First round of Finnish 1/10 off-road nationals were held at Hyvinkää in Finland. Weather was pretty warm and sunny, and that made the track pretty dusty.
In 2wd Joel Valander took the TQ with two first places. Joona Haatanen was starting second followed by Karri Salmela in third. Finals were thrilling between top three guys as they were lot quicker than rest of the field. Joel won first and last leg of triple A-mains.
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2wd Overall:
1. Joel Valander - XRAY XB2
2. Joona Haatanen
3. Karri Salmela
4. Tomi Mairue 5. Lari Jäppinen - XRAY XB2
6. Sami Salmela
7. Mikko Luopajärvi
8. Oskari Mäki 9. Tuomo Otsavaara - XRAY XB2
10. Jani Hovi
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Sunday was time for the 4wd class. Qualifying was again super close with top three guys. Joel took Q1, Joona Q2, Karri Q3 and Joona Q4. Joona was starting on pole for the finals followed by Karri and Joel. Joel won first leg with comfortable gap to second. Joona won second final followed by Joel. In last final Joona and Karri had early mistakes and Joel took the lead. Karri was pushing hard behind Joel but couldn't find way to pass. Joel Valander also won 4wd race.
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4wd Overall:
1. Joel Valander - XRAY XB4
2. Joona Haatanen
3. Karri Salmela 4. Henry Salmen - XRAY XB4
5. Tomi Mairue - XRAY XB4
6. Juha Aromaa 7. Valtteri Eklund - XRAY XB4
8. Jari Itävuori 9. Toni Niinivirta - XRAY XB4
10. Jani Hovi
Joel Valander's comment's from the race:
"I am very happy to performance this weekend. I have been doing lot of testing with Xray cars as this is my first outdoor season with them. Both cars were easy to drive and fast as I set fastest lap of the race in both classes."
