him blocking several of the courses trickier climbs, on day two a few too many mistakes hampered his result. Despite that he placed inside the top 10 of the Enduro Junior class on both days.

Paul Edmondson: “The weekend as a whole went pretty well really. It would have been nice to have had a podium finish on both days but with such a competitive class getting a third and a fifth is a strong start to the season, which I’m happy with.

“Day one was really difficult because of the weather. I didn’t get off to a particularly good start but I just kept plugging away and ended up getting third, which was good. On the last test of the day I put in a really good test, which helped my result, but I just kept trying to push as hard as I could. The conditions were really slippery, which I think most of the riders struggled with, it was just a case of getting on with it as best you could.

“Day two started well but then riders like Richard Larsson, Ivan Cervantes and Petteri Silvan upped their pace and pulled some time on me, which I wasn’t able to pull back. I didn’t have any problems, but I might have been a little bit rusty riding the four-stroke in the mud, but I’m pretty pleased with the way the weekend has gone.”

Euan McConnell: “Day one started really well because I was the quickest E2 rider, partly because I started behind the other riders and the track had dried. I got told that I hadn’t done that well though, which I didn’t understand. Because I had been told that I had ridden then fast I was trying to work out what I could do to make it better, when I didn’t need to do anything at all. My head was in pieces because I didn’t know what could be up and things went progressively down hill from there.

“I lost time on the tight check on the second lap because there were riders everywhere. I cleaned it then on the last lap but I already had the penalties. Then I checked in three minutes early into the check at the end of the lap.

“I had a much better day on day two. I didn’t crash on any of the test and I think I won the first extreme test in the E2 class. It was a much better day really, I really enjoyed it.”

Simon Wakely: “I’ve really enjoyed my first world championship race. It was pretty difficult on day one and I knew as soon as I saw so many riders stuck on the hills that I was going to lose time, which was disappointing. I just tried to get through it as best I could but I still lost 10 minutes.

“My test times were pretty good on day one but I didn’t have such a good day on day two. I messed up the enduro test on most laps but I’ve learned a lot and I’m really looking forward to racing in Spain now.”

Bolter claims podium finish at WEC opener

Husky Sport Husqvarna rider Daryl Bolter, racing for the Italian Mucci Racing Husqvarna team, overcame a disappointing opening day at the GP of Spain in Guadalajara to claim a strong third place result on day two. Racing in the World Enduro Championship for the first time ever, Daryl's day one result was spoiled through no fault of his own as slower riders ahead of him blocked a single track climb during the events tightest control, which resulted in him losing 15 minutes.

Despite his set back Bolter proved to have the speed to finish on the podium on day one and posted consistently quick special test times despite his obvious disappointment. Enjoying the challenging conditions, and competing on an extreme special test for the first time, Daryl's opening day result of 13th in class did little to reflect the way in which he rode.

On day two Daryl put his day one disappointment behind him and showed that he has what it takes to finish on the podium in the Enduro Junior class. Surrounded by riders on 250cc two-stroke machinery in the results, Bolter placed in third position aboard his 125cc Husqvarna, just 10 seconds behind second place rider Jake Stapleton. Again enjoying competing in WEC competition, Daryl showed that he is a fast learner and topped the junior class results on the extreme test on more than one occasion.

The opening round of the '05 World Enduro Championship proved to be a much harder event than most expected due to heavy rain on day one. With the Enduro Junior class competing as the last of the WEC's four classes its riders found that conditions were better for them that they were for the classes starting ahead of them on several occasions. With the rain making parts of the course difficult it also meant that several of the classes better riders found themselves stuck behind slower riders and received time penalties as a result.

Daryl Bolter: "I really enjoyed day one because it was really challenging, the going was quite difficult. The only really difficult part of the course though was a hill in the tight check. I could see riders stuck all over it and I tried going around them but there wasn't any way of getting up. I had no option but to wait and I lost 15 minutes, which was really disappointing because there was nothing I could do and it wasn't my fault. "Day one actually went pretty well apart from that. The going was good, which made the event pretty physical and enjoyable. The motocross test was a bit too long, and because the marking tape was down in so many places some riders were missing a few corners. The enduro test was really good though and I loved the extreme test. It was the first time I've ridden an extreme test and I couldn't believe how tiring it was. It's nothing like I've ridden before and I really enjoyed it because it was so different. "I got stuck in again on day two and tried to forget about day one. I won the extreme test in the junior class and was second or third on most tests all day. Most of the course was single track climbs with rocky outcrops right at the very top, which weren't too difficult. I put in some good test times again, which I was happy about. It's just disappointing knowing that I could have got a much better result on day one. "I know which riders I have to beat in the junior class now. I beat the Spanish rider that won the class on both days on some tests but he is really quick. It's a great start to the year though. Knowing that I'm on the pace is great."

Results Day 1 E1 E2 E3 Junior Day 2 E1 E2 E3 Junior