Finn Jere Haavisto won the first of two races in the Honda 150 European Championship this weekend at Loket at the MXGP of Czech Republic.
In doing so Haavisto closed the gap to the top of the Honda 150 European Championship standings to just seven points, resisting pressure from title leader Albie Wilkie in the closing stages to take his third victory of the season on the Honda CRF150R.
Whilst Haavisto fought back from sixth to take the lead on the opening lap, Wilkie recovered from a slow start that saw him in 19th by the first corner. The two have been locked in a close battle for the title all season, and this race was no different. With just two laps to go, a mistake from Haavisto allowed Wilkie to close to just 0.4seconds. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, becoming the only rider to break the two-minute barrier, Wilkie was unable to overcome the Finnish No.42 rider.
Between them, Wilkie and Haavisto have shared all but one of the race victories. Wilkie has finished off the podium twice with a pair of fourth places in the opening round, and Haavisto has only failed to visit the podium once after crashing in the second race in Germany.
After taking the early lead, Swede Filip Olsson finished third overall, marking his best result in the series having only been competing in the category since the last round in Germany where he joined as a wildcard. Fourth was Tristan Tavares, the South African also taking his best result of the season.
“That was another very close race between Albie and Jere, who have been fighting hard all season,” said Davy Dousselaere, Honda Europe Off-Road Manager. “At the finish they were split by just over one second, but that gap was down to just 0.45seconds at one point. It shows how closely matched they and their CRF150Rs are that twice already they have been separated by less th an half a second at the finish. They are clearly both very strong riders, and with just three races left now, whoever wins will be very deserving of the prize of a ride on a Honda CRF250R in the European MX250 series next season. Even though it is a Grand Prix track, the CRF150R is proving very well suited to Loket so I am very happy with the performance of these junior-category four-stroke machines.”