The FinTrack Tour continued with the last two rounds in Laukaa Kuusankoski tracks in August. Due to rainy conditions in Kuusankoski , the 7th round of the FinTtrack Nationals was cancelled and held over to the end of August, only a week after the originally-scheduled last round of the FT Tour.
FinTrack Nationals â“ Round 7 (Laukaa)
The race was held in the Laukaa commune in Southern Finland. The race was full of excellent battles for victory in all 3 classes. XRAY once again proved to be the car to beat. The race weather was fine in the morning but some showers were expected in the afternoon.
Stock class
Right from practice Miika Laurila set the pace with his T2â™007. XRAY drivers Niko Lindvall and Jukka Kerola were the guys to put some pressure on Miika. After qualifying Miika took the TQ spot with Aleksi Kaasinen in 2nd place followed by Jukka Kerola in 3rd with his XRAY FK05.
Miika Laurila with T2'007 (click to enlarge)
In first final Miika dominated the field and took a clear victory, with Aleksi in 2nd and Mikko Möller in 3rd. In the second final the weather became rainy and the track got wet only a few minutes before the start. Drivers had only a few minutes to cover their cars and most were running with slicks as they hadnâ™t marked the rain tires in technical inspection. XRAY driver Niko Lindvall took that final, followed by Otto Laurila and XRAY driver Toni Niinivirta. TQ driver Miika Laurila had some bad luck with slick tires and drifted home in an uncomfortable 7th place after winning the first final.
In third and last final Miika kept his cool and took the victory in the last leg of the A mains and thus took the victory! Young Eetu Luukkonen came 2nd with Niko Lindvall in 3rd place which secured 1-2 for XRAY in stock class! This also meant that Miika took the lead in the FinTrack Tour points in stock with a 12-point gap to Otto Laurila just before the last round of nationals in Kuusankoski.
A-final 1. Laurila Miika XRAY T2â™007
2. Lindvall Niko XRAY T2â™007
3. Luukkonen Eetu
4. Laurila Otto
5. Möller Mikko
6. Kaasinen Aleksi 7. Niinivirta Toni XRAY T2â™007
8. Kerola Jukka XRAY T1FKâ™05
Congratulations to Miika who once again showed to be the man to beat (despite his young age) with his 3rd victory of the season and 7th podium finish in seven races this year. Well done!
Stock Class top 6 in Laukaa (click to enlarge)
ProStock class
In ProStock class, the fight for glory was once again very close. Henry Salmen, Janne Valtanen (the indoor season sensation with his 3 wins), Santeri Jokinen, Risto Koskinen, and Jyri Konoila seemed to be the guys to beat.
The finals were full of action and the slippery track didnâ™t make it any easier. After three finals the results were:
A-final 1. Koskinen Risto XRAY T2
2. Salmen Henry
3. Jokinen Santeri
4. Konoila Jyri 5. Valtanen Janne XRAY T2
6. Söderg?rd Björn
7. Nyrhinen Juha
1. Rytsy Teemu
2. Levänen Juho
3. Trzaska Sebastian
4. Lehto Kalle
5. Ahoniemi Sakke
6. Andersson Christer
7. Kutvonen Viljami 8. Teponoja Miko XRAY T2â™007
9. Salminen Ari
10. Kuusinen Matias
FinTrack Nationals â“ Round 8 (Kuusankoski)
The final round of the FinTrack Nationals took place one week after the previous round 7 held in Laukaa. Drivers were busy preparing the cars for the last outdoor nationals of this season. Due to lack of interest after a few rainy meetings and a delayed date for the race, only a few drivers were attending.
In Modified and ProStock, home track drivers Kalle Lehto and Santeri Jokinen were on pace from the start and took home the victories. Miko Teponoja and A-P âśEsaâť Kyykkä made the A main. Pauli Helin BQâ™d and won the B-final. Final results were as follows:
After 8 rounds of the FinTrack Nationals â” where the 3 best races from both indoor and outdoor season counted towards the final points â” a full 1/3 of the top 10 drivers were using XRAY.
FinTrack Tour 2007 Final Results
Stock Class
1. Otto Laurila 2. Miika Laurila XRAY T2â™007
3. Mikko Möller 4. Niko Lindvall XRAY T2â™007
5. Aleksi Kaasinen
6. Eetu Luukkonen 7. Toni Niinivirta XRAY T2â™007
8. Jukka Kerola XRAY T1FKâ™05
9. Joni Suni
10. Karri Salmela
A-P Kyykkä (click to enlarge)
ProStock
1. Henry Salmen
2. Santeri Jokinen
3. Jyri Konoila 4. Risto Koskinen XRAY T2â™007
5. Janne Valtanen XRAY T2
6. Björn Söderg?rd
7. Jussi Neirola 8. Joni Hiltunen XRAY T2â™007
9. Tommi Wiksten 10. Mihail Tsistovski XRAY T2
Janne Valtanen (click to enlarge)
Modified
1. Juho Levänen
2. Simo Ahoniemi
3. Sebastian Trzaska
4. Viljami Kutvonen
5. Christer Andersson
6. Teemu Rytsy
7. Kalle Lehto 8. Pekka Koivula XRAY T2â™007
9. Ari Salminen 10. Teemu Leino XRAY T2â™007
X-facts 2007:
⢠33% of the top ten drivers in all three classes were using XRAY
⢠50% of the ProStock races were won with XRAY
⢠Miika Laurila won 2 races, finished 2nd four time, and finished 3rd one time
⢠Janne Valtanen won all 3 indoor season races he participated in but faced some bad luck in the summer season
⢠All XRAY drivers are looking forward for the new season to improve the results with the new T2â™008.
