Back on the third round of the Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro World Championship held this weekend in Finland, which has seen three different winners in Prestige Class!
Maxxis
WEBB gets a win for Maxxis On December 6th, Ty TREMAINE (USA - KTM) offered to Maxxis its first SEWC Junior win and his first World Championship podium... Almost two months later, the Taiwanese tire brand won its first victory in Prestige Class through Cody WEBB (USA - KTM). Rider of the RPM/FMF/KTM Racing team, the 2014 Endurocross Champion won a resounding victory in the first heat after winning also the Super Pole. In total, Maxxis has, at half season; five race wins, one Grand Prix victory and four podiums thanks to the team led by WEBB and TREMAINE!
Ticket to ride
On their arrival in Finland, the situation was simple for Mario ROMAN (ESP - KTM), Paul BOLTON (GB - KTM) and Xavi LEON SOLE (E - HVA): They had to finish in the top 10 in the overall after the third stage to be able to fly to the South American tour with the help of the FIM. And the contract has been completed for ROMAN and BOLTON who, with a 10th and a 9th place in the Grand Prix of Finland ensures their place in the top ten. They even glean a place in the standing, the Spaniard accessing to the 7th and the Brit to the 8th spot. Unfortunately for LEON, only 13th, he couldn’t grab the 7 points between him and Danny MCCANNEY (GB - HVA) and therefore can’t have an access to the Top 10... But we still hope to see the friendly Spanish in Mexico and Brazil!
Aspen
Partner of the Finnish organizer, Aspen is a fuel brand that has the particularity to produce very little exhaust gas. This was tested by all riders in the Grand Prix and the least we can say is that the result is stunning. No smoke or odor came obstruct the view of riders, spectators or photographers and cameramen. Quite a stir in the world of SuperEnduro... Now we are already wondering if this experiment will have a future...
Holeshot 100%
For this third edition of the Holeshot 100%, the riders played with their physical to be first after the first corner. At this game, it's for the second time in a row Taddy BLAZUSIAK (PL - KTM) who came out victorious after the three Prestige heats while Andreas LINUSSON (S - KTM) did the same in Junior... Both racers received some nice bonus 100% "Spirit of Racing" for a more exciting show!
Super Pole powered by Akrapovic
Jonny WALKER (GB - KTM) series of five straight wins was stopped in the Messukeskus of Helsinki. With a ninth time in qualifying, the official KTM failed to qualify for the Super Pole powered by Akrapovic. This time, we saw: Taddy BLAZUSIAK (PL - KTM), Alfredo GOMEZ (E - HVA), David KNIGHT (GB - KTM), Cody WEBB (USA - KTM) and Taylor ROBERT (USA - KTM); but also some nice surprises like Mario ROMAN (ESP - KTM), Kyle REDMOND (USA - Beta) and Danny MCCANNEY (GB - HVA)... At the end of it, it's WEBB who scratches the best time and thus pocketing a bonus of 3 points ahead of Spaniard GOMEZ. In the interim, it is always WALKER who is still leading (6 pts) followed closely by BLAZUSIAK (5 pts), WEBB (3 pts) and finally GOMEZ and KNIGHT (2 pts)...
Still Improving…
Discreet and timid young man in the assistance park, Jack EDMONDSON (GB) is completely changing when he is on his KTM. The son of Paul EDMONDSON had his first experience on the SuperEnduro World Championship in Gdansk (Poland) and since then, he continues to grow. 7th in Poland, 6th in Germany, the young EDMONDSON (18) is constantly growing and has signed a nice 5th place in Helsinki. On top of that, he joined the Top 5 in the Junior category with only 10 points behind his compatriot Gethin HUMPHREYS (HVA - 4th)... Without a doubt, this "son of" has a bright future in SuperEnduro...
Young talent
The Grand Prix of Finland was the final stage of the Women Cup. While we waited the three accustomed stars Emma BRISTOW (GB - Sherco), Jane DANIELS (GB - HVA) and Sandra GOMEZ (E - HVA) carve the lion's share as in Riesa (Germany), a young Finnish came into the fight and slightly moves the hierarchy. Even if BRISTOW pocketed her second title and GOMEZ scored her first victory in SuperEnduro, Sanna KARKKAINEN (FIN - KTM) tripped the 2013 vice-champion DANIELS of the Grand Prix podium. Over motivated before her audience, the KTM rider pocketed two nice third places and showed that there were well and truly talent in young Finns! Jack EDMONDSON (N°18) fighting with Blake GUTZEIT (RSA - HVA) in the rock section.
Getting better...
The season didn’t really go as planned for Danny MCCANNEY, Kyle REDMOND and Giacomo REDONDI (I - Beta). But it was much better in Finland for these three Grading List riders! Indeed, the American, 10th and 11th in Gdansk and Riesa, showed more ease on the Finnish track by signing a fine 6th place just ahead of MCCANNEY (7th) who has often fought with tenors of the discipline during the first minutes of each heat. For REDONDI, which has not yet entered the Top 10 this season, he managed to score 18 points while he had only 12 in two Grand Prix... With these encouraging performances, now we hope that the season of these three riders is well and truly launched...
Dirty Guy?
During this third GP of the season, Taddy BLAZUSIAK was really pushed to his limits. Indeed, dominated by Cody WEBB in the first heat and unable to return to the duo WALKER - KNIGHT in the second, everyone already saw the Polish out of the top spot for his third consecutive Grand Prix. But the official KTM has a mind of steel and thanks to a tough riding style in the final moto, where he touched Knighter in the rock section or was making a block pass on Cody WEBB who had opened a “little door” in the penultimate corner, he get the win he was looking for... Do we have to say that BLAZUSIAK was "dirty"? For sure not but some of his rivals have been really upset with the five-time World Champion acts…
Brand New
We are all used to the traditional rock section, Matrix, Firewood pit or tractor tires but this February, Sunday 1st, the SML (Finnish Federation) has tested a new section in SuperEnduro: the Wall Ride. Not as difficult to cross as rocks or Matrix, the Wall Ride (which involves riding on a wall vertically to avoid a tougher section) is really spectacular. It was very popular with riders, but also with the public and the media... Indeed, the "Go Pro" images have been very spectacular and photographers loved this section as evidenced by this picture of our photographer Robert LYNN!