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LJunggren puts finishing touches to amazing debut IEWC season

A fine fifth place result at the Barcelona Indoor Enduro sees Husaberg’s Joakim Ljunggren secure third position in the ’10 Indoor Enduro World Cup Securing his position as not only the best performing newcomer to the ’10 Indoor Enduro World Cup series but as one of Europe’s very best indoor enduro riders, Joakim Ljunggren continued his impressive results in the ’10 IEWC series placing fifth overall at the action packed Barcelona Indoor Enduro. Coming into the event off the back of his best ever IEWC result – second overall at round three of the championship in Vigo – Joakim was focused on just on e thing at the series’ fourth and final event – ensuring that he finished third in the championship. And following three eventful races that’s exactly what he did.

“I never expected to finish the Indoor Enduro World Cup series with such a good final position,” admitted a thrilled Joakim after the prize giving ceremony. “Being my first season of indoor enduro racing I knew I would be up against a lot of fast and experienced riders. For me a top five result would have been great, so I’m thrilled to have ended the championship in third. The most important thing for me though is that I learned a lot during the championship, and generally things improved throughout the four races. I feel I’m a much stronger indoor enduro rider now. I could see that a third place finish was possible after the second round of the championship, so that was my goal.”

With the final round of the ’10 IEWC series incorporating a round of the Trials World Championship the capacity crowd enjoyed some thrilling action with Joakim once again leading the Husaberg charge. Although not able to make it onto the podium at the end of the event he put the finishing touches to what has been a fantastic debut IEWC season. Quickly showing himself to be one of the fastest riders Joakim topped his heat race before battling his way to two fourth and one sixth place results.

“Things were generally really good for me here in Barcelona. It was a great course and I felt good every time I was on the track. Winning my heat race was a great start to the event. Although it was hard not to make mistakes I managed to stay out of trouble. The first final was tough. I had an ok start and spent the whole race working hard to try and improve my position. I made a few mistakes but finishing fourth was a good result. I was last off the start in the second final, which made things pretty difficult. I managed to work my way up to fourth again, which I was really happy with. There were some really difficult sections on the track, but things went well again.”

Knowing that he was headed for the third in the championship the night’s last final saw Joakim come close to crashing early in the race before several small mistakes hampered his progress. “I had a really tough time in the final race,” admitted Joakim. “I got a good start but in the rock section after the finish line area I almost crashed over the bars. I was almost last and had more problems once I got going, but I finished sixth, which was ok. It was a tough night because there wasn’t much time between the finals to recover. I’m thrilled to have ended the championship third.

“My focus is now on my preparations for the World Enduro Championship but I can’t wait to do more indoor events. Competing on the FE 390 has been great, it’s been the perfect bike and finishing third in the championship is a result I’m really pleased with.”

Joining Joakim in the finals was Oriol Mena. After winning his thrilling LCQ race Oriol found the finals tough and failed to finish inside the top 10. “My LCQ race was tough, but to qualify for the finals was great, especially with so many people supporting me. I just wanted to try and do my best and enjoy myself. It’s the second indoor race that I have qualified for the finals and again I learned a lot. I’m not a natural indoor enduro rider, but I enjoyed the event. But I’m looking forward to the World Enduro Championship now.”