Harri Kullas

Estonian motocross racer

Harri Kullas
Harri Kullas during a race
NationalityEstonian
Born (1992-03-01) 1 March 1992 (age 32)
Helsinki, Finland
Current teamCab Screens Crescent Yamaha
Bike number151

Harri Kullas (born 1 March 1992) is a Finnish-born Estonian professional motocross racer. Kullas has had a long international career that has seen him compete in the FIM Motocross World Championship in both the MX2 and MXGP classes.[1]

Kullas has competed at the Motocross des Nations 13 times, on the first four occasions for Finland and since 2014 for Estonia. As part of this, Kullas has been part of the Estonia teams that have recorded the highest overall finish ever for the nation – a pair of fourth places in 2015 and 2019.

Alongside this, Kullas has competed extensively in various national championships across Europe. In the UK-based MX Nationals series Kullas has taken the MX1 title three times as well as winning the overall Pro Fastest 40 ranking in 2022. In addition to this, Kullas has finished as runner-up to Tommy Searle in the MX1 class of the British Motocross Championship in 2021 & 2022. Kullas has also had second place finishes in the final overall standings in the ADAC MX Masters series and the Spanish Motocross Championship during his career.

In supercross, Kullas has won nine nights at the annual Tampere Supercross in Finland since 2012.[2]

Early life

Kullas was born to Estonian parents in Helsinki, Finland, and he holds Estonian and Finnish citizenships.[3]

Career

Junior career

In the first part of his career Kullas competed under the Finnish flag. He notably finished fourth in the 85cc class of the 2006 FIM Motocross Junior World Championship.[4] The following season he stepped up to the 125cc class, culminating in him finishing in ninth overall in the 2007 FIM Motocross Junior World Championship.[5]

250 career

Kullas stepped up again in 2008, this time up to the 250cc category aboard a KTM, competing at European level in the EMX2 class. He did not compete at every round of the series, but he did manage to record a third place finish in race one at the Finnish round. This culminated in a final championship position of 16th and alongside this he made his debut in the FIM Motocross World Championship by racing in the MX2 class at the final two rounds of the year. At the first of these in Lierop he recorded his first world championship points on debut.[6] His performances were good enough for him to be selected for the Finnish team for that years Motocross des Nations at Donington Park. The team was able to finish in 11th overall and Kullas picked up the Ricky Carmichael award for the best individual young rider at the event.[7]

For 2009 Kullas stayed in the EMX2 European Championship, missing four rounds but still finishing in sixth overall in the final standings. On the way to this, he would take his first race win in the series, which also resulted in his first overall round win at Schwedt in Germany.[8] On the back of this, Kullas was signed to race in the MX2 class of the FIM Motocross World Championship full-time for 2010 by the Yamaha Gariboldi Monster Energy team. He was able to finish in eleventh in the final standings with several top-6 race finishes. After a second season with the team in 2011, where he was able to finish 9th in the final standings after missing the final two rounds, he switched to the Suzuki Europe squad for 2012.[9] Unfortunately a knee injury obtained at the Swedish Grand Prix curtailed his season, resulting in an 18th in the final championship standings.[10] Following this, Kullas returned to the Gariboldi team for 2013, who by this time was using Honda machinery.[11] He had a good start to the season by finishing runner-up in the MX2 class of the annual pre-season Italian International Championship. However, at world championship level, Kullas' collaboration with the Gariboldi team ended after the Italian Grand Prix. Kullas finished the season with the Sahkar KTM team, achieving a final championship position of 15th.

During 2014 Kullas would begin to compete under the Estonian flag, making his Motocross des Nations debut for them that year. He remained with Sahkar KTM for that season, finishing in 18th in the MX2 World Championship standings after only competing in the European rounds of the series. 2015 would be Kullas' last year in the MX2 class, he started the season competing for the British-based Heads and all Threads Suzuki team – mainly concentrating on the British Motocross Championship.[12] However, he would be called up to the factory Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna team to replace the injured Aleksandr Tonkov mid-season. Kullas had an immediate impact, placing third in the second race at the Latvian Grand Prix – a result good enough to give him his first overall world championship podium.[13] He finished the season by being part of the Estonia team that finished in 4th place at the 2015 Motocross des Nations, the highest finish ever for the country.

450 career

Kullas needed to move up to the MXGP category for 2016. He was able to sign a deal to ride for the German Sarholz KTM team, a deal that would see him compete at the European rounds of MXGP as well as the ADAC MX Masters series in Germany.[14] He managed to finish in second in the final standings of the ADAC MX Masters championship, 12 points behind his teammate Dennis Ullrich. His part campaign in MXGP produced a best race finish of tenth in the first race at Valkenswaard, with 23rd in the final championship standings. The following season was again a part campaign in MXGP, with another tenth place (this time coming at race two in Assen) being the highlight.

2018 saw the focus for Kullas switch to mainly being on domestic championships in Europe. He rode the Spanish Motocross Championship in the Elite-MX1 class for the CSM Zambrana team, finishing as runner-up.[15] He rode five MXGP rounds alongside this, with a best position of 15th. In 2019 this reduced to three MXGP appearances as he returned to the UK competition with the Cab Screens Honda team.[16] The 2019 Motocross des Nations saw Kullas play a part in Estonia recording another fourth position overall, equalling the previous best result in 2015. Kullas has stayed with the Cab Screens squad in the UK since 2019, in the meantime picking up three MX1 titles in the MX Nationals championship as well as finishing runner-up in the 2021 and 2022 British Motocross Championship in the MX1 class.

