PR Courtesy of: Husqvarna Racing
CH Racing Husqvarna Factory Enduro Team 2010
Enduro World Championship ‘10 – Round 8
Noiretable, France, 25/26.9.2010
ANTOINE MEO & HUSQVARNA 2010 ENDURO 1 WORLD CHAMPIONS
CH Racing Husqvarna team rider Antoine Meo is the ’10 Enduro 1 World Champion. Securing his first ever Enduro World Championship title with a winning result on the final day of the GP of France, the former motocross racer put the finishing touches to a hugely successful season. Placing his TE250 at the top of the competitive Enduro 1 class championship standings ahead of countryman Johnny Aubert and Finn Eero Remes, Antoine secured Husqvarna’s 46th enduro world championship.
Starting the event focused on just one thing – winning the ’10 Enduro 1 world championship, Antoine made a cautious start to the opening day. With heavy rain falling throughout the day conditions were extremely wet and muddy, causing many riders to have problems. Steadily improving his pace as the conditions dried, a final lap push saw Meo end the day third in class behind Johnny Aubert and Marc Germain.
With the title within his grasp Antoine again started steadily on day two, but soon started battling for the class win. Maintaining his pace and making no costly mistakes he claimed an eventual two-second winning margin to secure his eighth day win of the season and more importantly the ’10 Enduro 1 world title.
Seb Guillaume ensured the CH Racing Husqvarna team had another reason to celebrate in Noiretable as the seasoned Frenchman secured the runner-up position in the Enduro 3 championship aboard his WR300. With the title already decided before the French event Seb battled with Italian Simone Albergoni during both days of the GP of France, managing to claim the runner-up spot following two class wins. Starting the season injured and with broken bones in his hand Seb also ended his championship campaign injured. Despite having to battle his way through the GP of France win an injured knee, picked up during a French championship event, Seb performed faultlessly during both days of competition.
Antoine Meo – Enduro 1: ‘I’m so, so, happy to have won the Enduro 1 world championship. I’m happy for myself, because this is my first world title, but also extremely happy for Husqvarna, the CH Racing team, and my mechanic Fred. It’s been a long season, which was mostly very good, so to finally be able to say that I am world champion is just great. I didn’t feel like I was under so much pressure but it was a hard race because of the tough conditions. You can see that many riders had problems with their bikes because of the conditions but I have to say that my Husqvarna was perfect all weekend. I wasn’t so fast at the start of the first day, but I saw that I was faster towards the end of the day. So I pushed hard and finished third, which was very important. Day two was really slippery in the morning, but in the afternoon things dried out a lot and I was able to win. Winning the final day of the championship is exactly how I wanted to win the championship. I’m really so, so, pleased to finally be a world champion.’
Matti Seistola – Enduro 1: ‘It was a tough race for me, but I’m pleased that I didn’t have any major problems. The first day was so slippery – I really struggled to get into a good rhythm. I was a little disappointed that I finished seventh, but I finished and learned a lot about the wet conditions. The second
day was better because there was more traction on the tests. I guess it was an ok race for me, not great but not a disaster.’
Seb Guillaume Enduro 3: ‘This has been a very difficult race for me. Not so much because of the conditions, but because of my fight with Simone Albergoni for second in the E3 championship. I injured my knee in the French championship race the weekend before the GP of France so I was a little nervous before the start. But everything went really well on day one and by winning I managed to put myself in a strong position for the runner-up result in the championship. I hit my knee again at the start of day two, which made things difficult, but I gave the third and final lap everything I had. I managed to get the result I needed and second in the championship. Second, after the year I’ve had with my hand injury at the start of the season, is like winning the title.’
Bartosz Oblucki Enduro 3: ‘It’s been a tough race, but I enjoyed it. I enjoy wet conditions so I was a little disappointed not to be on the podium on day one. But fourth wasn’t too bad. I was battling for second position on day two but I lost my rear brake on the enduro test and had a big, big, crash. I damaged the bike a little and it dropped me to fifth.’
Fabrizio Azzalin – CH Racing Husqvarna Team Manager: ‘I am so proud of Antoine and Seb, as well as everyone in the team. Antoine has had a fantastic season. We had a small problem in Greece and he didn’t have the best of races in Turkey, but here in France he has really shown that he is an exceptional rider. He really deserves this title. Antoine really had the situation under control this weekend, he was so calm during both days and on day two really rode really well. This win means a lot to everyone in the team and everyone in Husqvarna.’
2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 1
Enduro 1
1. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 1.01:56.53; 2. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 1.02:04.21; 3. Antoine Meo (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:18.09; 4. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.02:32.09; 5. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 1.03:14.26; 6. Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) 1.03:57.05; 7. Matti Seistola (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.04:45.28; 8. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 1.05:01.46; 9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 1.06:05.17; 10. Maurizio Micheluz (TM) 1.06:44.96; 11. Chris Hollis (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.07:22.77
Enduro 3
1. Seb Guillaume (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:20.19; 2. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 1.02:29.15; 3. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 1.02:48.63; 4. Bartosz Oblucki (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.03:22.41; 5. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 1.03:24.22; 6. Michal Kadlecek (TM) 1.05:30.92; 7. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.05:44.02; 8. Antoine Lettelier (Beta) 1.07:13.15; 9. Alessandro Botturi (Husaberg) 1.07:54.29; 10. Romain Barberger (Sherco) 1.08:32.81
2010 Enduro World Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 2
Enduro 1
1. Antoine Meo (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.00:14.80; 2. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 1.00:16.80; 3. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 1.00:32.98; 4. Eero Remes (KTM) 1.00:39.88; 5. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 1.00:43.51; 6. Matti Seistola (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:06.07; 7. Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) 1.03:14.77; 8. Jordan Curvalle (Sherco) 1.04:04.80; 9. Maurizio Micheluz (TM) 1.04:11.71; 10. Chris Hollis (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.04:14.32
Enduro 3
1. Seb Guillaume (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.01:32.78; 2. Simone Albergoni (KTM) 1.01:33.93; 3. David Knight (KTM) 1.01:58.12; 4. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.02:02.31; 5. Bartosz Oblucki (CH Racing Husqvarna) 1.02:06.76; 6. Oriol Mena (Husaberg) 1.03:24.33; 7. Kevin Hamard (Husaberg) 1.12:12.90; 8. Nicolas Boyer (Gas Gas) 1.13:40.03