Tampere Supercross will be held this weekend in Finland. Should be pretty good racing, some good guys coming. Kullas, Clason, Neese (On a Fantic btw), Cartwright, Marqueir and others. Two Stark Vargs in the SX1 class as well. Starting list below.
Track is fairly simple and sized like a bigger arenacross track.
SX1
2 Runar Sudmann NOR Stark
9 Rene Rannikko FIN Suzuki
15 Dovydas Karka LIT Yamaha
21 Emil Silander FIN East MX GASGAS
28 Marcus Christensen NOR Husqvarna
43 Matias Vesterinen FIN KTM
68 Cade Clason USA KTM
74 Josh Cartwright USA Kawasaki
98 Niko Lehtimäki FIN GASGAS
99 Jorge Zaragoza ESP Stark
125 Luke Neese USA Fantic
132 Karel Kutsar EST GASGAS
142 Jere Haavisto FIN KTM
148 Tomi Siro FIN GASGAS
151 Harri Kullas FIN Yamaha
219 Chase Marqueir USA KTM
221 Mathias Jörgensen DEN Yamaha
411 Erki Kahro EST Yamaha
848 Joan Cros ESP Kawasaki
957 Jake Preston GBR Husqvarna
Results:
Should be a great event! It will be really interesting to see how those Stark Vargs will perform. I will be there on Saturday myself
Is Matias Vesterinen related to trials legend Yrjo?
Zaragoza on Stark.
I remember him riding 125 zooky (alongside Seewer if i'm not mistaken) and some unknown bum named "Gajser" or something rode way behind him on ktm. Shame Jorge never really shined on the thumpers.
No, at least not to my knowledge.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
Will the race be streamed anywhere?
Joey
Unfortunately it's not streamed, I don't know why... Every Finnish championship race is streamed live with decent quality, but this one isn't.
If possible, try to post the results here since we can't watch.
If you go and are in the pits, say hello to my kid .............#74
Thanks
Joey
I put the link where the results should be available to my opening post, and I make sure to post them here as well with some pictures and video footage.
Oh, Cartwright! Cool, I will definitely say hi to him from you if I see him. Good to talk with you, sir.
I've met Weston Peick, JT$, Steve Matthes and many other Americans at the Fìnnish supercrosses in the past (or at the afterparty), lots of really good memories from these races.
I will be putting out videos at Manninen Bros instagram and Youtube, so check those over the weekend.
https://beta.speedhive.com/events/2462818
After race interviews from yesterday, including all the American guys, Cros and Zaragoza. Haavisto and Kullas too, but I don't know if the subtitles work or not.
https://www.xracing.fi/uutinen/tunnelmat-perjantain-jalkeen
Highlights from the first night
https://www.xracing.fi/uutinen/2023-tampere-supercross-lauantai
Kullas dominated the first night.
Kullas should try a full year off racing in the US. He would/could be a main event guy in SX and close or in the top 10 on outdoors as he proved himself this year.
In my eyes he is to good to “race” around in local series.
Thanks, I've also put some info in the Stark Varg racing thread.
I agree, Kullas truly is a world class rider. The pace difference yesterday between him and all the rest was pretty remarkable. On top of that he is a great starter and his race IQ is super high.
I have a feeling that we are going to see Kullas in U.S. full time in the future. He is in a good spot right now though, he is making a decent living racing the "lesser" series and races, so I also understand that side as well.
Tampere Supercross Saturday:
1. Harri Kullas, FIN, Yamaha, 10:17.889
2. Cade Clason, USA, KTM, +2.990
3. Jorge Zaragoza, ESP, Stark Varg, +10.975
4. Luke Neese, USA, Fantic, +17.723
5. Josh Cartwright, USA, Kawasaki, +37.047
Tampere Dominator overrall:
1. Harri Kullas, FIN, Yamaha, 50p
2. Jorge Zaragoza, ESP, Stark Varg, 40p.
3. Cade Clason, USA, KTM, 38p.
4. Chase Marquier, USA, KTM, 33p.
5. Jere Haavisto, FIN, KTM, 31p.
Pretty wild night of racing on saturday! Kullas went down in the final in the first corner, and raced his way up from the back. He passed Clason in the second to last lap.
Really good atmosphere, the arena was sold out both nights.
He's been riding in the E Explorer World Cup this year on an electric Yamaha....
would have been good to see him ride that, rather than the Stark, to see how it goes against the ICE bikes....
He's signed up for the uk ax series this winter .... Maybe he has a plan..?
Off topic
EMX powertrain bikes were no match for the Vargs when they appeared in the latter stage of this electric cup.
I believe this is what caused a rules change for 2024:
In 2024, there are two categories competing in E-Xplorer.
1) Hyperbikes, which enables prototype machines with batteries of up to 7kwh and a standard MX bike wheelbase to compete.
2) GTs, a shorter bike weighing below 112kg, with batteries producing up to 6kwh. The GTs are based on regular production models but are heavily modified for racing.
https://www.fimexplorer.com/post/sporting-technical-regulations-and-tra…
Interestingly the Varg (production bike but 6.5 kWh battery and 118 kg) would fall in the first category, and Honda CR-E most likely as well. As for the EMX XF30, well if they could shed 3 kg (115 kg, 4.5 kWh, 40 hp) from their pre-production bike they could stick in GTs and keep winning there, otherwise they'll face the Varg in Hyperbikes.
Zaragoza won this first world cup on the EMX for MIE team which stands for Midori International Engineering, whose team principal is Midori Moriwaki with very strong and historic links to Honda (they are currently racing Hondas in World Superbikes and Supersport).
I'm looking forward to see if Honda CR-E would appear there next year although I would much rather see them compete against the Varg and ICE at the same time than in this cute electric-only competition.
Pit Row
The rule change will help the series progress evolve for sure. Be interesting when the bigger bikes get on the more urban based circuits rather than flat out mx style tracks..
Interviews from Saturday:
https://www.xracing.fi/uutinen/paatospaivan-iloiset-tunnelmat
Here are some pictures
Highlights from Saturday. That's a wrap, can't wait for next year!
https://www.xracing.fi/uutinen/2023-tampere-supercross-lauantai-0
Looks like very sticky dirt!
Thanks for the vids, especially on Saturday finale after his fall that's just crazy how much faster than everyone Kullas was.
And the Varg is a holeshot machine, it just pulls.
The Stark got second
Didn’t even know this series was still a thing. The racing is painfully boring.
It was a great event. Saturdays final race was the most exiting race I have seen for years!
Kullas had unreal speed especially in the whoops and he was clearly the fastest rider whole night. I think US riders had a bit of disadvantage because they were riding loaned stock bikes and not their own race bike's but Cade Clason managed to pull some solid rides despite of that.
Zaragoza's Stark Varg look like it handled extremely good in tight corners and it kind of had the lightness of a 125 on the track. His suspension set up seemed like it was way off in the whoops and that showed in the final results
Thomas Do racing the Varg in France SX tour and Arenacross UK also seems to have a harder time in the whoops, don't know if it's suspension setup or weight distribution and a few extra kg compared to the 450s.
They also tend to fade a little bit in the later stages, could be because the bike is more tiring to ride or maybe a slight power decrease due to overheating after 10-15 min at such pace? I don't have a clue but there might be something, bike or rider that is the question.
Still, 2nd overall is not bad for Zaragoza first race on the Varg.
Post a reply to: Tampere Supercross, Finland