Sports Round-Up: Kallio wins in Japan; Grönholm comes in second in Cyprus; Sotkamo seals Finnish-rules baseball title

Finland's Mika Kallio successully defended his 2005 victory in the 125cc Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. The Finnish KTM rider's third victory of the season marked his seventh career win.
      "This was a great way to end the tight three-race tour. I'm very satisfied with the bike's competitiveness", Kallio summarised his sentiments.
      Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, who has already secured this year's riders' world championship, finished second in the Japanese Grand Prix over the Honda-owned Motegi track.
      The Aprilia rider came in 0.185 seconds behind the Finn. Kallio's Spanish teammate Julian Simon secured a double podium finish for KTM by finishing third.
      Kallio, who started off second on the grid, rode a tactically smart race and overtook Bautista during the last few laps. The Finn and the Spaniard enjoyed a ding-dong battle throughout the early stages, and pulled well ahead of the rest of the field. Kallio's overtaking manoeuvre on the final lap was particularly impressive, as he braked late and went around the Spaniard on the outside at the end of the main straight.
      When two races remain in the season, Kallio is a strong candidate for the World Championship silver. The Finn has amassed 226 points in the series, against the 185 points of the current third-placed rider, Italian Mattia Pasini.
     
Elsewhere in the motor sports world, namely in Limassol, Cyprus, Sebastien Loeb of France continued where he left off three weeks ago in Japan. The Citroën driver claimed his 28th individual World Rally Championship win 21.2 seconds ahead of Finland's Marcus Grönholm (Ford).
      Loeb's victory on the gravel roads of Cyprus marked his third consecutive win and the eighth this season. The other four WRC victories have gone to Grönholm.
      While Grönholm's Finnish teammate Mikko Hirvonen, secured another podium finish for Ford, yet another Finn Toni Gardemeister (Citroën) came in fifth.
      In the manufacturers' table, Ford ate into some of the Kronos-Citroën lead, and now trails only seven points behind the French team.
     
In pesäpallo, or Finnish-rules baseball, Jymy of Sotkamo, the dominating force in the sport, proved once again unstoppable at home. After last year's mishap - Sotkamo finished only third - the team that had won four consecutive Finnish Championship titles in 2001-2004 returned to top form and claimed the 2006 trophy in the last match of the best-of-five final against Pattijoen Urheilijat of Raahe on Sunday.
      In the first period, Sotkamo produced six runs against Pattijoki's one, and in the second period both teams scored one more time. This latest addition to Sotkamo's trophy collection means the team from this small town in the eastern province of Kainuu can boast no fewer than 12 Finnish Championships.
      After the match, the players of the winning team ran into a nearby lake for a traditional cooling-off celebration ceremony. Even the championship trophy got washed in the process.
      One of the home team's key players was Roope Korhonen, who batted four runs in the opening period.
      "Our victory was based on our more versatile playing style", the Sotkamo skipper Janne Vuorinen commented. The partisan home fans also helped. The match was attended by a sell-out crowd of nearly 4,000 - not bad for a municipality with a population of just 10,000.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kallio comes in second in Australia as Bautista seals championship (18.9.2006)
  Rally: Grönholm just fails to catch Loeb (4.9.2006)
  Kitee this year´s champion in Finnish-rules baseball (12.9.2005)
  SPORTS ROUND-UP: Sotkamo win Finnish-rules baseball title; FC Haka take football honours (20.9.2004)

Links:
  MotoGP
  Mika Kallio
  World Rally Championship
  Finnish-rules baseball – International site
  Pesäpallo helps define us
  Wikipedia: Pesäpallo - Finnish-rules baseball