Jere Haavisto collected the overall win in Valkenswaard after a thrilling second race that went right to the wire. Race one victor and local wildcard Rick Elzinga pushed the flying-Fin all the way but was forced to settle for second, while Matias Murto made it back-to-back third place finishes.
Haavisto eventually crossed the line just 1.5 seconds ahead of Elzinga and collected his race winning FOX voucher from FOX MX Sales Director Philippe Casadesus.
The Honda 150 European Championship now heads to Matterley Basin for the British GP.
Valkenswaard winner Jere Haavisto was pleased his performance: “I’m really happy with how I rode today, in the beginning of the race I pushed harder than I did yesterday, but I was able to keep my pace pretty constant throughout and at the end of the race I just started to relax a little and made sure I brought the bike home. I wasn’t nervous either, I knew that if Rick began to catch me I had some pace left in the tank and I would’ve been able to keep him behind.”
Davy Doussalaere, Honda Europe off-road manager added: “It’s been a great first weekend of the 2014 Honda 150 European Championship. The second race was especially tight and it went right down to the wire. I was delighted to see such big improvements in the riders as the weekend went on, and in that last race, as a group they were much quicker and much more consistent on what is a very difficult MXGP track.”
EMX150 Race 1: 1. Rick Elzinga (NED, Honda), 24:52.896; 2. Jere Haavisto (FIN, Honda), +0:39.062; 3. Matias Murto (FIN, Honda), +0:47.664; 4. Albie Wilkie (GBR, Honda), +0:59.562; 5. Damian Bergevoet (NED, Honda), +1:18.289; 6. Ethan Winchester (ENG, Honda), +1:23.177; 7. Tatu Junnola (FIN, Honda), +1:25.314; 8. Max Erlandsson (SWE, Honda), +1:40.682; 9. Hans Priidel (EST, Honda), +1:41.294; 10. Albin Larsen (SWE, Honda), +1:46.973.
EMX150 Race 2: 1. Jere Haavisto (FIN, Honda), 25:00.611; 2. Rick Elzinga (NED, Honda), +0:01.513; 3. Matias Murto (FIN, Honda), +0:54.540; 4. Albie Wilkie (GBR, Honda), +1:10.713; 5. Tatu Junnola (FIN, Honda), +1:32.724; 6. Ethan Winchester (GBR, Honda), +1:38.688; 7. Albin Larsen (SWE, Honda), +1:45.261; 8. Brian Van Der Klij (NED, Honda), +1:48.413; 9. Damian Bergevoet (NED, Honda), +1:53.868; 10. Max Erlandsson (SWE, Honda), +2:10.572.
EMX150 Overall: 1. Jere Haavisto (FIN, HON), 47 points; 2. Rick Elzinga (NED, HON), 47 p.; 3. Matias Murto (FIN, HON), 40 p.; 4. Albie Wilkie (GBR, HON), 36 p.; 5. Tatu Junnola (FIN, HON), 30 p.; 6. Ethan Winchester (GBR, HON), 30 p.; 7. Damian Bergevoet (NED, HON), 28 p.; 8. Albin Larsen (SWE, HON), 25 p.; 9. Max Erlandsson (SWE, HON), 24 p.; 10. Brian Van Der Klij (NED, HON), 22 p.