By Bruce Gaspardi Jr
This past weekend was the last chance from racers to get inside the top-16 in points to qualify for the championships in Älvsbyn at the end of the month. With the track built onto the side of hill, it brought with it some unique challenges that we haven’t seen yet this season.
In the Junior 12-14 class it was Olive Åneskog with the holeshot of moto 1 with Tiger Stolt and Albin Johansson behind him. Johansson would quickly make his way into second place. Alf Granberg would also make his way past Stolt. Åneskog and Johansson would battle the entire race and it would be Johansson coming out on top with the win. Åneskog would finish second, Granberg third, with Max Andersson fourth and Tiger Stolt fifth. William Brännström would get the moto 2 holeshot with Johansson and Granberg in tow. Johansson slotted into first quickly with Granberg in second. Åneskog after a poor start had made his way past Granberg and into second place halfway through the moto. He would not be able to catch Johansson who would go on to take the moto win and overall. Åneskog after taking a pair of second place finishes would finish second overall, Granberg would be third overall, Andersson and Stolt would round out the top five.
Junior 14-16 saw Sixten Johansson grab the moto 1 holeshot and would lead flag to flag. Liam Larsson would go on to finish to second. The battle for third was intense between Oscar Eriksson and Gustav Vesterlund. Vesterlund caught up to Eriksson five laps into the moto after a poor start. They would change positions multiple times and it would be Eriksson coming away with the third place finish. Vesterlund would settle for fourth and Edwin Molund would be fifth. In moto 2 it would be Vesterlund with the holeshot followed by Johansson and Hampus Höglund. Vesterlund would dominate the moto winning by over 26 seconds. Johansson would finish second with Emil Pettersson making a late move to finish third ahead of Höglund in fourth with Eriksson fifth. Johansson would go on to take the overall, Vesterlund second, and Eriksson third. Larsson would finish fourth and Höglund fifth overall.
In the Sport class it was Lars Lundberg with the moto 1 holeshot with Bruce Gaspardi Jr and Elias Grape in tow. Grape would go on to get the win with Gaspardi in second and Markus Lindberg in third. Lundberg would on to get the second moto holeshot before getting passed by Grape and Gaspardi. They would go on to finish 1-2 again with Grape getting the overall win, Gaspardi second, and Lindberg third In the 12-16 Womens class it would have Elise Jonsson getting the holeshot but get passed quickly by Ebba Eklund and Holly Vesterlund. Eklund would lead the first couple laps before Vesterlund would find a way into the lead. Vesterlund would go on to take the moto win, Eklund in second, and Jonsson third. Ronja Brännström would finish fourth and Elise Kalander Viltok fifth. In moto 2 Jonsson would get back on track taking the holeshot. Eklund would be in second and Brännström third and that is the order that would finish in. Jonsson would go on to take the overall win, Eklund second and Vesterlund third with Brännström and Viltok completing the top five.
Pic3 – //
Pro Stock was up next, and it was Albin Persson with the holeshot with Anton Lindgren and Jonathan Nilsson right with him. Lindgren would end up off the sled and there would be a lot of jostling for position. Vidar Noreén Berg would move up to second but then would relinquish it to Wilmer Andersson on his Arctic Cat. Rasmus Andersson was coming up through the field and on lap seven he would make his move for second past Wilmer. Persson would go onto take the win by only 0.7 seconds with Rasmus Andersson in second, Wilmer Andersson third, Berg fourth and rounding out the top five was Nilsson. Moto 2 would have Persson get the holeshot again, this time followed by Johan Andersson and Felix Andersson. Felix made his way past Johan into second and Rasmus Andersson started making his way through the field. By lap five Rasmus had made his way up to second place and started chasing down Persson. Rasmus would set the fastest lap but it wouldn’t be enough as Persson would win by just over one second. Rasmus Andersson would be second, Lindgren would be third, with Berg and Felix Andersson rounding out the top five. Persson would get the overall win, Rasmus Andersson second, and Berg rounds out the podium. Wilmer Andersson and Anton Lindgren would complete the top five.
The Pro Women were next, and it was Thea Arnesson setting the fastest time in qualifying by just one tenth over Hilda Öhman. Öhman would take the moto one holeshot followed by Arnesson and Ellen Bäcke. The positions wouldn’t change and Öhman would stretch her lead out to eight seconds why the time the checkered flag. Arnesson and Bäcke would be second and third, while Davina Backteman and Wilma Jonsson would round out the top five. Moto two saw more of the same with Öhman grabbing the holeshot with Arnesson and Backteman in tow. Öhman would once again take the win this time by sixteen seconds. Arnesson would take second place and Backteman would hold of Bäcke for third. Bäcke and Team Southside Evohall Polaris racer Ida Rosell would take fifth. Öhman takes the overall, Arnessson takes second, Backteman third, Bäcke fourth and Rosell fifth overall.
Pro Open saw more of the Gustav Sahlsten show as he took the fastest lap in qualifying and the won both of his heats. Emil Hansson would sweep the other pair of heats and seemed as if he would be the only one that could challenge Sahlsten in the final. Axel Johansson, Albin Lundqvist fresh off his Pro Lite debut in America last weekend, and Martin Johansson also with an ISOC debut last weekend rounded out the top five after the heats were complete.
In the Pro Open final Sahlsten and Hansson would get out first and second, beginning to immediately gap the rest of the field. The raw pace and confidence they had coming up hill through the rhythm section was not to be matched by anyone else in this talented field of racers. They were two seconds faster or more than the rest of the field per lap. Sahlsten would go on to take the final win to complete his sweep of the Swedish Championship, with a perfect point total of 100 going into the final round in a couple weeks. Behind him Hansson would fall off with a couple laps to go but still was able to hang on for second place. Johansson would claim the third position on the podium with Lundqvist and Joel Nordholm rounding out the top five.
This coming weekend most racers are heading to Finland for the final two rounds of the SuperLeague in Oulu.
