After the first two rounds scheduled in Sayda, Germany, for the 2nd and the 3rd of February were cancelled due to the weather conditions, Oppdal, Norway, will become the opening round of the 2008 season.
Considering the massive participation of the top riders from last year, with the only exception of legendary Janne Tapio who is currently retired, defending Champion Peter Ericson will face an incredibly motivated opposition this season, which will start on Saturday, March 1st, at Oppdal.
2008 represents an important year for the 26 year old Swedish; he will fight for his third World Title but started the preparation late because of a crash in mid November, leaving him with a head concussion. Among his rivals, Ericson is currently the most successful but beating Tapio’s record of two World Championship wins has always been one of the Lynx Factory rider’s goals.
Johan Eriksson, runner up to Peter Ericson at the end of the 2007 season, switched from Polaris to Yamaha and is up and ready to battle for the Title which he lost by 11 points last year.
Arctic Cat’s Viktor Stenman, who completed an all Swedish top three in the 2007 standings by ending right behind Ericson and Eriksson, can be another Title challenger while Niko Korsumaeki, winner of the final round of 2007 and seventh placed in the standings, is a talent about to express all his potential.
At Oppdal there will be also Ski-doo fellow riders Tomi Ahmasalo and Fredrik Granberg, who rounded off the top five last year ahead of Marcus Evensson on the Polaris snowmobile.
With the track’s length being 900 metres and the minimum width being 8 metres, Oppdal has one of the most challenging circuits in the calendar.
The first 12 lap heat is scheduled at 14.00 and the second heat at 15.00.
The meeting is open to the snowmobiles entering the Pro-Racer class, including both 2 stroke machines (up to 600 cc maximum) and 4 stroke machines (up to 1050 cc maximum).
Oppdal is in the heart of Norway and the nearest town is Trondheim, at 120 km from the circuit.
Information, photos and results are online at http://www.youthstream.org , the official website of the FIM Snowcross World Championship.
Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
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- Daniele Rizzi -
