{"id":20107,"date":"2013-06-19T20:40:09","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T18:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enduro.nl\/?p=20107"},"modified":"2013-06-19T20:40:09","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T18:40:09","slug":"ewc-griekenland-a-grand-prix-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/20107\/ewc-griekenland-a-grand-prix-under-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"EWC Griekenland: A Grand Prix under pressure!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Even<\/a>Only a week after a really great\u00a0Grand Prix of Romania<\/strong>, the caravan of the\u00a0Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship<\/strong> took the direction of Greece for the sixth and penultimate Grand Prix of the season\u2026
\n
\nGreece is a country accustomed to Enduro with its landscapes and different types of grounds breeding for the discipline. This season,\u00a0CEN<\/strong>, chaired by\u00a0Jean-Guillaume MEILLER<\/strong>, has entrusted the\u00a0Off Road Special Projects Team<\/strong>, led by\u00a0Nick ZOURNATZIS<\/strong>, and\u00a0AMOTOE <\/strong>(Greek Federation) the daunting task of organizing this Greek round, two years after the last that took place in the brilliant Kalampaka. But it\u2019s not the first feat of arms of the Off Road Team Special Projects <\/strong>in motorsport and Enduro. Indeed, the Moto Club is the traditional organizer of Rally of Greece and many Rally Raid…<\/p>\n

A passionate club
\n<\/strong>
\nNick ZOURNATZIS <\/strong>and the Off Road Team Special Projects<\/strong> of\u00a0Dimitris ATHANASSOULOPOULOS<\/strong>, with the help of\u00a0Gio SALA (Race Inspector)<\/strong>, has drawn a track of 50 km that riders will race four times during the two days of racing and with two time checks. The paddock will be located in front of the prefecture of\u00a0Kastoria<\/strong>, at the entrance of the city. TheEnduro Test <\/strong>and the\u00a0Cross Test <\/strong>will be at\u00a0Psalika mnt<\/strong>. The artificial\u00a0Xtreme test<\/strong> will, on its side, be located in\u00a0Leoforos Kiknon<\/strong>, just 600 meters from the paddock, and will have a length of about 2 km. For its part, the\u00a0KTM <\/strong>Super Test<\/strong> will be held on Friday, May 21st at the site of the Xtreme Test. Note that the terrain is very rocky, with many portions of forest. The difficulty of the race will also depend a lot on the weather…<\/p>\n

Kastoria <\/strong>is located in the Northwest of Greece. It is the capital of the prefecture of\u00a0Kastoria <\/strong>and is located on the west coast of the beautiful\u00a0Orestiada Lake<\/strong>. This charming city, with more than 16,000 inhabitants, is an important religious center for the Greek Orthodox Church. It contains nearly fifty-four Byzantine and medieval churches.\u00a0Kastoria <\/strong>is 190 kilometers west of\u00a0Thessaloniki<\/strong>and more than 484 kilometers north of the capital:\u00a0Athens<\/strong>\u2026 and 60 kilometers from\u00a0Albania<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

NAMBOTIN and MEO already Champions?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the new bad performance of\u00a0Joakim LJUNGGREN (S – Husaberg)<\/strong> in Romania, and an injured\u00a0Aigar LEOK (EST – TM)<\/strong>who has again lost points while the 2012 Junior World ChampionMathias BELLINO (F – Husaberg)<\/strong> is still inserted on the podium, it doesn\u2019t lack points to\u00a0Christophe NAMBOTIN (F – KTM)<\/strong> to hang a second world title in a row. With 45 units ahead of the official TM, current second, the French should, except problem, be titrated from Sunday evening. Of course,\u00a0LEOK <\/strong>and\u00a0LJUNGGREN<\/strong>will fight with the energy of despair, but it seems inconceivable that the Swedish and Estonian can at least delay the onset ofNambot <\/strong>‘. Especially now since\u00a0BELLINO <\/strong>seems to be the most serious rival to the official KTM what should help a lot the last called. In addition, other riders like\u00a0Luis CORREIA (P – Beta)<\/strong>,Deny PHILIPPAERTS (I – Beta) <\/strong>or Fabien PLANET (FRA – Sherco) <\/strong>have the talent to play the Top 5 and insert between the three protagonists while\u00a0Manuel MONNI (I-KTM)<\/strong> injured in Romania will not be present.<\/p>\n

