EWC 2011: fireworks in Sicily?
Sicily is in the spotlight this weekend. In addition to the Tour of Italy does it too E.W.C. the Italian island. At the foot of the volcano Etna, who appears to be active again these days, more specifically in the town Francavilla di Sicilia the Enduro toppers have set up camp these days. Starting tomorrow they will get four rounds of 40 km over rocky terrain. The Sicilian route is shaped like an 8. The round contains a rocky Xtreme test, an enduro test and a cross test.
In Sicily it remains to be seen whether anyone can make a stand against it Juha Salminen (Husqvarna). The Finnish veteran dominated the E1 class during the first two GPs. Only during the last day in Portugal Salminen made a mistake. His compatriot and KTM factory rider Eero Remes could take full advantage of this. If the Italian GP also becomes a Finnish get-together in the E1, the Finnish duo could well be off for a title fight. So it is crunch time for the Southern European riders. From them it seems Rodrigue Thain (HM Honda) to have the best cards. The Northerner is currently in third place in the World Cup standings, but is already 23 points behind Salminen. The Italians also suffered quite a bit in the opening phase of the EWC. Can Farioli KTM-driver Tom Oldratty, encouraged by the Sicilian public, to make up some of its deficit? Also Cedric Melotte starts in Sicily. After a fairly strong debut in Portugal, we are waiting for confirmation from the Namur man. melotte However, this weekend he will have to make do with less competitive material.
In Queen class E2 the Latin drivers call the shots. Antoine Meo currently leads the championship. The Husqvarna rider has 10 points more than his compatriot Pierre-Alexandre Renet. And that is remarkable because Renet is only 2 years olde season in the World Enduro Championship. Renet, in turn, has a small lead Ivan Cervantes. However, the surprise could come from another Spaniard at the foot of Etna. Last weekend showed Cristobal Guerrero after all, he was Cervantes's superior during the 3e round of the Spanish Enduro Championship. He also beat Juha Salminen in the Scratch rankings. Another interesting thing to follow in Sicily is Johnny Aubert. After a terrible first GP in Spain,... Johnny Ouch things in order in Portugal with two day victories. Nevertheless, Aubert is already 40 points behind classification leader Meo. With an 8e place in the standings, we can speak of a successful start to the season Jean-François Goblet. Goblet took a weekend off last week and should therefore start in Italy with charged batteries. Hans Vogels started poorly in Catalonia but then showed regularity. Like 11e In the standings the Husaberg rider has a view of the top 10. After all Birds is 1 point out of 10e classified Frenchman Jordan Curvalle.
Mika Ahola started off very well at the E3 World Cup. The Finnish multiple world champion only dropped 3 points. Now David Knight is out for a longer period of time, at first glance it seems that no one can rival Ahola. Maybe the surprise comes at the foot of Etna Taddy Blazusiak. The Polish KTM two-stroke rider seems to have recovered from his injuries and won the E3 class in the 3 last weekende round of the Spanish Enduro Championship.
So it could be quite exciting in Sicily this weekend. Will we get fireworks on the flanks of Etna?
Photo Credits: ABC Communication
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