Estonian motorcyclist Joonas Lember returns from the World Championships with a silver medal

One of the last international title races for circuit boats of the year took place in Östhammar, Sweden, and Joonas Lember won the silver medal in the youth class GT-15.

There were four Estonian athletes in total at the start – this year’s European Championship silver medalist Erik-Rennes Pihlak, Paul Richard Laur, who won the last stage of the Estonian Championships, this year’s Baltic and Estonian champion Joonas Lember, and Joonas Tristen Lootus, who is only participating in the title competition for the first time. Among the strong competitors were the European champions of the last two seasons – Nils Slakteris from Latvia and Hilmer Wiberg from Sweden.

The time trial victory went to Slakteris, Wiberg came in second and Pihlak was third. Lember was sixth, Laur seventh and Lootus eighth. In the first race, Slakteris took the lead and won the race ahead of Wiberg. The third was the Finn Oliver Martin and the fourth, fifth and sixth places were taken by our riders – Lember, Pihlak, Laur. Lootus finished eighth.

In the second race, Lember and Pihlak got a very good start and came out of the first turn in third and fourth place. The race was interrupted by a red flag on the same lap when the young Swede Hanna Atterling flipped her boat over her side. The driver was fine and the race continued from the restart. However, Lember did not get such a good start in the restart. In the second race, the places were divided similarly to the first – Slakteris, Wiberg, Martin and Lember. Pihlak finished seventh, Lootus was ninth and Lauri was penalized one lap for breaking the turn buoy and his place in the second race was fourteenth.

In the third race, Slakteris and Wiberg continued to dominate, but there was a tough competition for third place between Lember and Martin. Lember managed to overtake the Finn and take third place in the race. However, Martin made another mistake and drove the boys on the wrong side, and as a penalty, the Finns were deducted one lap. Pihlak, who had a good race, was fourth, Laur sixth and Lootus tenth.

Three of the four races will be included in the standings, and since Slakterise had the maximum points, he did not participate in the last, fourth race. Wiberg started in first place, Lember in second and Pihlak in third. The fate of third place was to be decided by a duel between Lember and Martin in the race – whoever comes out ahead will be the bronze medalist at the World Championships. The start was clean and Lember managed to hold second place behind Wiberg until the end of the race. Martin finished fifth. Laur did a very good job in the last race, finishing third and Pihlak fourth. Lootus took sixth place in the race.

After the races, a very thorough technical inspection of the engines followed. The technical judges discovered that Slakteris’ engine did not meet the requirements and the young Latvian was disqualified from first place. The engines of Wiberg and Lember, as well as Martin, who came in third, met the requirements.

Hilmer Wiberg from Sweden became the 2020 UIM World Champion in the only international youth class GT-15, with Joonas Lemberi taking silver and Oliver Martin from Finland taking bronze. Erik-Rennes Pihlak was fourth, Paul Richard Laur fifth and Joonas Tristen Lootus eighth.

“Year after year, we have strengthened technical control at the title races and the goal is to bring UIM youth sport to a completely clean level, so that young talented pilots compete with each other, not teams that take advantage of “technical doping”. We know that young competitors are not behind this. Other people prepare the competition equipment, but in the end, young racers still suffer when they get caught. This year, we also strengthened technical control at the races taking place in Estonia and this makes the situation much more equal for young people,” summed up the race, UIM Technical Committee member and Secretary General of the Estonian Water Moto Association Algo Kuus.

The article was published on September 29, 2020 in Postimees, which can be read here .

Devin has supported and will continue to support Joonas in all competitions!