Third round of Finnish 1/10 Electric Off-road Nationals was held at Oulu. Unfortunately rain made a lot of delays to schedule but luckily drivers were able to race on Saturday evening and whole day on Sunday.
2wd class was really difficult on damp conditions. Karri Salmela got the TQ followed by Ari-Pekka Kyykkä and Joel Valander. Karri also won first two finals, and after three mains Joel Valander finished second.
2wd Overall:
1. Karri Salmela 2. Joel Valander - XRAY XB2
3. Eeli Vieno - XRAY XB2
4. Ari-Pekka Kyykkä - XRAY XB2
5. Mikko Luopajärvi 6. Tuomo Otsavaara - XRAY XB2
7. Touko Silpola
8. Mikko Helistölä
9. Ville Rauma
10. Marko Vähäkuopus
4wd class TQ was taken by Karri Salmela, Followed by XRAY guys Joel Valander and Eeli Vieno. In A1 Eeli Vieno took suprise win from third on the grid. The top three was almost inside one second for the whole final, but Joel did an amazing last lap move to pass Karri and crossed the line first. A3 was as close battle as A2, and it was also decided on the last lap as Karri made a small pipe touch and Joel was able to overtake and cruised to victory!
Joel Valander also secured his 4wd national title, as he has won all three races. 2wd title is still open between Joel Valander, Karri Salmela and Joona Haatanen. Last round will be held at Vantaa 13-14 August.
(click to enlarge)
Joel's comments:
"This is my first national title, if we don't count Junior titles and it feels really good! I have won all three 4wd rounds this summer and it shows pretty good performance of the XRAY XB4 2016 with Hobbywing and Highest electronics. EuroRC have shown a big part of my success this year! Let's see if I can also take the 2wd title next month!
Huge thanks to my sponsors as always: XRAY, EuroRC, Hobbywing, Highest, Hudy, and T-Shades!"
