Gotland Sweden Grand Nationals Report
On Saturday, November 2, the 30th edition of Gotland Grand Nationals took place at the Toftasjön firing range on the island of Gotland, off the East coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea.
Gotland's Grand Nationals competition is one of the largest off-road races in the world featuring a gigantic field with almost 2800 entries! The conditions were very dry this year compared to past years except for the almost 1/2 mile long mud hole the organizers put in!
Race highlights:
The Elite/junior race had over 300 riders. Frenchman Pela Renet won convincingly over Jonas Karlsson KTM, France's Jeremy Tarroux SHERCO and Andreas Hultman HONDA Sweden's Mats Nilsson was running a distant second while dealing with engine problems but with approximately a 1/2 mile left to the finish, his bike quit completely and Mats heroically pushed his bike to the finish! He was able to hold on to fifth place.
Maybe the biggest surprise, was the winner of the Class 6 Pro/Vet Honda Sweden's National Sale Mgr. Patrik Erlandsson, Erlandsson bested a field of 1,000 riders! The 38 year old Swede also had the fastest time in all the pro vet classes made up of +30 +40 +50 and +60.
