Eero Remes and fellow Finnish riders dominated both days of racing at the opening round of the 2017 FIM Maxxis EnduroGP World Championship in Finland.
Remes posted the fastest time in Enduro 2 class and ended both days of competition as overall fastest. The Finn was joined by countrymen Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) who topped the EnduroGP class, Eemil Pohjola (Husqvarna) who dominated the Enduro Junior class, and Hermanni Haljala (Husqvarna) who topped the result sheets in the Enduro Youth category.
“It was a great day for me, racing in front of so many Finnish fans was amazing,” explained Remes at the end of the day. “The first tests were the best for me. The ground was frozen hard, the spiked tyres really gave me a lot of grip – those early tests set me up for a great day.”
Sherco’s Matt Phillips pushed hard in the sub-zero temperatures to finished fourth in the EnduroGP class and seventh overall after 11 hours of racing. Phillips was first of the non-Finnish riders.
“I thought I’d been cold before, but today was the coldest I’ve ever been,” said Phillips. “It was tough being one of the first riders on the tests in the morning, there was no real line to follow, so at times I was a little all over the place. Generally, the day went well.”
On Day 2 the Tasmanian placed third in EnduroGP behind Antti Hellsten and Steve Holcombe.
EnduroGP rookie Daniel Sanders (KTM) handled the foreign conditions of snow and ice and placed sixth in Enduro 2 both days.
See the highlight here.
Antti Hellsten , Eero Remes, Hermanni Haljala