After a busy three weeks and three different categories, Euros's I had R3 and R4 off-road nationals. The Finnish Nationals were at the brang new track at Lavanko. The track was really nice with some good altitude changes. Weather was typical Finnish summer weather with blue skies and +25C. We had nearly 70 entries on Saturday and 60 entries on Sunday.
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Both days had two rounds of practice, three rounds qualifying, and then finals.
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Saturday was the Round 3 race. I had some bad luck in qualifying since in the first round I broke my throttle servo. I put in a new servo for the second rund, but I broke it again. In the last round I changed all the electronics and got TQ. This meant I qualified 38th as only the two best runs counted. The best XRAY after qualifying was Markku "the HOKE" Honkanen II who was on fire the whole weekend.
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. I worked my way up to the final and started first in the main final and Markku was 2nd on the grid for the main final. In the final I had no issues and I end up winning it with more than a lap up on Ari Heinonen in 2nd place. Markku had some bad luck in the final and couldn't keep his 2nd place up and he end up 4th. August Poutiainen (XRAY) made the final, but he couldn't finish the final so he ended up 12th.
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Final results from Round 3:
1. Teemu Leino XRAY XB808'11
2. Ari Heinonen
3. Petri Mylläri 4. Markku Honkanen XRAY XB808'11
5. Tomi Salonen
6. Jarno Siltanen
7. Marko Eklund
8. Harri Peltomaa
9. Tommi Alho
10. Arto Heinonen
11. Tomi Björkman 12. August Poutiainen XRAY XB808'11
Before the last race I had 2nd place from RD1 and I missed RD2 due to the TC Euros and won in RD3. Ari had a win from RD2 and a 2nd from RD3 . Jarno Siltanen had won RD1 and got 3rd in RD2. Simo Ahoniemi had 3rd from RD1 and 2nd from RD2. We have four rounds nationals and three of those counted. So before the last race it was a good mix.
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Sunday was the Round 4 race. I had opposite luck compared to Saturday. In qualifying I ended up taking TQ. Markku was up to good speed again and finished 3rd in qualifying. August was not able to race on Sunday. In sub-finals I end up winning mine and Ari won other one. Markku had bad luck again in the sub-final as his rear hub came loose and he couldn't make the final.
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In the final I had bad luck as my tires came unglued and I had to stop for a tire change and this also caused me to flame out. After the tire change I was running 5th almost 2 laps behind Ari. I tried to push to make the gap smaller, but ran out of the time and finished 1/2 lap behind Ari.
Final Results from Round 4:
1. Ari Heinonen 2. Teemu Leino XRAY XB808'11
3. Tomi Salonen
