KTM’s Cyril Despres emerged as stage two winner and has taken an early lead in the overall standings on the second day of the Desafio Litoral, the six day rally in northern Argentina that is part of the Dakar Challenge Series.

His push in day two on his KTM 450 Rally bike gives him a narrow four minute lead over KTM rider Jakub Przgonski of Poland in the overall standings. Monday’s stage winner Chaleco Lopez of Chile finished third and is now behind the Polish rider by about half a minute. The day’s ride put three KTMs in the top three places in both the stage and the overall standings.

Speaking from Posadas after the rally, KTM’s support staff member Stefan Huber said riders had been faced with heavy rain on Tuesday that made riding almost impossible. “It was raining so hard and everything was so slippery almost all the riders had crashes today,” Huber said. KTM’s EnduroCross specialist Taddy Blazusiak did not finish after crashing and banging his shoulder. He is at the Desafio Litoral only to experience rally for the first time and may start in tomorrow’s stage. The team will decide in the morning if he is to ride, base don how his shoulder is feeling.

As well as the extreme wet and slippery conditions, Day two presented riders with two separate challenges over the timed sections of the course. The first started over hard paced terrain but soon disappeared into a maze of tracks through grassed areas and pine plantations. This was followed by a neutral link stretch of a small section of mountaineous jungle before returning to traverse the plantations. The second timed stretch took riders over a rocky and steep area, through a river and then into another area of narrow fast passages. Riders had to pace themselves carefully and be prepared for quick changes in tempo. It was a day that absolute concentration and was a test of both man and machine.

While all top three riders are Dakar veterans of repute, they are all experiencing something quite new in the type of terrain that the Desafio Litoral is offering. They all remarked after day one that riding at speed through thick jungle where the surface could be as slick as ice was very challenging.

Day Three of the rally takes competitors Posadas to Bella Vista

Stage Two Results: Posadas -> Posadas
1, Cyril Despres, France, KTM, 2 hours 49.40
2, Jakub Przgonski, Poland, KTM at 1.50
3, Chaleco López, Chile, KTM at 6.26
4, Mauricio Gomez, Argentina, Yamaha at 31.02
5, Javier Pizzolito, Argentina, Honda at 31.34
6, Pablo Rodriguez, Argentina, Honda at 41.31
7, Jeremias Israel, Chile, Honda at 41.31
8, Adrian Sansaloni, Argentina, Beta at 1:16.40
9, Demian Guiral, Argentina, Honda at 1:19.24
10, Patricio Cabrera, Chile, Kawasaki at 1:20.48
Taddy Blazusiak, KTM DNF

Standings after Stage Two (of six)
1, Despres 7 hours 03.59
2, Przgonski 7:08.12
3, Lopez 7:08.36
4, Gomez 7:47.50
5, Israel 8:02.10
6, Pizzolito 8:15.52
7, Rodrigues, 8:16.35

Husqvarna Enduro Team by CH Racing team riders Juha Salminen and Matti Seistola enjoyed a successful weekend at the fifth round of the Enduro World Championship, the GP of Italy held in Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany. With expectations high coming into the team’s home GP, Salminen narrowly missed out on a double Enduro 2 class victory but managed to secure a deserved victory on day one before placing second on day two following a costly mistake on the event’s enduro test. Seistola topped the Enduro 1 standings for much of the opening day’s competition before placing a close second, going on to secure a second runner-up result on day two.

With extremely hot temperatures and dry and dusty terrain the GP of Italy proved to be a highly demanding race. Faced with four laps each day all riders were pushed to their limits, with all special tests becoming extremely rough. Retirements were also high as the heat took its toll on both riders and their machines, but both Salminen and Seistola enjoyed two trouble free days.
For Salminen the opening day went exactly to plan. Starting with solid performance on the Friday night super test, Juha quickly got himself and his TE310R up to speed at the start of day one. Taking the lead of the ultra-competitive E2 class the Finn determinedly battled his way through the day, remaining at the head of the class throughout. Enjoying the dry and dusty special tests he ended the day 17 seconds ahead of Spain’s Cristobal Guerrero. In total Juha topped six of the day’s special tests in the E2 class.

