Race Report: Trek Enduro Series Round 2 – Laajavuori Finland
Second round of Finnish Enduro championship series took place last weekend in Laajavuori bikepark, right next to the city of Jyväskylä. Participation was once again very strong with more than 150 pre-registered racers and good amount of spectators.
Race course consisted of four different special stages, lengths varying from 1:30 to 2:30 minutes for the top riders. One longer pedaled transfer stage was included, while on rest of transfer stages T-bar lift was used. Stages were quite technical with lots of rocks and roots to offer, while one stage was smoother and more flowy with some fast grass slope turns.
Men and Ladies category had 14 special stages in total, while hobby and junior categories had 12 stages. Friday evening brought some rain showers to make stages more interesting for Saturdays training. The soaked ground caused part of the tracks to wear quite a lot during the practice day, so there was new lines forming throughout the practice day, keeping things interesting.
On Sunday the sun luckily got out and weather was more or less perfect for the race, +20°C with some clouds and wind to keep air fresh. The race was quite long, around four hours in total and timed special Stages totalling more than 25minutes for top racers.
The usual suspects were strong also today, Matti Lehikoinen took clear victory over Sauli Hjerppe, while local Juhani Kettunen took third place.
On ladies category Iida Airola took the win, Anna Ojala was second and local Salla Oksanen was third.
Full results klick here and stage times here.
Next race of Trek Enduro Series 2013 will take place in Åre, Sweden on 5.-6. of July. For more info about the event and following races, visit Trek Enduro Series website and Åre bikepark
Words: Samuli Louko Foto: Johannes Hannila & Kosti Koistinen