WEC: Aubert claims E2 World Championship

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RACE REPORT 12/10/2008 Albergoni ends 2008 with 3rd Albergoni in France The final round of the '08 World Enduro Championship, staged in Mende, France, proved to be a challenging one for UFO Corse Yamaha team riders Simone Albergoni and Maurizio Micheluz as both were unable to secure podium finishes at the GP of Europe. However Yamaha France rider Marc Germain performed well finishing in a strong runner-up position on Day1 and 3rd on Day2. With the French event bringing the '08 WEC series to a close, Albergoni, Germain and Micheluz, as well as injured UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero, officially claimed 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place positions respectively in the Enduro 1 world championship. For Albergoni hopes that the final event of the season would bring with it rewarding end-of-season results failed to materialise as Italy's number one enduro rider was unable to finish in the top three. Despite performing well throughout the opening day's competition, including a test win early on, Albergoni finished 4th. On day two Albergoni dropped one position to 5th despite riding consistently during the day. Having set his sights on claiming his first enduro world championship title this season, and having started the year with impressive results at the first three rounds of the series, Albergoni's disappointment was clear after the event. Micheluz Improving on his '07 world championship position of 7th, Maurizio Micheluz' outing in France were typical of several of those he endured during 2008 as he spent much of both days battling for the fourth place before he ended up finishing 7th on both days. Although disappointed at having not finished higher, Maurizio was pleased to have ended the year 5th in the competitive Enduro 1 world championship standings. Albergoni Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 4th, Day 2: 5th "From the mid-way point of the season I've found it hard to ride at my best. I've not really enjoyed a single corner of any special test since the middle of the season. I don't know why. I have just struggled and it's a mystery. My season started in a good way but after Poland my motivation went downhill and although I finished third in the championship I'm just not happy with things. When your target is to win it's hard when you realise that's not going to happen." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: 7th, Day 2: 7th "I finished seventh on both days but I was also fighting for fourth and fifth position on both days. I crashed three times on the enduro test on the first day, as well as twice on day two. I lost everything in the enduro test. On both days fourth position wasn't too far away. It's just disappointing that I didn't finish higher. The beginning of the year things didn't go so well but the end of the year things have gone better." Circuit Length: n/a Crowd: 10,100 Weather: Changeable 2008 Enduro 1 France 12/10/2008 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 52'16.390 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'20.430 3 Ivan Cervantes KTM ESP 0'21.400 4 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 1'16.090 5 Eero Remes KTM FIN 1'17.170 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 1'23.460 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'40.710 8 Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 2'25.540 9 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 2'31.020 10 Tom Sagar KTM GBR 2'36.210 11 Damien Miquel Yamaha FRA 3'42.840 12 Raphael Andre Kawasaki FRA 3'59.180 13 Jakub Horak KTM CZE 8'11.740 14 Charles Feyrit Honda FRA 9'14.630 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 51'11.530 2 Ivan Cervantes KTM ESP 0'2.500 3 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 1'5.130 4 Eero Remes KTM FIN 2'5.330 5 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 2'15.470 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 2'21.370 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 2'35.560 8 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 2'41.350 9 Tom Sagar KTM GBR 2'50.080 10 Thomas Oldrati KTM ITA 2'50.640 11 Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 3'6.280 12 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'31.340 13 Damien Miquel Yamaha FRA 4'40.790 14 Jakub Horak KTM CZE 7'20.300 15 Charles Feyrit Honda FRA 9'31.020 Rider Standings 11/10/2008 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 375 2. Ivan Cervantes KTM ESP 364 3. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 301 4. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 284 5. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 224 6. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 185 7. Eero Remes KTM FIN 171 8. Tom Sagar KTM GBR 163 9. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 154 10. Jordan Curvalle Suzuki FRA 140 11. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 139 12. