Rainy, fast, challenging and fun

The first two rounds of Viking Cup 2025 is done and it was a bit of a flat track marathon challenging but rewarding for the ones signed up for both rounds.

The weather forecast did not look to good when the first two rounds of Viking Cup held in Varkaus and Kauhajoki Finland where getting closer. Except for some minor changes in the positive direction, friday was a perfect day when riders from all over Finland as well as Norway and Sweden arrived to round 1 in Varkaus. The practise was top notch and the Varkaus crew certainly made an effort welcoming all riders with each countrys represented in flags all over the place. Varkaus arena isn’t huge but it got everything you can ask for including sauna which the riders used friday night. Track is a great mix of pure sand/gravel and salt. Not the best for avoiding rust on the bikes, but the lack of clay made the track work very well even in rainy conditions. The track crew showed excellent prep skills and packing it was the main key to the perfect track according to riders response.

On race day the sky was grey and as predicted the rain started around 10 and continued now and then during our first race day.

WC rider Saku Purtilo showed up, in spite of his scary crash in Ternzano Italy two weeks ago. He didn’t race, but showed good spirit, still sore, but happy though he got doctors approval to start in Meissen, the next round in WC, next weekend. Instead of riding Saku helped out togheter with JP Purtilo in the Burt Racing team where crew member Aki Laakonen made his first race apperance in Amateur class.

Due to the lack of riders, some classes where raced as groups, but still the points counted in each class. First group was Junior and Amateur and young talent Aatu Konttinen grabbed both the first place in Junior and and fourth place in Amateur. First place got Varkaus race organizer Appe Mustonen who never even got close to be challenge when he gave the audience a great show making wheelies evertime taking the checkered. Second place in Amateur was another Varkaus rider, Mikko Kräkinen and third was Jimi Lamminen.

Second group of the day was dedicated to the fast boys and girl and the Pro Open class. Top three 1st Ossi Rantala, 2nd Mikko Koskinen and 3rd Olli Mäkele kept their spots from Tampere and the first round of the Finnish championship, but all riders in this class is fast and their is nothing certain which Mikko Koskinen experienced crashing when in lead in the third heat. Amoung thoose fast finnish guys young talent Malene Solvang made her second start in Pro Class. She is a very solid rider, and with more experience she will soon challenge the top five riders. Malene is the only female Pro rider in the Nordic region and so far she is the only one challenging the fast Finns in Viking Cup.

Photo JP Purtilo

The third group of the day contained Vintage Modern Classic and Hooligan and one might say it was most about Kai Kivekäs in Vintage Modern Classic and Jacob Mattsson in Hooligan. Thoose two riders raced hard and fought each other hard but fair. The differences in bike material seemed less important and Kivekäs who had 650 cc less than Mattsson compensated with a full open throttle through straights and corners and it was a pleasure to watch Kivekäs and Mattsson fight. In Hooligan Jacob Mattsson on first plc, Lars Carlsson on 2nd. In Modern Classic Kai Kivekäs on 1st, Jarkko Tallqvist on his beauty Kawasaki Triple flat track edition on 2nd and Claes Andersson last years VMC Champion on 3rd.

Last but not least was group four containg Vintage True Gold, Vintage Real Deal and Thunderbike all in one. Winner of Thunderbike, Conny Ivarsson, was challenge by younger riders Simon Bergman and Aku Lantto but the experienced Swede prooved right in the end of the day in spite of some minor mistakes like wrong gear in the start in one heat as well as a broken engine mount in one. Ivarsson who recently turned 60 is still on fire and can make up for mistakes by just hitting the throttle a bit harder. Simon Bergman was 2nd and Aku Lantto on third. Only woman in the class also almost same age as Ivarsson was happy to not get lapped which was the goal of the weekend. Only rider in VTG, Gunnar Solvang on a WL 750/KR gave on a good show togheter with VRD-rider Janne Palokas on a brilliant looking Norton Redline when theese two riders was fighting side by side in heats as well as finals.

The first round turned out to be a great success in spite of rain showers now and than. The crew in Varkaus showed some excellent proffessionality and made this first round a great race, not only on the track. Appe Mustonen who was in charge mangage to keep it all togheter and race on a high level at the same time. But we do think he had a good nights sleep afterwards.

Pictures by Timo Eronen

After race day ended in Varkaus almost all riders washed bikes and loaded up everything to hit the road towards Kauhajoki and the second round of Viking cup. About five hours drive away awaited the 650 meter long track in Kauhajoki almost on the opposite side of Finland.

