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VIII Barcelona International Indoor Enduro, Spain (November 26) (27.11.2006)
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KTM riders Ivan Cervantes, Xevi Galindo and David Knight have dominated the VIII running of the Barcelona International Indoor Enduro, staged with the Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona. With reigning E1 world champion Cervantes winning all four of his E1 class races, Spaniard Xevi Galindo won two E2 class race to top the E2 category while David Knight dominated the E3 class winning all four of his heat races. In the end-of-night Superfinal race the three riders filled the podium with David winning ahead of Ivan and Xevi.Despite still feeling the effects of a 29-hour return flight from the International Six Days Enduro in New Zealand crowd favourite Cervantes dominated the E1 class races winning each of the four heats comfortably. Not putting a foot wrong in any of his races Ivan then finished as second in the Superfinal and as the highest placed E1 class rider after another impressive display of indoor enduro riding. Finishing in fifth position in the E1 class after a disappointing first E1 class heat race was Italian Alessandro Belometti.Just as in the E1 class KTM came out on top in the Enduro 2 class with Spaniard Xevi Galindo wining two races to finish two points ahead of Finn Mika Ahola. Despite a sixth place finish in the second E2 class race reigning E2 world champion Samuli Aro placed third. In the Superfinal Xevi continued his good form and placed third with Aro eighth.Third one week ago in the Las Vegas Endurocross race David Knight stamped his authority on the Barcelona event in no uncertain terms. The fastest rider in qualifying, Knight then comfortably won each of his four Enduro 3 heat races. Making it a KTM one-two Finn Marko Tarkkala finished no lower than third during the four E3 heat races to claim second. In the Superfinal Knight dominated the race with Tarkkala placing seventh.David Knight: “It’s been a great night. I put in the fastest time in qualifying, won my four Enduro 3 class heat races and then the super final, it couldn’t really have gone any better. I wasn’t the fastest rider off the start in any of my races but I managed to get into the lead by out braking the others into the first corner. I tried to do the same thing in every race – get a good start, push hard for two laps and then ease off a bit. That worked in the final perfectly. I opened up a big lead in two laps and then eased off. It was horrible because I wanted to attack but I didn’t want to risk crashing.
“Each of my E3 races were pretty similar. I got good starts and then tried to open up a good lead. I had a close moment in the second heat when I nose dived over a double and then went off the track but apart from that all went well.
“The track was great, I couldn’t be sure that I was the winner until I crossed the finish because there were several places where the track could catch you out. It’s been a great evening and I’m really happy with my results.”
Xevi Galindo: “The Enduro 2 races were really great for me. I crashed in the second race but was still able to work my way back to second, which I was very happy with. In the last race I crashed in the water but I managed to finish fourth to win the E2 class. I had a really good feeling in all the races.
“The Superfinal was also good for me. David and Ivan were very fast but I had a good start. Some riders made some mistakes, which helped me, but again I was able to ride well and finishing third is a great result, and a great way to end the night.”
Ivan Cervantes: “It has been a fantastic night for me. It was a difficult evening because I arrived back from New Zealand after 29 hours of flying just three days before the race, so I wasn’t in my best physical condition. This year has been such a great season for me so I just wanted to ride as well as I could at my home race in Barcelona. Winning each of the four E1 races was perfect.
“I didn’t start so well in the Superfinal because with the smaller bike it is difficult against the E2 and E3 machines. I then also had to stop in the first set of rocks, which lost me two more places. But I knew that four laps would be a long time so I just tried to push hard and catch the other riders. I was riding well and arrived in second position quite quickly. I knew that it would be hard to beat David so I just tried to ride as hard as I could for all my fans that came to support me.”
Results – VIII Barcelona Indoor Enduro
Superfinal (E1, E2, E3)
1. David Knight (KTM) 5:27.89; 2. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 3:32.91; 3. Xevi Galindo (KTM) 5:4252; 4. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 5:46.53; 5. Mika Ahola (Honda) 5:48.99; 6. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 5L57.30; 7. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 5:59.43; 8. Samuli Aro (KTM) 6:04.55; 9. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 6:08.63; 10. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1:22.04; 11. Gerard Farres (Yamaha) 1:23.04; 12. Wayne Braybrook (Gas Gas) 1:22.34
Enduro 1 class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 4 points; 2. Paul Edmondson (Honda) 14; 3. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 21; 4. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 22; 5. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 27; 6. Gerard Farres (Yamaha) 27; 7. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 27; 8. Rafael Garcia (Husqvarna) 36; 9. Gregory Eyries (Yamaha) 36; 10. Joan Jou (Yamaha) 36; 11. Mika Hartman (KTM) 37; 12. Melcoir Faja (Honda) 41; 13. Daniel Llobet (Honda) 41
Enduro 2 class
1. Xevi Galindo (KTM) 7 points; 2. Mika Ahola (Honda) 9; 3. Samuli Aro (KTM) 11; 4. Wayne Braybrook (Gas Gas) 19; 5. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 19; 6. Graham Jarvis (Sherco) 23; 7. Juan Pedrero (Sherco) 28; 8. Miguel Garcia (Husqvarna) 34; 9. Armand Monleon (KTM) 39; 10. Xacob Agra (Yamaha) 40; 11. Sergi Bellavista (Beta) 41; 12. Jordi Vila (Yamaha) 42
Enduro 3 class
1. David Knight (KTM) 4 points; 2. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 9; 3. Cristobal Guerrero (Gas Gas) 14 points; 4. Kari Tiainen (KTM) 17; 5. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 26; 6.Lucas Puerta (KTM) 26; 7. Alessio Paoli (TM) 28; 8. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 28; 9. Marc Puigdemont (TM) 30; 10. Jean_Etienne Memmi (Sherco) 38
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