After the last wet and slippery race in Levi, the conditions for the fourth leg of Finnish Enduro Series were very different as the race was held in dry and dusty conditions in Tahko.
Situated on the shore of Lake Syväri, the fell called Tahkovuori provided a demanding setting for the race that truly tested both the riders and their rides.
The trails in the area are notorious for being full of sharp rocks that will surely cause punctures through the race. The rider who could ride clean all 10 stages without punctures or other technical problems would be a heavy contender to take the win here. There were altogether six different special stages on the race and the stages 1,3,4 and 5 were ridden twice to make it total of 10 special stages.
Antti Laiho on the first stage of the race. Laiho rode solidly through the race without punctures or technicals that earned him a fourth place.
The first stage was routed on this old worn-out road that had massive rocks everywhere.
Stage three and four made some use of these fun bike park berms and jumps.
Juhani Kettunen came third on the race. He improved his riding as the race went on taking fastest time on the 7th, 8th and 10th stage.
Eetu Nyman on the fourth stage called old school.
Although the race didn't went as planned for Ville Tuppurainen (coming on 18th place) he managed to get enough points to confirm his overall win of the season before the last race held in Sappee.
Sauli Hjerppe on a Stage 5/9 called Anettes anti-flow.
Santtu Nyman came second on the race. After the first stage fourth place finish he picked up the pace on the stage two and climbed up the ranks to second place where he managed to stay the rest of the race.
Jarmo Valtonen took the last spot on the podium as he came fifth on the race.
Even with puncture on the stage eight and quite hard crash on stage seven Aki Färm still was able to take the win here. He rode the fastest time on 6 of the stages and second fastest on two. That kind of riding earned him a win here even with the problems.
The 10th and also the last stage of the race was called Grande Finale. It was the steepest and most technical of all of the stages.
Petteri Leivo taking the sneaky upper line trough the rock garden. With a win here in youth category and seventh place Finnish in men he managed to confirm the series overall win on the youth category before the last race held in Sappee.
MENTIONS:
@JaakkoPosti