Joakim Ljunggren made his debut on the new TE 300 for the first time in a big national race. And this race is one of the toughest there is. He already had his name put on the trophy of Novemberkåsan twice before this race (2007 and 2009) and a 3rd would ensure that he could take the trophy of Novemberkåsan home after the race. Looking at the start list this year the competition looked really tough with the recent winner of Gotland Grand National Mats Nilsson, the 7 time World Champion Anders Eriksson and former Husaberg teammate Björne Carlsson.

But from the start of the race during daylight Joakim started out winning all the stages during the day. Everyone knows that the day lap is just a warmup and that the real race begins after dark. The temperatures where just around freezing and throughout the day the snow was slowly falling. Just like a real Novemberkåsan race should be.

When the "real" race in the dark began at 17.00 Joakim was very focused and kept his pace, pretty soon it was obvious that no one could match his pace this night. Mats Nilsson was in second place for a while but was not happy with the setup and kept adjusting his forks between the first couple of stages to find more traction on the front end. But he was loosing ground and Björne Carlsson passed him fot second place. Joakim kept taking about 1min per stage all the time. In fact he actually won all stages throughout the complete race.

Race Results Novemberkåsan 2010, Gävle Rider Time 1st Joakim Ljunggren, Husaberg 5.17.34,79 2nd Björne Carlsson, Kawasaki 5.35.24,37 3rd Mats Nilsson, Yamaha 5.39.01,96

In the 95-year history of the race since the first edition in 1915 in Stockholm 84 editions have been run, and Joakim is only the 13th rider to take the trophy by winning three times. The only other Husaberg rider who won three times is Kent Karlsson who won in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

Joakim commented after the tough race: "I'm very happy with the new bike and the race as a whole. I felt that I rode at a controlled pace and did not have a single crash, only 2 times I got stuck just for a short time. I saw alot of spectators cheering for me out in the darkness of the woods, and it was a really big help as a rider to feel this support. It's amazing to have managed my third victory at Novemberkåsan, the first aboard a 2-stroke. It's a very special race here in Sweden and I'm really proud to join the other 12 riders who have been awarded with this prestigious trophy so far."

During this week Joakim will now recharge and do a few practise sessions indoor to be ready for next weekends first round of Indoor World Championship in Genoa, Italy.


Pics: M. Svensson