McConnell             Stapleton            Stapleton

Gernika, Spain 13/14 May 2006

Enduro World Championship

Third round

PAOLI AND STAPLETON GIVE THE TM RACING / BERLONI TEAM SATISFACTION ALSO IN SPAIN

At only seven days from the encouraging performances of the riders of the TM RACING / BERLONI Team, new results have arrived from Alessio Paoli and Jacob Stapleton to be reminded.

On two days climatically and technically very different one from the other, Saturday was run in the mud under the rain while on Sunday, with a hot sun and the ground made insidious by deed ruts, the official TM riders achieved their aims.

After the extraordinary proof of character demonstrated by the fifth and sixth places reached a week before in Portugal, despite the after-effects of a painful dislocation of his right shoulder, Alessio Paoli bettered himself, reaching the podium. Arriving at a step from the top positions in the mud on the first day, Paoli succeeded in achieving third place having, therefore, controlled his opponents without giving up attacking as shown by the trajectory chosen in the extreme test, bringing home precious points for his moral after the accident that had conditioned him in previous world and national rounds.  Now Paoli is at the fifth position in the world Championship classification.

Paoli said at the end of the race: “…..it was truly a hard and breathless race but I was finally able to take that world podium that had  just  escaped me so many times. I am first of all happy because I was able to get out of a moment of difficulty due to my shoulder injury and this result helps me and my team to look ahead with greater faith…..”.

Great performances also from twenty year-old Australian Jake Stapleton who continues to reap successes in the combative EJ class, reserved for the younger riders. Like Paoli, Stapleton  was on the verge of  the podium on Saturday (for a handful of seconds, seven to be exact) but quickly took his revenge during the second day, raced on ground more favourable to his style of riding. At Gernika, in fact, Jake’s Sunday ended in a triumph with a victory that, from the end of the first lap no longer seemed in discussion, occupying third place in the world championship standing at only 19 points from the top.

Stapleton said at the end of the race: “…..Saturday was very difficult for me and the two falls in the extreme test told me to be careful. On Sunday, instead, with the hard ground I was able to ride in my habitual way and I won with no problems. We now have a month without races before the Italian GP during which I will have to work hard because I want to present TM with a double victory in the home race……….”.

The transfer to the Iberian Peninsular closed, therefore, for the TM RACING / BERLONI team with an important haul, enriched, moreover, by the very regular positions of the Finn Petri Pohjamo, who ended both the racing days in fifth place in the E1 class. Petri now is in fourth place in the world championship standing at very few points distance from the leaders.

In the E2 class Euan Mc Connell’s championship continues regularly, ending the Spanish race with two twelfth positions and occupying twelfth place  in the provisional standing.   

Results and classifications on www.abc-wec.org 

Next appointment June 3 at Asti for the fourth round of the Enduro Absolutes of Italy.

TM RACING / BERLONI

Enduro Team

Press office