Emil Oehman was celebrating in Italy 01.03.2009: FIM Snowcross World Champion Emil Oehman has continued his victorious racing from the last year. In Italian winter center Lavarone he won the first of the three events in the season 2009. Niko Korsumaeki and Viktor Stenman were second and third on the pod

FIM Snowcross World Championship 2009


FIM Snowcross World Champion Emil Oehman has continued his victorious racing from the last year. In Italian winter center Lavarone he won the first of the three events in the season 2009. Niko Korsumaeki and Viktor Stenman were second and third on the podium.
 
The race was going on in the pleasing temperatures, only some sun was missing. It was a cloudy Sunday. The race track was well prepared, because of the higher temperatures the ground was soft. All the best riders in the Snowcross World Championship were the part of the first event 2009, including 22 year old defending Champion Emil Oehman from Sweden.

The two Qualifying Races were taking place on Sunday before the race. Oehman won the Qualifying Race 1, while his Swedish colleague Peter Ericson won the Qualifying Race 2. Oehman is decided to defend his Title. As there are only three events for the Snowcross World Championship, every little mistake can take him away from the goal. In the first race Finnish rider Niko Korsumaeki took the lead at the start and won with the persuasive racing. Oehman could not pass him and finished second. Only sixteen year old Swedish rider Petter Narsa was third.

In the second race Oehman had more success. He was still under the impression of the defeat from the first race. In the second race he won in front of the Swedish rider Viktor Stenman and Finnish rider Niko Korsumaeki, who did not defend the leading position from the first race. Oehman (Lynx) took the overall victory at the Italian event. Korsumaeki (Lynx) finished second and Stenman (Arctic Cat) was third. The best home Italian rider and the local star Alessandro Ploner finished ninth. He crashed and could not come closer to the top.

The biggest surprise of the first event was sixteen years old Swedish rider Petter Narsa. For him this was the first World Championship event ever. He came to Italy with the big respect for the best riders. When the race has started he forgot about all the respect and fears. In the first race he finished third. With less successful second race he finished seventh overall. Narsa is doing his practices together with Oehman. As the young rider said, he can learn many things from the Swedish World Champion. Of course Narsa hopes one day he will also become the Snowcross World Champion.

Italian Organizers and the Federation were very satisfied with the successful weekend. It was the first time that Italy held the Snowcross World Championship. They showed that in the future Italy can be the important place for the world's snowcross.

Mr. Andrea Mascarin from the Italian Motorcycle Federation (F.M.I.) said: »It was the big thing and a lot of work for our Federation to prepare the World Championship's event. We all hope that riders and teams were satisfied with the first race. We also hope the Organizer Motoclub Tenno will continue the work from this important weekend. I would like thank to everybody who came to Lavarone to help and support us.«

The second event for the FIM Snowcross World Championship will be next Saturday in Oppdal, Norway.

 

RIDER'S COMMENTS:

1st – EMIL OEHMAN (Sweden): »This was my first race in Italy. It is different to ride at 12000 metres of the sea level, but I did not have problems with that. I was focused only on the race. It was very good day for me. My sled is similar as the one from the last season, so we did not need to make big changes of settings. I have also two mechanics from the year 2008. I hope I will continue like I have started today.«

2nd – NIKO KORSUMAEKI (Finland): »The snow and sea level were not the same as in Scandinavia, so the race was a bit different than others. First I would like thank to my sponsors and team, who prepared very good settings of my snowmobile. There were a lot of soft parts at the race track and some parts were difficult to pass. I think we will still have a hard fight between first three riders, we are very close. All of us are strong. The season will be difficult.«
 
3rd – VIKTOR STENMAN (Sweden): »My team did the good testing yesterday. We were ready and good prepared for this snow conditions. Today the race track was little more icy. I am very satisfied with my racing and result. The biggest difference between my home races and this in Italy was the sea level. I am more used to ride at the 300 metres, but here we were riding at 12000 metres. For the last two events I will not have some special preparations. I will continue with my trainings as usually and I hope for the best.«

 
Information, photos and results are online at www.worldsnowcross.com, the official website of the FIM Snowcross World Championship.

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- Daniele RIZZI -