Home riders dominate day one of EnduroGP of Finland
By Press Release on 18th Mar 18
This first round of the Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship headed 200 kilometres north of Helsinki, was where the riders started the 83rd edition of Paijanne, in temperatures of -13 degrees!
However, that didnt discourage the 180 riders of the Grand Prix of Finland who raced relentlessly for 12 and a half hours, with 16 timed special tests spread over more than 400 kilometres.
Im cold said 2017 Junior World Champion Brad Freeman (Beta Boano) at the time control in Jamsa Weve just had a long one-hour transfer that seemed endless! But I really enjoy riding in these really different conditions and Im still having a lot of fun!
This was an opinion which was not necessarily shared by some competitors like Loic Larrieu (Yamaha) and Christophe Charlier (Beta), or those with troubles such as Davide Guarneri (Honda RedMoto) who fell heavily in Special 2.
The day began on frozen soil, the first tests of the day looking very different than those from the special test 4 onwards where the abundant snow depth - more than 60 centimetres - amplified the extreme difficulty.
The settings I had early in the day were no longer suitable in the powdered snow and I struggled more and more admitted Matthew Phillips (Sherco), frustrated and losing time from the halfway point.
Jamie McCanney
Needless to say that under such conditions, the Finnish specialists (Tamminen, Eriksson, Ajala) rode to their hearts content. Starting with Aleksi Jukola (KTM) leader until mid-day before Eemil Pohjola (Gas Gas), a well-known former Junior rider in the World Championship, took over after test 9.
After pushing hard to close the gap on the KTM rider, Pohjola was unfortunately forced to give up on special test 13 due to a mechanical problem as the sun dipped low on the horizon and night fell, the last 3 specials were run in total darkness!
Eero Remes (TM) brief leader of the scratch class, battled with his compatriots Mika Tamminen (Gas Gas), Toni Eriksson (KTM) and Jussi Arvaja (Sherco) for top honours.
The factory TM rider had to fight hard in the E2 class against another Finn, Matti Oikari (Honda), while the Italian duo Alex Salvini (Husqvarna Zanardo), Deny Philippaerts (Beta Boano) fought a superb battle throughout the day. Salvini took third and confirmed his very promising start to the season.
Credit to another E2 rider, Josh Gotts (TM Electraction) who also performed excellently to grab his best World Championship result in fifth place.
After the retirement of Pohjola, it was Jamie McCanney (Yamaha) who was top man in the E1 category, despite the superb performance of his compatriot Brad Freeman!
Brad Freeman
The factory Yamaha Outsiders rider offered up a splendid and unexpected victory on the first day. The Manxman held off charges from local rider Jussi Arvaja, who finished second, and Freeman who scratched the last two night specials against the Finnish talent!
Steve Holcombe (Beta) was indeed the best of the foreigners in Enduro 3, thanks to his smooth riding which was perfect for the hellish conditions. The 2017 EnduroGP World Champion secured a brilliant fifth place against local riders Jukola, Ericsson and Tamminen.
The factory Beta rider scored important points for the rest of the season even though Gas Gas factorys Danny McCanney and Christophe Nambotin also performed well, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.
Aleksi Jukola: Im satisfied with having won this first day even if I am disappointed for Eemil (Pohjola) who broke down. Now time for a good hot shower, a night of rest, and I hope to do the double and win my first Pijnne!
Steve Holcombe
Jamie McCanney: If I had been told that I was going to start the season in Finland with a win in my class...I would never have believed it!
Of course, if Pohjola hadnt had a mechanical issue, I wouldnt be on the top step of the podium, but as we often say; to finish first, first you have to finish! In any case, it feels good to start the season like this even if Im feeling tired!
Eero Remes: The young riders are going strong out the front and its going to be hard to get the overall Pijnne victory, but Im happy to have won my category! Tomorrow is another day but I have a good opportunity to make a small gap against my other competitors
Brad Freeman: Some people probably didnt enjoy riding hereI loved it! Although its tiring, I really enjoyed riding in the snow and on top of that, I won two of the three night-stages. So how could I not be satisfied with this excellent third place?!
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