GP Serres, Greece race report

The GP of Greece was in Serres just like last year. Even the special tests were the same. Only difference was whole new special test called Xtrem but it was actually more like a short Enduro test. It was very near the Enduro test’s start- finish area. It had a couple of drop offs on the sandy river bed with some water in it and some sections with up and downhills in the bush. The MX test was exactly the same MX track like last year. Also 2008 Six Days final MX was held on this track which is situated at the Serres Racing Circuit. The Enduro test was the same also but with some little modifications. This time there was no grass track section in the middle of the test and also one forest section that had few uphills had been taken off. I walked through it three times trying to memorize every bit of it although I remembered most of it well already from previous races. I tried also to look for turtles that I saw in the race last year but I didn’t see any! I even brought my camera with me to take some pictures if I found one but no luck! Not a single one even if I wandered a little of the track in the most likely places to look for them! My team mates Oscar Balletti and Fabio Mossini went walking the Enduro test later in the evening and they heard a strange banging sound near the track on the mountain. They took a closer look and find a smaller turtle banging it’s shell against the bigger one’s shell! Who knows what it was trying to do?

The Xtrem/Super test was next to the paddock just like last year but this time it was a little bit faster and easier. On Friday after the registrations for the race everybody headed to the special tests to see the pre-riders. On the new special test we watched Pellegrinelli and Tiainen jump nice and far from the bigger drop off. The landing area seemed hard enough with no bigger stones so I decided to jump down full gas in the race. That meant 3-4 gear so the jump was pretty spectacular! Before the Super test on Friday evening we did also pre-ride both Enduro and the new special test. We had 50min to ride though the trail and the special tests and then back to the paddock to do the Super test. I had my Super test race against Cervantes who pulled it off this time doing 1:36:97 beating me by 2,08s! Damn! I wasn’t happy at all but Saturday was going to be long and hard...

On Saturday morning the temperature was over 30C already at 0900 and I wondered how hot it would get as I had seen the weather forecast give warnings of unusual scorching heat! Right after the start we had the Super test/Xtrem again and this time I did a better time 1:37:43 beating Ivan by nearly 2s; but Renet was the fastest beating me by 0,4s. Also Ljunggren and Thain were a little bit faster than me. After this we had incredibly long trail that took us1h and 5min through river beds and mountains to reach the new special test. On this test I made the best time 3:21:59 beating Ivan by 2,8s. After this we had few minutes at the service to get refreshed for the Enduro test. This was a hard and hadardous test but I had good ride doing the best time 10:05:37 while Ivan had a good ride too doing the second best time 10:07:00. After this we had another long trail to get back to the paddock and MX test. The organizer had watered some parts of the track right before we got there and I nearly crashed in the very first corner. It looked grippy but was like ice! After this I was a little cautious and that showed in my time that was only fifth of the E2 but Ivan was about half a second slower. It seemed like the riders who started later got a little bit advantage with a little dryer track. My lead over Ivan after the first lap was 4,7s.

The second lap started with the Xtrem where Thain made the best time 1:37:30 but I beat Ivan by 0,6s which was more important for me. The heat was getting nasty on the second lap’s neverending trail and doing the new special test straight after was hard job. This time Ivan made the best time 3:19:60 while I made few little mistakes and was 3s slower! On the Enduro test I pushed hard and I knew I was going to do incredible time until I crashed towards the end of the test. In one off camber corner over a little hill decending to the road my front wheel just washed out on the thick layer of dust and I landed flat on the road. Luckily the engine was still running and I didn’t hurt myself so I got up really quickly and tried to finish the test as well as I could with bent handlebars! I ended up being only 3,6s slower than Ivan! But this meant Ivan took 0,25s lead over me! Shit!! I knew I could regain my lead on the last lap’s Enduro but I needed to keep the gap as small a possible! At the end of the second lap the MX test had been watered again! I was saved by a miracle from highside crash at the ramp of the third jump and that left me feeling unsecure for the rest of the test. I couldn’t predict the grip in different spots of the track that were wet. Some of them had good grip and some were very slippery while some parts were dry and dusty. I didn’t understand the point of watering the track like that. It made riding only very dangerous!! I lost another 2,5s to Ivan. To me only thing worthwhile watering was my head that felt like boiling! At the paddock the thermometers were showing 42-46C in the shade!!