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 102 13. Jakub Horak KTM CZE 97 14. Damien Miquel Yamaha FRA 62 15. Daryl Bolter Husqvarna GBR 58 Manufacturer Standings 11/10/2008 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 375 2. KTM 351 3. Yamaha 338 4. Husqvarna 197 5. Suzuki 153 6. TM 102 7. Kawasaki 56 8. Sherco 12 RACE REPORT 12/10/2008 Aubert wins world championship Aubert riding to the title UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert is the 2008 Enduro 2 World Champion. Having held the lead in the E2 series on his WR250F from the third round the former French motocross racer has now lifted his first ever world title, continuing an excellent season of racing for Yamaha after MotoGP and MX1 Motocross world championship success. Competing against Juha Salminen, the rider widely regarded as the best enduro racer of all time, Aubert put the finishing touches to what has been a near faultless season finishing 2nd on Day1 in Mende, France and then 3rd on Day2. Starting the final round of the '08 WEC campaign with a commanding lead in the E2 class Aubert realistically needed just a handful of points from both days of competition to secure the coveted E2 title. Competing in front of a hugely enthusiastic home crowd, Aubert pushed hard on day one but was clearly riding well within his limits as he opted not to challenge for the class win. Finishing over one-minute behind winner Salminen, Aubert ensured that on day two he needed to collect only the required points in order to take the crown. By finishing 4th, and earning his 16th podium finish of the year, Aubert did exactly what he needed to do and joined Finns Mika Ahola and Samuli Aro as a '08 World Enduro Champion. Dini Not having such a good weekend was Italian rider Fabrizio Dini. Although scoring 7th in the final Enduro 2 world championship ranking Fabrizio found the French event's enduro test extremely challenging and saw several mistakes prevent him from finishing closer to the podium. Aubert Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: 2nd, Day 2: 3rd "It's amazing to be able to say that I'm world champion. It hasn't sunk in yet but I know in a few days I will be so, so happy when I realise what I've achieved. It's been a long, hard year. I was nervous on day one, but on day two it wasn't so bad. I put in some good tests but I was really only thinking about the championship. I have to thanks the team for doing a great job this year. They have helped me do what I have always dreamed of, becoming world champion." Fabrizio Dini (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: 9th, Day 2: 8th: "It's been a nice race but not a good one for me. I didn't like the enduro test. It was really slippery and hard to understand. I felt like I was the slowest rider in the event on that test. I crashed many times on day one, which gave me a pretty bad result. I stalled my bike on the enduro test on day two and I lost 40 or 50 seconds. After that things went ok because I was fast on the extreme and motocross tests. I finished seventh in the world championship, which is the same as last year. I'm not overly happy with my final position but I've enjoyed the year." Circuit Length: n/a Crowd: 10,100 Weather: Changeable 2008 Enduro 2 France 12/10/2008 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 51'7.800 2 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'19.620 3 Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 1'43.150 4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'15.150 5 Joakim Ljunggren HusaBerg SWE 2'25.540 6 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 2'51.170 7 Rodrig Thain TM FRA 3'0.330 8 Nicolas Deparrois GasGas FRA 3'17.140 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'24.320 10 Jean Francois Goblet BMW BEL 3'51.570 11 Mickael Metge HusaBerg FRA 5'1.490 12 Rudy Cotton Beta FRA 5'9.440 13 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 5'18.180 14 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 5'54.250 15 Christophe Robert KTM CHE 6'28.700 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 50'31.820 2 Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 0'51.600 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'1.540 4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'3.620 5 Rodrig Thain TM FRA 2'14.720 6 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 2'16.930 7 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 2'43.270 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'12.030 9 Joakim Ljunggren HusaBerg SWE 3'12.930 10 Jean Francois Goblet BMW BEL 4'28.110 11 Nicolas Deparrois GasGas FRA 4'34.760 12 Mickael Metge HusaBerg FRA 4'39.990 13 Rudy Cotton Beta FRA 6'3.770 14 Hans Vogel KTM NED 6'17.650 15 Christophe Robert KTM CHE 6'49.930 Rider Standings 11/10/2008 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 361 2. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 353 3. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 259 4. Rodrig Thain TM FRA 226 5. Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 222 6. Joakim Ljunggren HusaBerg SWE 217 7. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 196 8. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 173 9. Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 147 10. Simo Kirssi BMW FIN 139 11. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 134 12. Nicolas Deparrois GasGas FRA 134 13. Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 110 14. Alessandro Zanni Honda ITA 78 15. Jean Francois Goblet BMW BEL 70 Manufacturer Standings 11/10/2008 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 378 2. Yamaha 361 3. Husqvarna 248 4. HusaBerg 243 5. TM 226 6. Honda 221 7. BMW 191 8. Aprilia 173 9. GasGas 134 10. Beta 66 11. Suzuki 26 Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61hs / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 625 6539 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. http://www.yamaha-racing.com