By Patchy, unseasonable are words to describe the weather pinpointing today upon Finland’s North West 200 equivalent, Imatranajo.
Making the best of the conditions greeting them during the qualifying stints, IRRC Superbike Championship leader Lukas Maurer, Finnish wildcard Pauli Pekkanen, respectively bagged pole positions for the afternoon’s opening Superbike, Supersport races.
Paukku Racing’s Pekkanen went onto scoop opening Supersport race honours, following a professional, composed display.
Pekkanen finished just over five seconds clear of fellow countryman Eemeli Lahti.
Notable Imatra debutant, world’s fastest road racer Peter Hickman aboard his own squads 765 Triumph, occupied third, making it three event wildcards on the podium.
Top IRRC exponent in fifth, attaining 25 Championship points was Romain Cleaz Savoyen.
Niko Lehtiranta was fourth with positions sixth-tenth secured by Super Twins TT runner-up Pierre Yves Bian, Anssi Koski, Sebastian Frotscher, Never Be Clever Racing’s Rhys Hardisty and Mikko Uski.
In terms of the ten lap Superbike race opener, there was no stopping Macau Grand Prix Champion Erno Kostamo.
Fresh from becoming Finland’s fastest TT Races pilot, Kostamo overcame tricky conditions all-round, to pull ahead of the world-class field, finishing at the race’s conclusion, pretty much 13.4 (13.394) seconds in front of aforementioned former BSB competitor, Eemeli Lahti.
Pole sitter, third place finisher Maurer happily took 25 juicy Championship points.
Thirteen times TT winner Hickman took fourth with Nico Muller, Ville Valtonen, German roads legend Didier Grams, former Supersport Champion Joey Den Besten, MTP Racing’s David Datzer, Italy’s Luca Gottardi wrapping up the first ten finishers.
IRRC Imatranajo – Day one race results in full, are as follows:
Supersport:
1st – Pauli Pekkanen
2nd – Eemeli Lahti
3rd – Peter Hickman
4th – Niko Lehtiranta
5th – Romain Cleaz Savoyen
6th – Pierre Yves Bian
7th – Anssi Koski
8th – Sebastian Frotscher
9th – Rhys Hardisty
10th – Mikko Uski
11th – Forest Dunn
12th – Mauro Poncini
13th – Olli Konttinen
14th – Ilja Caljouw
15th – Miika Viiperi
16th – Thomas Wendel
17th – Andreas Jochum
18th – Rico Vetter
19th – Jakub Sprojcar
20th – Erik Kjuus
21st – Juha Markala
22nd – Peter Lionel
23rd – Lukas Vaclavovic
24th – Sami Siimesto
Superbike:
1st – Erno Kostamo
2nd – Eemeli Lahti
3rd – Lukas Maurer
4th – Peter Hickman
5th – Nico Muller
6th – Ville Valtonen
7th – Didier Grams
8th – Joey Den Besten
9th – David Datzer
10th – Luca Gottardi
11th – Johannes Schwimmbeck
12th – Patrick Hoff
13th – Rhys Hardisty
14th – Laurent Hoffmann
15th – Magnus Collin
16th – Forest Dunn
17th – Olivier Lupberger
18th – Rasmus Lindstom
19th – Dirk Walter
20th – Florian Astner
21st – Lasse Karki
22nd – Rob Van Eijs
23rd – Pontus Roestlinger
24th – Cristoph Kreller
25th – Wally Jacobs
26th – Heikki Mannila
27th – Emil Krchnavy
28th – Brian McCormack
29th – Ilari Nieminen
30th – Paul Manx
31st – Markus Karlsson
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
