29 May 2016 at 15:39 | Published by: PatPenguin | Views: 14463 | News search

(Photo by Mika Rajala)

The first partial race of the Finnish League took place in Kalliojärvi on the felt course (on May 21 and May 22). This is the first of three partial races, with the next ones coming in June and July. Weather conditions were great and the matches exciting. Seven teams are competing with the winner getting to participate in the European Cup.

Last years champion Botnia started with a loss against MG-Aces. However, Botnia took a pretty significant victory when it beat Manse1 which was unbeaten apart from this loss. After three wins MG-Aces played against SMGK from Helsinki and lost the match which meant that all seven teams had experienced at least one loss and none of the teams would have a massive lead going into the next partial race.

One of the biggest surprises was seen when Manse2, as an underdog, beat SMGK just like TaRGS, the other Helsinki team, did. SMGK were able to win just once when traditionally the great felt team MG-Aces lost. Manse2 also beat team Botnia, one of the biggest favorites. TuRGS started with two losses but then shaped up and won their three last matches.

On Sunday the most remarkable match was played between Manse1 and MG-Aces. Manse1 started the round a bit better but when the anchormen started to approach the halfway of the round the battle turned into a real thriller. Eventually Manse1 won the match when both Jouni Pihlasalo and Tero Vaahtio from MG-Aces suffered major misses. Manse1 players Greta Wedman and Ida Hiltunen played the round really well and Aapo Siurola and Markku Sillman finished the victory. Both Ida and Aapo were debutants in the League.

The best player of all was Miko Tuominen, TuRGS, with green average 31.17 and the second best Jussi Heino, MG-Aces. One who surprised all was Ida Hiltunen, Manse, who played the average 33.00 and was the third best player of overall.

The following is the league table after this partial race.
Manse1 - 10 points
MG-Aces - 8
Botnia - 6
TuRGS - 6
TaRGS - 6
Manse2 - 4
SMGK - 2

The next matches will be held on June 11 and June 12.

Thank you to Ida Hiltunen for providing this article.

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