The last lap started with the Xtrem where I lost half a second more to Ivan. The 1h 5min trail was unbearable. Even the wind felt burning hot and made even the sweat dry on my riding shirt and pants! The air was hot like hell everywhere. There was no relief even in the shades at the riverbed or at the top of the mountain. I have never used a camel pack but this time I regretted not having one. I got to drink only half way of this trail where Tullio Pellegrinelli waited for me with my Flow. It was refreshing but my mouth was dry like a bedouin’s sandal only 10min after! When the trail finally was done I felt a little dizzy but pushed as hard as I could to catch Ivan on the new special test but despite being the second fastest I was about 1,5s slower! On the last Enduro test I gave my everything but had a strange kind of problem that slowed me down a little. The special tests were poorly marked and this caused some problems like people going through the bunting but my case was different. On top of the mountain wind was blowing the bunting and bending it all the way over the track. It was bending so much because it was put around two trees that were about 20m apart from one another. It should have been fixed with sticks to the ground in many more places. Anyway, the bunting caught my handlebars and came off the trees so I had like 20m of it hanging and flapping from my handlebars! I tried to keep focused but it was too disturbing. I tried to get rid of it at some places riding with one hand but no way! I waited until the trail descended to the gravel road and on the longest straight tried again. I had to back off gas a little to use more force to brake the two buntings but I managed to rip them off and continued to push like hell. Even with this episode I made the best time 10:05:77 while Ivan was second but only less than five seconds slower. This meant Ivan was leading by 0,11s before the last MX test!!! Riding the long trail to the paddock I tried to figure out how to beat Ivan but I just couldn’t think of any new lines or ways to ride this half wet half dry test. We’ve had this situation many times before with Ivan and I have always pulled off the victory from him but now Ivan was able to do the best time 2:32:03 while I improved also but was a little over one second slower. Ivan ended up winning the day by 1,25s and I was disappointed. I really wanted to win but on days like this it seems I wasn’t meant to win, no matter what. I have pulled of victories many times on tight situations like this and now it kind of felt like we had changed roles with Ivan. Before I had always won on Saturday and Ivan challenging on Sunday. Now it was my time to challenge but I didn’t know how for I felt totally exhausted and dehydrated by the scorching heat. My 21 points lead over Ivan had narrowed to 18 and I was already thinking that when the weekend was done it might be 15 but I didn’t care. As long as I was finishing second it was good enough for the championship. After prize giving and autograph session I went to walk through the new special test to find out some alternative lines and it paid off for I found couple of lines where some riders had passed but which I haven’t seen during the race trying to go full gas everywhere. More importantly though I found my lucky turtle! At the top of the hill at the highest point of this special test I saw first fresh turtle tracks on the dusty track we had been riding. I followed the turtle tracks and found it just half a meter beside our track pulling it’s head inside it’s carapace when it heard my voice. It was a small one and I hoped it would find a safer place to rest the next day when I was going through this special test again! At the dinner I tried to drink and eat as much as possible and retreated to the air conditioned hotel room which felt like heaven to my overheated body.

I found myself sweating already before the start on Sunday morning but I had confidence to make it through the day with my new camel pack and the weather forecast that promised couple of degrees less heat than the day before. On the first Xtrem and I tried my best to be quick straight out of the paddock doing 1:39:08 but Ivan started strong being two seconds faster! The long trail felt even longer but the air was cooler in the morning than the day before. Arrived to the new special test I pushed hard but Ivan still beat me again but now only by less than one second! On the Enduro test I noticed that someone had opened up one chicane creating a faster line through it but I was too focused to ride on the same line like on Saturday and I missed it riding through the chicane slower. I knew though that there’s at least one second to gain there the next lap. My time was the best anyway 10:03:36 but Ivan was fast too being only 2,4s slower! The long trail back to the paddock and the MX test where the organizer had made the right decision and watered the track only the night before and not anymore in the morning. I was able to keep up with Ivan’s pace this time being only 0,25s slower. After the first lap I was less than one second behind Ivan and I was determined to push hard and try to win the day.

