{"id":19578,"date":"2013-05-19T20:23:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-19T18:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enduro.nl\/?p=19578"},"modified":"2013-05-19T20:23:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-19T18:23:25","slug":"grand-prix-cross-pro-of-portugal-salvini-leads-the-way-on-day-one-in-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/19578\/grand-prix-cross-pro-of-portugal-salvini-leads-the-way-on-day-one-in-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Prix Cross Pro of Portugal: Salvini Leads The Way On Day One In Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Antoine<\/a>Italy\u2019s\u00a0Alex SALVINI (Honda)<\/strong> returned to the top of the Enduro 2 class with victory on day one at the\u00a0Maxxis Enduro World Championship GP\u00a0Cross Pro\u00a0of Portugal<\/strong>. France\u2019s\u00a0Antoine MEO (KTM) <\/strong>topped the Enduro 1 class while his compatriot\u00a0Christophe NAMBOTIN (KTM) <\/strong>claimed a comfortable win in the Enduro 3 category in\u00a0Torres Vedras<\/strong>.
\nWith the forecasted rain showers staying at bay, day one at the fourth round of the series was treated to warm sunny skies that ensured perfect racing conditions. A fast flowing cross test, technical enduro test and challenging extreme test provided a spectacular day of racing for the thousand\u2019s of spectators that turned out to watch the world\u2019s best enduro riders in action.<\/p>\n

Slow to start,\u00a0MEO <\/strong>found himself trailing early pacesetter Finland\u2019s\u00a0Juha SALMINEN (Husqvarna)<\/strong>during the opening lap. Gaining confidence in the terrain,\u00a0MEO <\/strong>upped his pace and topped eight of the nine remaining special tests to secure the\u00a0E1 <\/strong>class win.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI made some mistakes early on and it allowed Juha to gain some time on me,\u201d <\/em>told\u00a0MEO<\/strong>. \u201cI had to fight very hard to close the gap. It was a tough battle.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Posting the fastest time in the first three special tests of the morning,\u00a0SALMINEN<\/strong>looked headed towards victory. However, unable to hold off the charging\u00a0MEO<\/strong>, the Finn was pushed back to second position. Placing over 30 seconds behind\u00a0SALMINEN<\/strong>, Finland\u2019s\u00a0Eero REMES (TM)<\/strong> claimed the third step of the podium.\u00a0Matti SEISTOLA (Husqvarna) <\/strong>held of a late charge from France\u2019s\u00a0Jeremy TARROUX (Sherco)<\/strong> to finish fourth.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0Enduro 2<\/strong> class, Honda\u2019s Alex SALVINI<\/strong> returned to the top step of the podium following his runner-up results at the GP of Spain. Fastest on the SuperTest,\u00a0SALVINI <\/strong>maintained his pace throughout the day to secure his fourth win of the season. \u201cI really enjoyed this race. The tests were fun to ride and I felt comfortable all day,<\/em>\u201d confirmed\u00a0SALVINI<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cI was fast in the morning and was able to hold my advantage despite a tough battle with\u00a0Cervantes <\/strong>on the final lap. It\u2019s great to win again.<\/em>\u201d Despite losing ground to\u00a0SALVINI <\/strong>on the opening lap, Spain\u2019s Ivan CERVANTES (KTM)<\/strong> charged hard during the final two laps to place within seven seconds of the Italian in second position. In the battle for the final step of the podium, France\u2019s\u00a0Johnny AUBERT (KTM<\/strong>) held off a determined Pela RENET (Husaberg) <\/strong>to secure third. Finishing less than three seconds behind\u00a0AUBERT<\/strong>,\u00a0RENET<\/strong>ended his day in fourth with Spain\u2019s\u00a0Victor GUERRERO (KTM) <\/strong>completing the top five.<\/p>\n

With a crash on the first corner of the opening enduro test,\u00a0NAMBOTIN <\/strong>struggled to find his usual winning form during the morning. Settling into a fast rhythm on the third lap, the Frenchman topped the five remaining tests of the day to take the win. \u201cI had a strange morning,<\/em>\u201d confirmedNAMBOTIN<\/strong>. \u201cI crashed at the beginning of the first enduro test and lost some confidence. It took a while to recover from that and I had to fight hard to win.<\/em>\u201d After starting fast, Estonia\u2019s\u00a0Aigar LEOK (TM)<\/strong> was unable to hold off the late challenge from\u00a0NAMBOTIN <\/strong>and ended his day as the runner-up. Delivering a strong performance at his home race, Portugal\u2019s\u00a0Luis CORREIA (Beta)<\/strong> claimed his second EWC podium\u00a0with third position. Italy\u2019sManuel MONNI (KTM) <\/strong>was fourth with France\u2019sMathias BELLINO (Husaberg)<\/strong> rounding out the top five.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s\u00a0Matt PHILLIPS (Husqvarna) <\/strong>secured his fourth consecutive victory with a commanding win in the\u00a0Enduro Junior <\/strong>class. Claiming his first podium result of 2013, home favourite\u00a0Luis OLIVEIRA (Yamaha) <\/strong>finished in second position. Spain\u2019s\u00a0Mario ROMAN (Husaberg) <\/strong>finished just seven tenths of a second behind\u00a0OLIVEIRA <\/strong>to end his day in third.\u00a0 France\u2019s\u00a0Loic LARRIEU (Husaberg) <\/strong>placed a further two seconds behindROMAN <\/strong>to claim fourth while Italy\u2019s\u00a0Giacomo REDONDI (KTM)<\/strong> rounded out the top five. In the Enduro Youth Cup class Manxman\u00a0Jamie MCCANNEY (Husaberg) <\/strong>was again the rider to beat as he secured a commanding 78-second margin of victory. Sweden\u2019s\u00a0Albin ELOWSON (Husaberg)<\/strong>placed as runner-up to\u00a0MCCANNEY <\/strong>with\u00a0Oliver NELSON (Husaberg) <\/strong>completing the top three.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s\u00a0Jessica GARDINER (Sherco)<\/strong> took her first win of the season in the\u00a0Women\u2019s Cup<\/strong>category. France\u2019s\u00a0Geraldine FOURNEL (Husaberg) <\/strong>finished in second position with Britain\u2019s\u00a0Jane DANIELS (Husaberg) <\/strong>completing the top three.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italy\u2019s\u00a0Alex SALVINI (Honda) returned to the top of the Enduro 2 class with victory on day one at the\u00a0Maxxis Enduro World Championship GP\u00a0Cross Pro\u00a0of Portugal. France\u2019s\u00a0Antoine MEO (KTM) topped the Enduro 1 class while his compatriot\u00a0Christophe NAMBOTIN (KTM) claimed a comfortable win in the Enduro 3 category in\u00a0Torres Vedras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ekwk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}