For Christian Pfeiffer it was virtually a home game, when last Saturday afternoon, he lined up on his HP2 Enduro, together with Simo Dirssi, in the large 4-stroke class (450 cm³ and above) event, hoping to qualify for the grand "Master of Dirt" final the following Sunday.
Right from the start, the two of them were among the front runners. Over the first few laps, they managed to work their way to second and third place (Kirssi and Pfeiffer respectively), despite strong defensive tactics from the others and the at times narrow track.
From this point on, the two of them alternated positions, and roughly half way through the race, they finally overtook the leader and dominated the field in duo formation.
Pfeiffer was forced to relinquish the peak position to the somewhat more forceful Kirssi, but unfortunately, twenty minutes before the finish, he fell following a table jump and had to leave the race.
As a former world stunt champion, Pfeiffer survived this spectacular move with little more than a few bruises.
Kirssi continued the confident leader, at times he was even two whole minutes of the rider in second place - but only three laps before the finish, his fuel reserves ran out, costing him the race.
Despite the delay necessitated by the refuelling, Simo Kirssi still managed to finish the race in second place - an excellent performance.
On Sunday morning, Christian Pfeiffer took part in the standard Enduro race, in order to secure himself a place in the final event. He won the race confidently, which was only to be expected, since - it has to be said - there really was no serious competition for this top-class combination of man and machine.
And so to the "Master of Dirt" final, where everything counted. All qualifying riders start off together in a fast lap. The last one to finish has to leave the competition and the remaining riders take part in the next elimination round. This continues until the Master of Dirt has won through.
Pfeiffer and Kirssi started well every time, winning a number of holeshots in the process. Around half way through, Pfeiffer lost out due to a stalled engine. Kirssi continued impressively until the fourth round from the end, when an error of judgement caused him to drop out of the race.
