Kuusankoski is a small town in southern Finland, some 150km o east from Helsinki. The summer season's first round took place at Kuusankoski track 28th May with all three touring car classes: Stock, Prostock (17t) and Modified.
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Timed practice on Saturday started with good weather although it was quite windy. After timed practice FK05 seemed to be in very good speed while I finished second after Christer Andersson with only 0,001s difference!! That's close, I would say.
During qualifying rounds weather got warmer and few drivers even skipped some rounds to save their tires as it wasn't possible to make faster results after first round. So if you didn't get a result in first round, it was almost impossible to make it later that day as the track got some 5 seconds slower!
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In first round Pauli Helin XRAY made good result and secured place in A-final. I was unlucky to get into traffic and had to slow down for few seconds as there was a crash and hassle in couple of corners. I managed to make average result but I know it wasnâ™t enough for A-final. In following rounds the car was under steering very much as I had chosen the wrong inserts to the race as it go warmer than expected. In last round I managed to make my fastest time and placed myself to A-final even if the track was much slower than in the morning.
In finals there were plenty of action and after 3 final rounds results in modified were:
A-final
1. Christer Andersson
2. Simo Ahoniemi
3. Sakke Ahoniemi
4. Jouko Termonen
5. Teemu Saarinen 6. Pauli Helin XRAY
7. Kalle Lehto 8. Sebastian Trzaska XRAY
9. Ari Salminen 10.Vesa Yli XRAY
B-final
11. Pekka Koivula XRAY
After 5 out of 8 rounds FinTrack standings in modified top 15 are:
1. Simo Ahoniemi
2. Sakke Ahoniemi
3. Christer Andersson
4. Jouko Termonen 5. Vesa Yli XRAY
6. Teemu Saarinen
7. Kalle Lehto 8. Pekka Koivula XRAY
9. Sebastian Trzaska XRAY
10.Ari Salminen
11.Tommi Torikka 12.Pauli Helin XRAY
13.Panu Vehniäinen
14.Tony Raikas
15.Jarno Siltanen
Prostock class final results from Kuusankoski:
A-final
1. Ari Lappi 2. Jarkko Mustonen XRAY
3. Matti Korvenmaa
4. Björn Södergård
5. Jyri Konoila 6. Niko Putkonen XRAY
7. Niko Vuorenmaa XRAY
8. Jukka Penttinen XRAY
9. Risto Koskinen XRAY
10.Jouko Näätänen XRAY
With 6 XRAY cars out of 10 in Prostock A-final is a superb result for XRAY. The victory wasn't taken this time but Jarkko Mustonen showed very good speed with his FK04 by taking 1 leg victory in A-final.
Stock class final results from Kuusankoski:
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A-final
1. Joni Minkkinen XRAY
2. Miko Teponoja XRAY
3. Viljami Kutvonen 4. Matti Hölttä XRAY
5. Jussi Neirola XRAY
6. Jyrki Lehto
7. Harri Lukkari
8. Joonas Holsti
9. Henri Ahola
10.Sami Sinisalo
The next round takes place in beautiful and high grip track in Laukaa just week before Touring car Euros. Itâ™s expected to see very exciting race there as most of the top Finnish top drivers who are attending Euros will be there. Report will follow after the race!
