THEQuagraine

This year I didn’t do the Finnish Nationals. The only reason I did them the last couple of years was that there was a win streak going with the JQ car winning every year since it was a prototype in 2010. Last year I lost to Ari Heinonen, so this year I decided that I would take a break. I also figured that with Max Mört improving rapidly he could win it this year, so a suitable time to move aside. And I was almost right!

Going into the last round Max was leading the Championship, and with a win he would most likely secure it. Everything was going to plan early on in the last race on my home track. I attended this race myself too. I TQed, then after the semis Max started 1st and me 2nd. Perfect I thought, except I made a complete mess of the start, waiting for a signal when there was none, causing a huge pileup (which was actually good, Max pulled away), and then losing a shit ton of time in the mayhem at the back of the pack. After the 1st pit stop things calmed down, and I got into 3rd behind Max and Joona Haatanen. Joona was unfortunately too fast, and caught and passed Max, but still a great job for both! Joona won the Championship with the win, and Max was tied on points for 2nd but lost the tie breaker to Tomi Salonen for 2nd, finishing 3rd.

Congratulations to the top 3! It was exciting to the very end! It’s great to see that we finally have some fast kids in offroad coming out of Finland, after 10 years or more of silence.