By Open Superbike:
IRRC Superbike championship leader Vincent Lonbois, first win of the day at Imatra, was in the open superbike race.
Piloting the Herpigny Motors backed S1000RR BMW, Vincent showcased his proven quality to secure race victory, whilst Finland’s Erno Kostamo and Pauli Pekkanen both impressed in finishing second and third.
Photo by Lars Törnqvist
Didier Grams propelled the G&G Motorsport backed S1000RR BMW to fourth as local favourite Juha Kallio record a highly creditable fifth place finish.
Jochem Van Den Hoek completed the top six, Jan Kopponen was 7th, Marco Pagani was 8th, Sebastien Le Grelle was 9th, the top ten was finalised by Petr Biciste.
Imatra – Open Superbike Race Results:
1 Vincent Lonbois
2 Erno Kostamo
3 Pauli Pekkanen
4 Didier Grams
5 Juha Kallio
6 Jochem Van Den Hoek
7 Jan Kopponen
8 Marco Pagani
9 Sebastien Le Grelle
10 Petr Biciste
11 David Datzer
12 Carl-Joha Kallman
13 Lasse Karki
14 Pavel Tomecek
15 Mikhail Shumilin
16 Perttu Juntunen
17 Sami Vieltojarvi
Open Supersport:
2014 IRRC supersport champion Joey Den Besten, was the dominant force in the open supersport encounter at Imatra.
Supersport success around the iconic roads of Imatra, is the latest significant achievement in Joey’s already accomplished roads career.
Juha Kallio finished a brilliant second in front of regular IRRC supersport podium finishing contenders, Thomas Walther and Wolfgang Schuster.
Sammy Ahonen secured fifth whilst Bjorn Gunnarsson further underlined his status as one of Sweden’s leading roads competitors, with sixth on his own teams CBR 600 Honda.
The remaining places in first ten finishers was completed by Stefan Wauter 7th, Vladimir Strelnik 8th, Patrik Andersson 9th and Tapio Mustonen 10th.
Imatra – Open Supersport Race Results:
1 Joey Den Besten
2 Juha Kallio
3 Thomas Walther
4 Wolfgang Schuster
5 Sammy Ahonen
6 Bjorn Gunnarsson
7 Stefan Wauter
8 Vladimir Strelnik
9 Patrik Andersson
10 Tapio Mustonen
11 Anssi Koski
12 Miroslav Sloboda
13 Mikko Uski
14 Tuukka Korhonen
15 Artur Zangiev
16 Tomi Kaartinen
17 Mike Ceuppens
18 Jani Hjerppe
19 Marko Sinkkonen
Lightweight:
Denmark’s Anders Blaha added his name to the first time winners list at Imatra, following a top class all round performance in the lightweight race.
Germany’s Henrik Voit finished a great second as Vladimir Snajdr claimed the final spot on the podium.
Timo Kallio finished fourth whilst Jan Markalous, Tuukka Korhonen, Peter Paloranta and Markku Taurama all showed good form in finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.
Wrapping up the top ten finishers was Martin Hulin and Aimo Heinonen.
Imatra – Lightweight Race Results:
1 Anders Blaha
2 Henrik Voit
3 Vladimir Snajdr
4 Timo Kallio
5 Jan Markalous
6 Tuukka Korhonen
7 Peter Paloranta
8 Markku Taurama
9 Martin Hulin
10 Aimo Heinonen
11 Vesa Kaartinen
12 Jarmo Malinen
13 Anders Richnau
14 Reino Ijas
15 Mika-Saka Komu
Sidecar Race 2:
Four times world champion Pekka Paivarinta joined by Kirsi Kainulainen, made it back to back sidecar victories, whilst Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes and Jari Oino/Roope Pitkonen secured the remaining spots on the podium.
In total there was just seven finishers in the second sidecar race at Imatra, which it’s fair to say has made quite an impression on multiple IRRC and TT Races competitors.
Imatra – Sidecar Race 2 Results:
1 Pekka Paivarinta/Kirsi Kainulainen
2 Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes
3 Jari Oino/Roope Pitkonen
4 Pasi Veps/Marko Mustaniemi
5 Tarmo Tem/Silver Kuusk
6 Pasi Rupo/Kasper Arokivi
7 Ari Jumpp/Saku Rasanen
Words by Stevie Rial