When arriving the rain was pooring down and in spite of being June it was dark and foggy, but the crew with Ville Pihlaja and Antti where waiting for the riders with good food and sauna prepared for riders and mechanics. The bad weather did not mind anyone and the great crew really made everyone feel welcomed and in good spirit for next days race.

Kauhajoki track hasn’t been as active for some years and the present crew actually made their first race ever. But no one could notice. They got it all planned and where extremly well prepared. Even here the weather conditions was a factor, but with good material in track and good prep the track was ready for race about the same time it all started. First practise was a bit dirty 🙂 but the track got better and better each lap and since many of us was doing a long track for the first the experience of the speed was scary but also a kick ass feeling to good to describe. Wide corners and long straights challenge every rider no matter on what level they where and there was only from ear to ear smiling faces when exiting the track after the heats.

The race day in Kauhajoki was splitted in three groups. First group contained Amateur, Vintage Modern Classic and Hooligan. Second group the Pro Open which also were the second round of the Finnish Championship, raced as class in class. Third and last group of the day was also the same as day one containg Vintage True Gold, Vintage Real Deal and Thunderbike.

In group 1 and Amateur missing Appe Mustonen and few others in the starting list, things changed a little bit and Jimi Lamminen ended undefeated on first place followed by Teemu Hyvärinen and Eero Hyärinen who both had the same points before the finals. Teemu ended on second and Eero on third. Challenged by Kai Kivekäs in Vintage Modern Classic and Jacob Matttsson in Hooligan the group battle was mostly about them and Jimi Lamminen. In Hooligan Mattson took the top spot again followed by Lars Carlsson and after Kai Kivekäs, Jarkko Tallqvist on second and Claes Andersson on third in Vintage Modern Classic.

Group 3 added one rider in Vintage Real Deal with Mara Mäki-Jouppila on a beautyful 1972 XR750. Unfourtunatly both Janne Palokas on the Norton Redline and Mara goth some minor issues on their bikes but Jannes was fixable and he could do the finals, while Maras issues were more serious and needed some garage time to avoid big issues on this rare ride. Gunnar Solvang in Vintage True gold was struggling a bit to get the right amount of tooths on the sprockets on this long track but ended the finals as usual solid and crazy fast on the very old mashine. In Thunderbike the senior Conny Ivarsson ended undefeated on his XR750, after heat one Ivarsson was shining and commented that finally he understood what the bike was ment for – long tracks, and added ” the bike is singing”. On second place ended Aku Lantto with the powerful KTM Super Duke and Simon Bergmans XS (750) 650 which didnt leave enough power for the long track and the high speed ended on third place.

The Pro Open class was pure joy to watch all riders where so fast but the standings from the day before and also the first round of the Finnish Championship i Tampere a couple of weeks ago didn’t change. Added from the first round in Varkaus was Valtteri Salo and Aku Lantto on a less powerful KTM 350. Valtteri challenge the riders in the top five but ended on plc 7. Santeri Toppari missed the day due to a crash in Varkaus which at first didn´t looked to bad. Hopefully he will recover soon so he can make the last round of Viking cup in Vetlanda in beginning of July. The podium in both the Finnish Championship as well as Viking Cup round was held by the same riders. 1st place Ossi Rantala, 2nd place Mikko Koskinen and 3rd place Olli Mäkele. A huge congrats to Ossi Rantala who now is the reigning champion as wells as points leader of Viking Cup.

This weekend was exiting and exhausting, but so worth the effort. Again thank you Finland for great racing, great hospitality and great organisation. We will be back!

If you as a rider havent signed up for the last and finishing round of Viking Cup in Vetlanda Sweden, last official day of registration is June 15 and you can do it easily by click on the link https://theevilmonkey.se/produkt-kategori/event/events-and-races-in-sweden/. Every round of the cup is open to everyone with a bike fitting in any of the nine offered classes and with a valid national license for nordic riders and an international licence for all other nationalitys. Vetlanda is also offering a “fun race” Trotteln i taket on friday July 4 were no licence are required you just need a bike over 125 cc made before 1985.

If you wanna see more pictures from the weekend please visit Timo Eronen on facebook https://www.facebook.com/timo.eronen.1, Viking Cup Group were Jouni Salo shared photos and of course Burt Racings fantastic JP Purtilos picture at https://burtracing.kuvat.fi/Motor+Sport/Viking+Cup+Varkaus/

Please always ask photographer of permition to use the picture in social medias and never forget to mention their name in your posts.

If you wanna see the results and standings in VIking Cup – The Nordic flat track battle of Vikings please visit https://www.scandinavianflattrack.se/results-and…/