Day two saw more impressive riding from Juha. Fifth on the opening motocross tests wins on the enduro and extreme tests on lap one saw him take the class lead. Remaining out front while also battling again with Guerrero throughout the second lap, at the end of the third lap a mistake on the enduro test saw Juha lose over half a minute. Dropping to the runner-up position Salminen fought back to win the three remaining special tests but placed second.

With Alex Salvini competing in round three of the US Endurocross series, Juha’s E2 class mate Romain Dumontier placed 13th on day one and 11th on day two despite having a suspected broken foot.
Once again showing himself and his TE250R to be capable of topping the Enduro 1 class results Matti Seistola came agonisingly close to winning the E1 class at the GP of Italy. Taking the lead following two strong opening laps, Matti started the fourth and final lap as class leader but wasn’t quite able to secure victory. Placing fourth and third on the final two special tests of the day he finished up second in class.

Day two again saw Matti place as runner-up, despite winning three of the day’s special tests and riding extremely well. Trying a little too hard to secure his first win of the season Matti fell on two occasions, preventing him from challenging for victory. Nevertheless Matti’s two runner-up finishes added to Juha’s first and second place results ensured a memorable and successful weekend for the Husqvarna Enduro Team by CH Racing at the EWC GP of Italy.

Matti Seistola – Enduro 1: ‘The first day went really well – I was fast and competitive from the first special test until the last. I didn’t make any mistakes, and although it was very hot I felt ok all the day. The time controls started to feel longer and longer as the day went on, but I enjoyed it. The special tests were really good, and I enjoyed them a lot. My bike was great as well. It was really good to see that everything we worked on during the last seven weeks worked well. The track got really rough and I was able to keep on pushing all the way to the end, which was great. Day two was as good as day one apart from one mistake that cost me 30 seconds. I was stuck in a bush, facing the wrong direction, but it could have been a lot worse. All in all it was a really good race. There’s three races to go so there’s a lot of points still available – we have a lot to fight for.’

Juha Salminen – Enduro 2: ‘Day one was really good. I was leading most of the day, and feeling really good, but on the last two special tests Antoine Meo managed to get ahead of me. I was still pleased with the result because I pushed as hard as I could, I really gave my all. He was just a little faster. It was a great battle all day, and to get second was good. I was really pleased to see that my pace was good enough to fight for the win. I had a good first lap on day two but I started to ride a little too aggressively on the enduro and extreme tests. I just wanted to win so badly. But I crashed twice on the extreme test and lost too much time. The last lap was good again, but I’m a little disappointed because I know I was fast enough to win. Anyway, it’s been a great weekend and very positive.’

GP of Italy – Day One
Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo (KTM) 51:39.79; 2. Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 51:54.04; 3. Eero Remes (KTM) 51:57.23; 4. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 52:56.64; 5. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 52:58.61… 12. Lorenzo Santolino (Husqvarna) 55:45.51…

Enduro 2
1. Juha Salminen (Husqvarna) 51:22.23; 2. Cristobal Guerrero (KTM) 51:39.99; 3. Piere-Alexandre Renet (Husaberg) 52:34.49; 4. Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas) 52:37.74; 5. Antoine Basset (Yamaha) 53:02.19… 13. Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) 56:47.02…

GP of Italy – Day Two
Enduro 1
1. Eero Remes (KTM) 57:38.79; 2. Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 58:12.64; 3. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 58:19.79; 4. Rodrig Thain (Honda) 58:37.25; 5. Fabien Planet (Sherco) 58:46.90…

Enduro 2
1. Cristobal Guerrero (KTM) 57:04.14; 2. Juha Salminen (Husqvarna) 57:26.17; 3. Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas) 58:17.29; 4. Antoine Basset (Yamaha) 58:34.34; 5. Oscar Balletti (Beta) 58:48.12… 11. Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) 1:01:07.30…

Overall standings after 5 GP: Enduro 1:1 Meo p.160, 2. THain 130, 3.Remes 128, 4.Oldrati 108, 5.Albergoni 104, 6.Seistola (Husqvarna 100).
Enduro 2:1. Guerrero p 155, 2.Renet 151, 3.Salminen ( Husqvarna) 137.