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Photo - Stefan Merriman, UFO Corse Yamaha on his way to win not only his E2 class, but also the prestigous overall win in Poland !
Thanks go to Anita, who has taken the time to dissect the official ISDE results (a very onerous job) and Lexy as they kept us updated on the 2004 ISDE, Poland.
Over the six days Silver-Bullet has been the first website in the world (certainly those in my bookmarks) with the latest ISDE news.
Well, we have a new New Zealand World Champion!!! Stefan Merriman is now the winner of the ISDE 2004.
There was utter confusion and high drama on track today!!!. The riders did their TC stages Ok, came back to Pac Ferme and prepared for the race. The conditions were very dry and dusty.
E1 were the first to race. This turned out to be a dangerous race with the extreme dry and dusty conditions. There were many riders fallen off and laying on the ground on and off the track. One rider from Japan was seriously hurt during this race.
Stefan was the first rider to come to the start for E2. He took one look at the track and said it was ridiculous to ride these conditions. Between him and his friend Gio Sala and several other riders they decided not to race unless the track was watered. This the organisers attempted to with a very limited quantity of water on hand. Stefan did 2 pre laps to check it out but still the dust was unstoppable.
Stefan came back and said no, he wouldn't race. The organisers again sent the truck out with the rest of the water, another 3 laps for Stef to check it out. Stefan told me (via phone) that he had to consider the rest of the races also with both the E3 and the E2 still left to run, probably 9 races in all. He had a talk to the riders and felt confident they would support him if he refused. The organisers requested the riders to present themselves to the start line but Stefan said he wasn't going to race. He pushed his bike back to the Parc Ferme.(which means he cannot bring it out again) This was a big gamble as the organisers had already said anyone not riding will get a 1 minute penalty per lap, which would have put Stefan out of the race as far as class and overall wins!!!!.
The support for Stefan was tremendous and all the riders except 2 British riders supported him, but these two decided they would have their own little race. They lined up and the next minute the Spanish team were lined across the track to stop them race!!!!! Lots of booing and chaos started and I understand the Spanish team has been disqualified. Vilanova from Spain is in 2nd place in E2 and I understand Spain is 2nd in the Junior Trophy class also.
This will, of course, be appealed against and I would say many dramas are still to unfold.!!!
However, results at the end of Day 5 prevail. This means that Stefan won the ISDE outright and also the manufacturers team.
Lexy will have news when she gets to do her coverage.
Well done Stef.You are a champ.
Regards
Anita
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