IRRC Imatranajo: Opening Supersport/Superbike Races Wrap Up

IRRC Imatranajo: Opening Supersport/Superbike Races Wrap Up

Supersport Race 1:

I’m sure the words oh how we’ve missed this, were on the lips of certain viewers watching the live coverage of the opening ten-lap IRRC Imatranajo Supersport race.

Finnish star Pauli Pekkanen got the hole-shot and by lap number three, held a 0.8 advantage over rapidly improving Czech roads talent Petr Najman.

By mid-race distance, Najman had found another level and thanks to a gutsy move over the Railway Bridge, he had taken the race lead.

This was soon surpassed by Pekkanen, who by the lap’s completion was back in front.

The remainder of the race, went with a similar pattern as Pekkanen, Najman duked it out for class honours.

As the tenth and final lap dawned, not much if anything could separate the front runners.

Najman soon took advantage of lapping a slower group of racers, to grab P1 back as final race stages entered the horizon.

This ultimately proved the decisive race moment, which enabled Najman to claim a maiden Imatranajo triumph and double his tally of IRRC race victories.

Pekkanen, despite enjoying what appeared a strong power advantage, had to settle for second, finishing at the race’s completion only 0.055 in arrears!

Marek Cerveny after a competent performance finished third as Jorn Hamberg, Team Schleizer Dreieck’s Thomas Walther, twice TT winner Gary Johnson wrapped up the top six finishers.

IRRC Imatranajo – Supersport Race 1 result:

1st – Petr Najman
2nd – Pauli Pekkanen
3rd – Marek Cerveny
4th – Jorn Hamberg
5th – Thomas Walther
6th – Gary Johnson
7th – Thomas Wendel
8th – Sebastian Frotscher
9th – Anssi Koski
10th – Mikko Uski

11th – Anders Blacha
12th – Romain Cleaz-Savoyen
13th – Kevin Rigot
14th – Rico Vetter
15th – Erwan Bannwart
16th – Andreas Jochum
17th – Julien Cregniot
18th – Stefan Wauter
19th – Tiia Seima
20th – Sami Siimesto
21st – Juha Markala

Superbike Race 1:

The third round of this year’s IRRC Superbike Championship didn’t lack action, drama, bold overtakes.
Notable non-starters included Vincent Lonbois and 21 times TT winner Michael Dunlop.

Pole-sitter Erno Kostamo got the best start, by lap early two proceedings though Pierre Yves Bian aboard the Markka Racing BMW, was the race leader.

Yves Bian kept P1 till lap four when local hero Kostamo re-took the lead.

From here the Finnish racer wouldn’t be overtook, despite the consistent pace from Penz 13 team-mate David Datzer, who on the eighth lap, get the better of Yves Bian for second.

At the race’s finalisation, the gap between Kostamo and Datzer stood at 1.524 seconds, with Kostamo’s winning advantage largely increased following him gaining ground on his fellow BMW mounted exponent, when encountering a slower batch of racers.

Reigning IRRC Supersport Champion Yves Bian took third whilst Joey Den Besten in all action fashion placed fourth ahead of Lukas Maurer, Didier Grams.

Positions 7th-10th were occupied by Ville Valtonen, Markus Karlsson, Marcel Elsner and Patrick Hoff.

IRRC Imatranajo – Superbike Race 1 result:

1st – Erno Kostamo
2nd – David Datzer
3rd – Pierre Yves Bian
4th – Joey Den Besten
5th – Lukas Maurer
6th – Didier Grams
7th – Ville Valtonen
8th – Markus Karlsson
9th – Marcel Elsner
10th – Patrick Hoff
11th – Amalric Blanc
12th – Luca Gottardi
13th – Kamil Holan
14th – Virgil Amber Bloemhard
15th – Marko Ratto

16th – Nico Muller
17th – Heikki Mannila
18th – Lasse Karki
19th – Olivier Lupberger
20th – Andreas Jochum
21st – Ilari Nieminen
22nd – Hanno Brandenburger
23rd – Pontus Roestlinger
24th – Rene Grundei
25th – Reinhard Strack
26th – Toni Tapio
27th – Rob Van Eijs
28th – Mike Ceuppens
29th – Marko Sinkkonen
30th – Keijo Vinkka

Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou

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