Wednesday, November 13: Spaniard Ruben Jimenez Riquelme passed Portugal’s long-time leader Lino Araújo late in the race to claim victory in the opening 35-minute Moto that counted towards the Karo Cup on Wednesday morning. The Moto was held off the northern shores of stunning volcanic Lake Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Jimenez Riquelme said: “It was a big fight, very intense. I picked the best track and I waited for the moment. We never know what can happen.” Araújo added: “I feel good. It was a good race. I think in the next race it is more important and I push to the maximum.”
Riders had earlier taken a 37km transfer from the event’s base at Pangururan on the western shores of Samosir Island with points also available for a troublefree transfer at the start of the three-day quest to become the 2024 UIM-ABP Aquabike Endurance World Champion.
Araújo made a strong start to take the hole shot and stay ahead of Frenchman Teddy Pons, Hungarian György Kasza, current European Endurance champion François Medori and Jimenez Riquelme. The Portuguese had won the opening European Endurance Moto in Vichy back in the summer and he began to edge clear of Pons to lead the legend by 9.967 seconds after lap one.
Lorenzo Benaglia suffered a fall soon afterwards, as Pons began to steadily close in on Araújo and Medori climbed to third place with Kasza pulling up after the opening lap. Neither Cliff Ellmers nor Hillman Kurniawan were among the 31 racers who made the start of Moto 1.
Pons had reduced the deficit to 7.133 seconds after five laps with Medori breathing down his Easy Rider team manager’s neck in third. Jimenez Riquelme climbed to fourth ahead of Japan’s Isahai Hajime and Aitzol Beristain.
Araújo weathered the storm and began to edge clear of his rivals again over the next couple of laps. Pons hit trouble of his own on lap eight and slipped to fifth with Jimenez Riquelme taking up the pursuit of the Portuguese as the Iberian Peninsula had a 1-2 on the leader board. Hajime also moved ahead of Medori to snatch fourth.
With 10 laps in the bag, Araújo led his Spanish rival by 6.102 seconds, Hajime retained third place and Pons regained fourth when pre-race favourite Medori pulled up on lap nine and slipped out of contention. The Frenchman’s demise lifted Aitzol Beristain and American veteran Anthony Radetic into fifth and sixth positions. Japan’s Jun Ikoma had already fallen by the wayside on lap four and was joined by Italy’s Alberto Santini on lap seven and Australian Scott Phillips a lap later.
Jimenez Riquelme reduced Araújo’s lead to 3.427 seconds after 12 tours of the northern Lake Toba circuit and the Spaniard managed to find a way to pass the long-time leader on the penultimate lap of 17 to win the Moto by 5.249 seconds. He now holds a three-point lead over the Portuguese after race one.
Hajime claimed the final place on the podium from Pons and Aitzol Beristain rounded off the top five. Radetic picked up points for sixth, Thai Permphon Teerapatpanich was seventh and Cambodians Filip Saly and Ou Mouet Saly and local rider Boanerges Ratag rounded off the top 10.
Numerous 30-second time penalties for handed out after the Moto for various infringements. Slobodan Sobic was handed one for a jump start, as was Scott Phillips.