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All content © Bob MuIIins |
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Mixed weekend for Yamaha Racing at the Enduro World Championship GP of Greece Yamaha Racing riders battle it out at a demanding fourth round of the 2015 EWC series. Team Miglio Yamaha's lead rider Cristobal Guerrero approached the GP of Greece with high hopes of returning to the Enduro 1 class podium but frustratingly struggled with crashes and mistakes during both days of competition. On day one the Spaniard pushed hard to put himself in contention for a possible podium result, but spent the day unable to settle into a comfortable rhythm. Making matters worse he was also given a 30 second penalty after a mistake on the extreme test put him the wrong side of track markers. All-in-all it was a day to forget for the experienced EWC campaigner. Day two proved to be much more productive for Guerrero. Finding his feeling with the Greek terrain the WR250F rider produced notable improvements on both the motocross and extreme tests, while also performing well on the enduro test. Knowing that pushing too hard could easily result in mistakes that could effect his results, Cristobal rounded out the day just five seconds from the fourth position. Competing in Greece for the first time ever Gianluca Martini finished the fourth GP of the season in 10th on both days. Finding it extremely difficult to master the long and technical enduro test, the highlight of Gianluca's race was a second fastest E1 class time on the motocross test. Round four had its highs and lows for Yamaha France supported rider Marc Bourgeois. The GP started on a highly positive note for Bourgeois as he set the fastest time in Enduro 1 during Friday's Super Test. The Frenchman kept his momentum through Saturday's day one, fighting for a possible win. Ending the day as runner-up, Bourgeois enjoyed the unfamiliar experience of sharing the runner-up spot on the podium with countryman Christophe Nambotin. Both finishing the day with exactly the same overall time both riders were credited with second position. Able to ride at his full potential, despite still feeling the effects of tendonitis in his left wrist, Marc started day two with high expectations. A mistake took away his chances of another positive result. Unlucky to get stuck in one of the enduro test's deep river crossings he lost a significant amount of time and finally ended day two in ninth place. The FIM Maxxis Enduro World Championship next heads to in Rovetta, Italy on June 19/21.
"The first day in Greece didn't go so well for me. I crashed too
many times so a good result was out of the question. Then I was given a 30
second penalty because I crashed in the extreme test and the only way to
continue was to re-enter the test two meters further along. It was
impossible to enter in the same place. I'd worked my way back up to sixth,
but with the penalty it wasn't a great day. I felt better on day two, and
I'm pleased that I was able to improve my times on the motocross and extreme
tests."
"Not the best weekend for me, especially on day two. I made some mistakes, some crashes, so it was tough. It was a really challenging race, especially the enduro test. For me that really was hard to perfect. There were many places that had had become very deep and it I just hoped I wouldn't get stuck. Next is the GP of Italy, which I'm really looking forward to. I hope there I can get two top six results." Marc Bourgeois "I guess it's been a god and not so good race for me. Day one was great, I'm really pleased to have tied with Christophe Nambotin in second position. Injuring my hand in Portugal was a real disappointment so I wanted to really try and get back to the podium here in Greece. I felt really good on day one, and had a good fight with Nambotin. I was one of several riders to get into trouble on the enduro test on day two. I was fighting for the podium but I got stuck in the mud following one of the river crossing on the enduro test. I lost one or two minutes so it was impossible to come back to the podium." Results FIM Enduro World Championship, Round 4 8. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1:09:50.57 Day 2 - Enduro 1 5. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1:11:25.86 Championship Standings (After Round Four) 5. Marc Bourgeois (Yamaha) 90pts |
Cristobal
Guerrero
Gianluca
Martini