The second lap started with the Xtrem where I pushed like hell and managed to do it perfectly 1:37:99 and beat Ivan by nearly two seconds! On the second lap’s long trail the heat wasn’t so bad like on Saturday but it was just too long. Finally arriving to the new special test I managed to keep my pace untouchable although I was a little out of control when aquaplaning on the river bed! I did 3:21:23 and beat Ivan by nearly four seconds!! After the service I entered the time control on my minute and saw Ivan starting already on the Enduro test. What the hell was happening??? He was supposed to enter one minute after me! Then I saw Oldrati there also. I couldn’t believe it. Both had made the same mistake and entered the time check three minutes too early! Rules of Enduro are hard and one minute too late or early at the time check equals to one minute penalty. I have learned it the hard way myself and I know how it feels to be suddenly minutes behind in the results! In rally each minute equals to 10s penalty which would be better also in Enduro that has become a sport where the gaps are measured in hundreths of a second in each race. The minute-penalty rule has become totally obsolete in modern Enduro and this time it was an experienced rider and four time World Champion like Cervantes who had to pay the price. I had suddenly the pressure off my shoulders Ivan being three minutes behind. I decided to keep riding hard nevertheless because that’s what I do best and stay focused. I had really good ride but towards the end I had a close call at one river crossing. I wheelied over it full gas but there must have been a bigger stone under the water that kicked the bike sideways! I hit the other side of the river sideways and was so close to crash that my handlebars were almost touching the ground! I couldn’t believe I didn’t crash but when I needed to brake next time I realized I didn’t have the rear brake anymore!! The brake pedal went down with no braking effect at all. I had to slow down but my time was still ok. I couldn’t fix the broken pedal and I had to do also the MX test without the rear brake. I was a little terrified thinking about the big jumps but when I started I just tried to ride like before braking harder with the front brake and using engine braking shifting down to first gear entering every corner. On the first smaller jumps I realized I controlled the bike without brake as well and only when I overshoot the biggest jump a little I couldn’t do anything to take it down earlier. A little heavier landing that’s all. Even the tight grass track section at the end of the test went much better than I thought and in the end my time was 2:36:94 which was only 3,7s slower than Salminen who did the best time of E2 on this one! At the service Luca found out that my rear brake pedal had snapped close to the brake pump and with a new pedal it was fixed. The last lap started and the heat didn’t get to that unbearable infernal level like on Saturday but being still very hot. I continued to race like nothing had happened trying to beat Ivan purely with my special test times while Ivan was pushing hard to climb up in the results. In the end of the day I won the day with 1min 40s over Salminen who was second. Renet was third and Ivan was 8^th with his 3min penalty. Without his penalties Ivan would have been 13,65s slower than me and that made me happy knowing that I really was the fastest of all on Sunday! Like icing for the cake I also won the Husqvarna Xtrem Award on Sunday!

Last but not least: BIG thanks to Serres HM Honda dealer Nick from MOTOACTION and Honda importer Evangelios Sarakakis for all the help during the Serres GP!!

After the race price giving we hurried with our rent car to Thessaloniki in order to catch a flight to Rhodes island. My Catalonian friend Jordi was with us and we had good time on Monday swimming at Aegean sea to shake off the fatigue built up in our bodies over the hard race weekend. Also some coordination exercises by somersaulting in the water from the concrete platform build up in the sea for jumping. Tuesday morning we took a ferry from Rhodes to Marmaris in Turkey. Then with rented car drive 130km south to Fethiye and here we are starting to walk the special tests again!