IN
THE
WIND
P50
SNOWY START FOR
WORLD ENDURO
I
t was a snowy start to the 2018 FIM
EnduroGP Championship in Helsinki,
Finland, March 17-18. As expected,
Finnish riders did well by topping both
days of the competition at the Pai-
janne Winter Classic.
KTM's Aleksi Jukola floated through
the snow on day one to take the win
with a few minutes to spare over
fellow KTM rider Toni Eriksson and
GasGas rider Mika Tammenen.
Jukola, however, couldn't repeat
the second day and had to settle for
third. But it was still a Finnish rider
at the top of the leaderboard when it
was all over. TM's Eero Remes had
nearly three minutes to spare over
GasGas rider Eemil Pohjola.
Beta rider Steve Holcombe was
the top non-Finnish rider after placing
10th on Saturday and sixth on Sunday.
You could say without question that
the Finns had home-field advantage.
Jukola was the top points-scoring
racer after combining results from
both days. CN
Day 1
(Overall)
1. Aleksi Jukola (KTM)
2. Toni Eriksson (KTM)
FROST WINS 2018 NEW ZEALAND
SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
S
loan Frost clinched the 2018
New Zealand Superbike Cham-
pionship aboard his Suzuki GSX-
R1000 after a calculated perfor-
mance at the fourth and final round,
held at the Bruce McLaren Motors-
port Park in Taupo, March 17-18.
The 36-year-old rider from Wel-
lington had built a commanding
lead at the first three rounds, but
he was taking nothing for granted:
Frost held a 47-point lead over his
nearest rival, Mitch Rees (Honda),
at the start of the weekend, and
his safe and sensible
approach to racing on
Saturday and Sunday
saw him qualifying fastest
and then finishing fourth,
sixth and third in the three
superbike races, which allowed
him to add to his first superbike
title in 2016.
"It feels like more of an achieve-
ment this year than my other win,"
Frost said. "I was so nervous. My
qualifying times were really good,
but, as soon as we got to racing
proper, I was riding tight while the
other riders had nothing to lose,
so they were pushing hard.
"There was a lot of pressure
coming into this final round, after
being so close last year to winning
the title, and all those emotions
were coming back to me." CN
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
FUTURE7MEDIA
It was a cold start to
the 2018 EnduroGP
Championship in
Finland.
PHOTO
COURTESY
SUZUKI-RACING.COM
3. Mika Tamminen (GG)
4. Ero Remes (TM)
5. Henri Himmanen (Beta)
Day 2
(Overall)
1. Eero Remes (TM)
2. Eemil Pohjola (GG)
3. Aleksi Jukola (KTM)
4. Toni Eriksson (KTM)
5. Henry Olenius (Hon)
COMBINED OVERALL
1. Aleksi Jukola (KTM)
Sloan Frost wrapped up
the 2018 New Zealand
Superbike Championship.
