TUURI (FINLAND), 26th March - The FIM Snowcross World Champion title is back to Sweden through the hands of Emil Ohman, the 24 years-old from Tvaran takes home his second title after winning it in 2008. The VillageShop circuit in Tuuri, the “good luck community”, as it is called by the Finnish population surely had some effect on today’s results although not for all the riders.

The prize for the unluckiest rider of the weekend will definitely go to one of this year’s favourite Finnish: Janne Jurvelin. The Finn struggled early in the day with mechanical problems on his snowmobile that followed him until race two, ending the day involved on a crash with his Swede ‘neighbour’ Johan Lidman who also saw his dream of a World Title fading away on the first corner.

The fast 700 meters circuit alongside the Keskinen Brothers mega commercial setting suffered some changes from yesterday’s free-practice as the riders mentioned icy surfaces in a number of corners and after a broken sled frame the landing from one of the jumps was also changed. After working on the track until very late at night, the Finnish Snowmobile Association, SuSeMk, was ready to receive a unanimous compliment from the riders on Sunday morning for the results achieved.

On the first race of the day Petter Narsa got up front closely followed by Johan Lidman. Tucker Hibbert started in ninth position, taking him sixteen laps to reach Lidman who at this time had lost the pace for the leader. With only four laps to finish Tucker took the lead showing the Scandinavians that they would have to upper their game on the next two outings. Emil Ohman also recovered two positions finishing sixth right behind his country fellow, Arctic Cat’s Johan Lidman.

The second race saw Tucker’s sled breaking its drive belt when the American rider was leading halfway through the race. Same bad luck happened last year when Emil Ohman crashed on race two leaving the Swede without any chance to fight for the title. This time around he benefited from Tucker’s technical problems and got up to first position with Lidman right behind him. Having started from the penultimate spot, American rider Garth Kaufman made all the way through the pack only stopping when he got to third position.

After seeing Johan Lidman, the strongest contender to this year’s win, crashing on the start, Emil knew he only had to keep it close to Petter Narsa if he wanted to have a go at the overall victory. The first two laps of the final race of the day were wild but Narsa managed to find his way overtaking the best of the Finns, Aki Pihlaja, and positioning himself at the front only to be replaced by Ohman after ten laps. In the meantime Tucker Hibbert was recovering positions fast and inevitably got the lead from Ohman just two laps after the Lynx rider got there.


Hibbert: “I had a broken drive belt on my snowmobile which is not something that I consider as common for me, it’s just one of those things that happen in racing and we had a bad race today. Emil was strong in Sweden last year and I think that when he gets in his helmet at home he’s got that extra support unlike when he’s racing in America. He’s riding really well so congratulations to him.”

Narsa: “I wasn’t expecting to finish second today, maybe top-ten. I had a good start on the first and third heat and starts are very important. Some of the corners were a bit tight to pass but my riding was good so I’m very happy with this result of course”

Ohman: “In 2008 I won my first World Championship but I’ve always tried to win it back again since then. I told Tucker before the third race that I felt bad for him as he had been faster than me but in racing stuff like this happens sometimes. I’m really happy to be on top as I worked hard for this.”


RESULTS

RACE 1: 1. Tucker Hibbert, Arctic Cat, USA; 2. Petter Nårsa, Lynx, SWE; 3. Johan Lidman, Arctic Cat, SWE; 4. Emil Öhman, Lynx, SWE; 5. Garth Kaufman, Arctic Cat, USA; 6. Aki Pihlaja, Arctic Cat, FIN; 7. Ville Lehtisalo, Lynx, FIN; 8. Peter Ericson, Lynx, SWE; 9. Cody Thomsen, Arctic Cat, USA; 10. Viktor Hertén, Ski-Doo, FIN

Race 2: 1. Emil Öhman, Lynx, SWE; 2. Johan Lidman, Arctic Cat, SWE; 3. Garth Kaufman, Arctic Cat, USA; 4. Cody Thomsen, Arctic Cat, USA; 5. Aki Pihlaja, Arctic Cat, FIN;
6. Adam Renheim, Lynx, SWE; 7. Petter Nårsa, Lynx, SWE; 8. Marcus Evensson, Polaris, SWE; 9. Ville Lehtisalo, Lynx, FIN; 10. Peter Ericson, Lynx, SWE

Race 3: 1. Tucker Hibbert, Arctic Cat, USA; 2. Emil Öhman, Lynx, SWE; 3. Petter Nårsa, Lynx, SWE; 4. Christian Logan, Arctic Cat, USA; 5. Cody Thomsen, Arctic Cat, USA; 6. Garth Kaufman, Arctic Cat, USA; 7. Adam Renheim, Lynx, SWE; 8. Hannu Toppala, Lynx, FIN; 9. Viktor Hertén, Ski-Doo, FIN; 10. Ville Lehtisalo, Lynx, FIN


Overall Championship Standings: 1. Emil Öhman, 65pts; 2. Petter Nårsa, 56pts; 3. Tucker Hibbert, 55pts; 4. Garth Kaufman, 51pts; 5. Cody Thomsen, 46pts; 6. Johan Lidman, 42pts; 7. Aki Pihlaja, 40pts; 8. Ville Lehtisalo, 37pts; 9. Adam Renheim, 36pts; 10. Viktor Hertén, 33pts



LINKS

Youthstream
FIM

Photo: Hibbert, Ohman, Narsa on the podium in Tuuri

Read the next news: Tuuri warms up for the best of Snowcross (26 Mar 2011)

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