Same story in\u00a0Enduro 1 <\/strong>where, although\u00a0Juha SALMINEN (FIN – HVA)<\/strong> poses many problems to\u00a0Antoine MEO (FRA – KTM)<\/strong>, the KTM rider records 41 points ahead of the Eightfold World Champion. As his teammate\u00a0NAMBOTIN <\/strong>in E3, the French should be titrated from Sunday evening if he doesn\u2019t have any mechanical or physical glitch. It would be his fourth consecutive title. The goal for his most serious rival Juha SALMINEN<\/strong> will be to finish ahead of the French to force him to play a title at the final Grand Prix of the season with all the pressure that entails. To do so, the official HVA should be supported by his fellow\u00a0Matti SEISTOLA (HVA)<\/strong> yet seriously injured on his foot in Romania and\u00a0Eero REMES (SF – TM) <\/strong>while\u00a0MEO <\/strong>will be helped by teammate\u00a0Cristobal GUERRERO (E) <\/strong>who seems to return at his best. Nicolas DEPARROIS (FRA – Yam)<\/strong> leader of the Greek INA TV Team feels a bit like “home” and will lay spoilsport. Note thatThomas OLDRATI (I – Husaberg) <\/strong>will not be present after his shoulder injury incurred in Romania.<\/p>\n

PHILLIPS in the footsteps of MERRIMAN?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last Senior category (Enduro 2<\/strong>), we should not attend a coronation for this weekend … unless\u00a0Johnny AUBERT (FRA – KTM)<\/strong>,\u00a0Pierre-Alexandre RENET (F – Husaberg) <\/strong>and\u00a0Ivan CERVANTES (ESP – KTM) <\/strong>collapsed completely, leaving the way open for Alex SALVINI (I – HM Honda)<\/strong>. But the probability is very low. In any case, the official HM Honda will aim to build on his lead in the standings (26 points ahead of\u00a0CERVANTES<\/strong>) while his three rivals will seek to push him to the fault before the final in France. But both French and Spanish have much to do as the Italian poster serenity foolproof.\u00a0David KNIGHT (GB – Honda)<\/strong> back to Great Britain to recover from his wayward wrist, Spanish trio\u00a0Victor GUERRERO (ESP – KTM)<\/strong>, Lorenzo SANTOLINO (HVA)<\/strong>,\u00a0Oriol MENA (Husaberg) <\/strong>will host the Grand Prix for the last place Top 5 while\u00a0Antoine BASSET (F – Yam)<\/strong> should be very vindictive after a lackluster Grand Prix Romania.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0Juniors<\/strong>, Matthew PHILLIPS (AUS – HVA) <\/strong>now has 28 points ahead of his nearest rivalGiacomo REDONDI (I – KTM)<\/strong>. This means that he lacks only 12 points to be titled the same day as the duo E1 – E3. But in the very dense under 23category, this seems an elusive goal. WithREDONDI <\/strong>and also\u00a0Mario ROMAN (E – Husaberg)<\/strong>, Danny MCCANNEY (GB – Gas Gas)<\/strong>,\u00a0Lo\u00efc LARRIEU (F – Husaberg) <\/strong>or\u00a0Rudy MORONI (I – KTM)<\/strong> other contenders for victory or a podium,PHILLIPS <\/strong>will have therefore demonstrate mental strength. In\u00a0FIM Youth Cup 125cc Albin ELOWSON (S – Husaberg)<\/strong> will try to get his first win against New Champion\u00a0Jamie MCCANNEY (GB – Husaberg)<\/strong>. But they will also count with the Italian\u00a0Dawid CIUCCI (KTM)<\/strong> who is the man of the second days and the Chilean\u00a0Benjamin HERRERA (TM) <\/strong>solid third in the championship.<\/p>\n

With possible coronations from this weekend, the\u00a0Grand Prix\u00a0Maxxis\u00a0of Greece<\/strong> already looks very “show”. The paddock of\u00a0Kastoria <\/strong>should be under pressure throughout the week before may experience moments of joy and jubilation that will enter the history of the EWC. On the sport side, this sixth round promises to be very exciting and no doubt the\u00a0Off Road Team Special Projects<\/strong> will be implemented for all the wonderful celebration at the beautiful Orestiada Lake, unique island of freshness in Greek furnace…<\/p>\n

Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kastoria (Prefecture of Kastoria) ;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 190km West to Thessaloniki ;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Friday, June 21st : KTM Super Test : 19.00 ;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd of June : Start : 9.00 and Finish at 16.00 ;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Organizer :\u00a0Off Road Team Special Projects<\/strong>;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Web sites : www.enduro-abc.com and www.ewc.gr;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Track : 5kms \u2013 4 laps;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Free Access ;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Airport : Kastoria \u2013 Thessaloniki: 190 kilometers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only a week after a really great\u00a0Grand Prix of Romania, the caravan of the\u00a0Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship took the direction of Greece for the sixth and penultimate Grand Prix of the season\u2026<\/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-20107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ekwk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20107","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=20107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}