SAND LOVING FINN HARRI KULLAS NARROWLY MISSES THE PODIUM

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SAND LOVING FINN HARRI @KULLAS NARROWLY MISSES THE PODIUM



Around the roughest and toughest track of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship tour, Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Harri Kullas came agonisingly close to repeating the third place overall MX2 class result he scored at Kegums in Latvia. Delivering two strong performances at Lommel, Kullas secured a well-deserved fifth place overall result on his FC 250.

Making Harri’s performances all the more impressive was the fact that he was the last MX2 class rider to take to the start of each of his MX2 races, the result of a small technical issue during his qualifying race. Amazingly, from the outside gate Harri rounded the opening corners of moto one close to the top 10. Charging hard he placed a creditable fourth.

Unable to repeat his strong start from moto one, Kullas pushed hard throughout the second moto. Knowing that a third place overall result was on the cards, he charged to the very end of the moto. Despite his best efforts, and a fifth place result, Harri finished fifth overall.

Husqvarna Motorcycles’ best performing MXGP rider at Lommel was Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Todd Waters. Putting his hard fall at last weekend’s GP of Czech Republic behind him, Waters went for it in the opening moto and was rewarded with a strong eighth for his efforts.

With the sandy Lommel track massively physically demanding, Todd knew the second moto would be a case of survival of the fittest. Doing all he could to find the best lines, Todd ended lap one in sixth – the exact position he would end the moto. Once again battling hard Todd rounded out the 14th GP of the 2015 season in seventh overall.

Competing alongside Waters in MXGP Dean Ferris and Nathan Watson experienced mixed results at Lommel. Ferris overcame a 15th place result in moto one to secure a strong eighth in the second moto. For Nathan an 11th place result in the first race was disappointingly followed by a disqualification in moto two following an off-track excursion at the start of the race.

Harri Kullas: “It’s been a great weekend for me and the team. Getting so close to third overall yet finishing fifth, it’s a little disappointing. Saturday went well but we had a small technical issue during my qualifying race, so I had last pick of the gate for Sunday’s races. When you consider that it makes my results even better – I’m pleased with them. I got an ok start in the first moto and moved forward from about 11th pretty quickly. I just kept pushing and got fourth on the final lap and wasn’t too far from third. I didn't get away well in the second moto. I got to about seventh after four or five laps and knew I just needed to keep pushing. I gave that race everything. It was a tough but positive GP for me.”

Todd Waters: “I guess conditions don't get much rougher and tougher than they did today – it was brutal. I was happy with the way my qualifying race went, so I went for it at the start of the first moto. I was battling hard and put up a big fight, right to the end of the moto. I got onto the back of Van Horebeek and gave everything. It was obvious the second moto would be tough, so I tried to be smart. I dropped it once, but was pleased with my fitness. I pushed hard to fifth, then dropped one spot to Strijbos."

Nathan Watson: “It was a tough, tough GP for me. I felt good early on when the track wasn’t as rough as it was on Sunday. I gave everything I could during the first 20 minutes of the opening moto, and then I was really feeling it. I just did what I could to get to the finish. In the end 11th wasn’t too bad. I knew I'd have to fight from the start in the second moto. I really struggled to finish – it was unbelievably hard. In the end I got disqualified for running off track early in the race, which was so disappointing for a lot of reasons.”

Results – FIM Motocross World Championship, Round 14

MXGP Overall
1. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 50pts; 2. Gautier Paulin (Honda) 44pts; 3. Romain Febvre (Yamaha) 40pts… 7. Todd Waters (Husqvarna) 28pts… 11. Dean Ferris (Husqvarna) 19pts… 17. Nathan Watson (Husqvarna) 10pts; 18. Klemen Gercar (Husqvarna) 6pt…

MXGP Race 1
1. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 17 laps, 34:36.275; 2. Gautier Paulin (Honda) 34:40.855 ; 3. Romain Febvre (Yamaha) 35:06.513… 8. Todd Waters (Husqvarna) 36:02.322… 11. Nathan Watson (Husqvarna) 36:18.235… 15. Dean Ferris (Husqvarna) 34:46.723… 18. Klemen Gercar (Husqvarna) 16 laps, 36:17.493

MXGP Race 2
1. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 17 laps, 35:02.032; 2. Gautier Paulin (Honda) 35:08.037; 3. Romain Febvre (Yamaha) 35:26.717… 6. Todd Waters (Husqvarna) 36:29.930… 8. Dean Ferris (Husqvarna) 37:00.810… 18. Klemen Gercar (Husqvarna) 15 laps, 35:10.146

MX2 Overall
1. Max Anstie (Kawasaki) 50pts; 2. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 44pts; 3. Petar Petrov (Kawasaki) 38pts… 5. Harri Kullas (Husqvarna) 34pts… 22. Anton Lundgren (Husqvarna) 4pts

MX2 Race 1
1. Max Anstie (Kawasaki) 17 laps, 34:55.901; 2. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 35:20.520; 3. Petar Petrov (Kawasaki) 35:31.381; 4. Harri Kullas (Husqvarna) 35:34.404… 18. Anton Lundgren (Husqvarna) 16 laps, 36:36.711

MX2 Race 2
1. Max Anstie (Kawasaki) 17 laps, 35:42.426; 2. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 36:07.822; 3. Julien Lieber (Yamaha) 36:34.001… 5. Harri Kullas (Husqvarna) 36:47.025

Championship Standings (After Round 14)

MXGP
1. Romain Febvre (Yamaha) 547pts; 2. Gautier Paulin (Honda) 463pts; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (Honda) 423pts… 5. Max Nagl (Husqvarna) 360pts… 11. Todd Waters (Husqvarna) 278pts; 12. Dean Ferris (Husqvarna) 208pts… 24. Nathan Watson (Husqvarna) 70pts… 27. Rui Goncalves (Husqvarna) 33pts… 32. Klemen Gercar (Husqvarna) 17pts

MX2
1. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 433pts; 2. Tim Gajser (Honda) 429pts; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 423pts… 11. Aleksandr Tonkov (Husqvarna) 256pts… 21. Harri Kullas (Husqvarna) 92pts… 26. Anton Lundgren (Husqvarna) 37pts… 34. Grisha Maykal Ivanov (Husqvarna) 13pts