Enduro

Eero Remes dominates opening day of GP of Finland

Posted:

Sunday, March 26th, 2017

9:46 AM

Finland‰Ûªs Eero Remes (TM) has dominated the opening day of the FIM Maxxis EnduroGP World Championship, blitzing the Enduro 2 class to finish more than two minutes ahead of countryman Henric Stigell (Husqvarna) as well as posting the day‰Ûªs overall fastest time.

Former world championship regular Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) battled his way to the top of the EnduroGP class, placing close to one-and-a-half minutes ahead of Marko Tarkkala (Husqvarna). In the Enduro Junior and Enduro Youth classes Eemil Pohjola (Husqvarna) and Hugo SvÌ_rd (Husqvarna) ensured yet more Finnish victories.

Eero Remes dominates opening day of GP of Finland

It was TM mounted Remes who stole the show on day one of the GP of Finland. Expected to be among the riders to beat, he didn't disappoint and set a pace few could match from the very first special test. ‰ÛÏIt was a great day for me, racing in front of so many Finnish fans was amazing,‰Û

Former world championship regular Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) battled his way to the top of the EnduroGP class.

Behind Hellsten was another former world championship regular ‰ÛÒ Marko Tarkkala (Husqvarna). Making a one-off EnduroGP outing the burly Finn remained consistently fast throughout the day, enjoying being back in the world championship and racing at home.

Third in EnduroGP went to another Finn ‰ÛÒ Aleksi Jukola (KTM). The first non-Finn in EnduroGP was Matthew Phillips (Sherco). Despite a big crash three tests from home the Tasmanian kept himself ahead of his nearest challenger, Steve Holcombe (Beta).

‰ÛÏI thought I'd been cold before, but today was the coldest I‰Ûªve ever been,‰Û

Pascal Rauchenecker (Husqvarna) was the fastest non-Finn in the Enduro 2 class, finishing third to deliver one of the event‰Ûªs stand-out performances

Rounding out the top 10 in EnduroGP was Christophe Nambotin (KTM), Loic Larrieu (Yamaha), Nathan Watson (KTM), Christophe Charlier (Husqvarna) and reigning Enduro Junior World Champion Giacomo Redondi (Honda), who crashed heavily on the penultimate test.

With Remes running away with things in Enduro 2, Henric Stigell was the only rider to get close. Although nearly three minutes behind Remes after the three hours of special test action, Stigell was impressively fast throughout the day.

Pascal Rauchenecker (Husqvarna) was the fastest non-Finn in the Enduro 2 class, finishing third to deliver one of the event‰Ûªs stand-out performances. ‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm more than happy with my third-place result. I worked hard to be as ready as I could for this event, and things went well. It was tough, but in some ways the long, cold road stages were the toughest. I hope I can keep going well tomorrow.‰Û

Placing fifth in EnduroGP, Steve Holcombe (Beta), was the first two-stroke rider home ‰ÛÒ Steve was forced to ride half of the day‰Ûªs 10th special test with no front brake having bent his front brake disk on a rock

Fast enough for second overall, Eemil Pohjola (Husqvarna) dominated the Enduro Junior class to finish close to eight minutes ahead of his closest rival, Italy‰Ûªs Davide Soreca (Honda). Swede Mikael Persson (Yamaha) rounded out the top three.

In the Enduro Youth class Hugo SvÌ_rd (Husqvarna), Hermanni Haljala (Husqvarna) and Roni KytÌ¦nen (Husqvarna) finished on the podium.

Full class results are not yet available