Cervantes wins ISDE

From KTM Racing

E1 maestro Ivan Cervantes of Spain put in a winning final day on his KTM to snatch overall victory from teammate Juha Salminen of Finland in the International Six Days Enduro, which wrapped up on Saturday.

A win in the overall individual World Trophy for Salminen looked like a formality at the end of Day Five of the 2008 ISDE in Northern Greece but the Finn had to swallow disappointment and concede to Cervantes following a race incident that left him without a serviceable machine in the final stages.

It was again a very successful Six Days event for the KTM lineup. As well as the overall individual, Cervantes clinched the E1, Salminen's teammate Alessandro Belometti sealed the E2 and their mutual KTM factory teammate Marko Tarkkala was first in E3.

Thomas Oldrati, who leads the Junior Enduro World championship Standings on his KTM also finished in a highly creditable fourth place in E1 proving that he is definitely a rider to watch in the future.

Salminen had dominated this extreme endurance event from day two to five but the top place on the podium was not to be his. Tackling the final motocross test on the motocross track inside the Serres Circuit, Salminen started strongly and was in front of the field when the race was halted due to an accident that required medical assistance for an injured rider.

Salminen also got away well when the race was restarted. He snatched the holeshot and was in the top three when he crashed after the first corner. He was remounting ready to rejoin the race when he was struck by another rider and the resulting damage to his KTM machine did not allow him to continue.

Overall World Trophy
Individual winner Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM

Results E1 after Day Six
1. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
2. Ricky Dietrich, USA, Kawasaki
3. Julien Gautier, France, Honda
4. Thomas Oldrati, Italy, KTM
5. Maurizio Micheluz, Italy, Yamaha

Results E2 after Day Six
1. Alessandro Belometti, Italy, KTM
2. Rodrig Thain, France, TM
3. Fabrizio Dini, Italy, Yamaha
4. Fabio Mossini, Italy, Honda
5. Oscar Balleti, Italy, Honda

Results E3 after Day Six
1. Marko Tarkkala, Finland, KTM
2. Sebastien Guillame, France, Husqvarna
3. Christophe Nambotin, France, Gas-Gas
4. Stefan Merriman, Australia, Aprilia
5. Alessandro Botturi, Italy, Honda