In 2022, Kullas competed as a replacement rider for the Gebben Van Venrooy team in MXGP for four rounds, holeshotting a race in Lommel.[17] 2023 would be Kullas' last season with the Cabscreens Crescent Yamaha team, as the team closed its doors at the end of the season.[18] He was third in the MX1 class of the 2023 British Motocross Championship taking one round win, as well as finishing third in the MX Nationals series. He competed in two MXGP rounds for the team, showing impressive speed on both occasions, including finishing eighth in the second race in Lommel. In addition to this, Kullas made his AMA Motocross Championship debut during 2023, riding the last three rounds of the season. Despite only racing three rounds, Kullas finished twentieth in the final standings and was able to record sixth overall at the Unadilla round. The season was finished by Kullas competing in his thirteenth Motocross des Nations in Ernée.

Honours

Motocross des Nations

  • Team Overall: 2015 & 2019 Estonia 4th
  • Ricky Carmichael Motocross of Nations Youngest Rider Award: 2008 1st place, gold medalist(s)

ADAC MX Masters (Germany)

  • Masters: 2016 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

British Motocross Championship

Spanish Motocross Championship

  • Elite-MX1: 2018 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

Italian International Motocross Championship

  • MX2: 2013 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

MX Nationals (UK)

  • Pro Fastest 40: 2022 1st place, gold medalist(s), 2023 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
  • MX1: 2019, 2021 & 2022 1st place, gold medalist(s), 2023 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

Finnish Motocross Championship

  • MX1: 2021 2nd place, silver medalist(s), 2009 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
  • MX2: 2008 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
  • 85cc: 2006 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Estonian Motocross Championship

  • MX1: 2016 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2014, 2017 & 2018 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
  • MX2: 2014 & 2017 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

Tampere Supercross

  • 9 night wins

Career statistics

Motocross des Nations

Year Location Nation Class Teammates Team Overall Individual Overall
2008 United Kingdom Donington Park  FIN MX2 Antti Pyrhönen
Matti Seistola 		11th 9th
2009 Italy Franciacorta  FIN Open Antti Pyrhönen
Eero Remes 		18th 7th
2010 United States Lakewood  FIN MX2 Toni Eriksson
Ludvig Söderberg 		14th 7th
2013 Germany Teutschenthal  FIN MX2 Santtu Tiainen
Ludvig Söderberg 		18th 13th
2014 Latvia Ķegums  EST MX2 Gert Krestinov
Tanel Leok 		9th 11th
2015 France Ernée  EST MX2 Priit Rätsep
Tanel Leok 		4th 5th
2016 Italy Maggiora  EST Open Priit Rätsep
Tanel Leok 		9th 8th
2017 United Kingdom Matterley Basin  EST MX2 Priit Rätsep
Tanel Leok 		8th 10th
2018 United States Red Bud  EST Open Tanel Leok
Hardi Roosiorg 		8th 5th
2019 Netherlands Assen  EST Open Tanel Leok
Priit Rätsep 		4th 4th
2021 Italy Mantova  EST Open Gert Krestinov
Jörgen-Matthias Talviku 		7th 8th
2022 United States Red Bud  EST Open Tanel Leok
Jörgen-Matthias Talviku 		19th 8th
2023 France Ernée  EST Open Tanel Leok
Jörgen-Matthias Talviku 		11th 6th

FIM Motocross World Championship

By season

Season Class Number Motorcycle Team Race Race Wins Overall Wins Race Top-3 Overall Podium Pts Plcd
2008 MX2 151 KTM VMK Racing KTM 2 0 0 0 0 3 57th
2010 MX2 151 Yamaha Yamaha Gariboldi Monster Energy 30 0 0 0 0 329 11th
2011 MX2 151 Yamaha Monster Energy Yamaha 26 0 0 0 0 287 9th
2012 MX2 151 Suzuki Suzuki Europe MX2 17 0 0 0 0 132 18th
2013 MX2 151 Honda Gariboldi Honda 16 0 0 0 0 224 15th
KTM Sahkar Racing 16 0 0 0 0
2014 MX2 151 KTM Sahkar Racing 20 0 0 0 0 127 18th
2015 MX2 151 Suzuki Heads and all Threads Suzuki 3 0 0 0 0 181 17th
Husqvarna Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing 13 0 0 1 1
2016 MXGP 151 KTM Sarholz Racing 20 0 0 0 0 59 23rd
2017 MXGP 151 Husqvarna Sõmerpalu MK 12 0 0 0 0 59 24th
2018 MXGP 151 Husqvarna Pol Motors Husqvarna 8 0 0 0 0 18 29th
CSM Zambrana Husqvarna 2 0 0 0 0
2019 MXGP 151 Honda Cab Screen Honda Racing 6 0 0 0 0 19 34th
2020 MXGP 151 Honda Cab Screens/Deos Group Racing 2 0 0 0 0 11 39th
2021 MXGP 151 Yamaha Cab Screens Crescent Yamaha Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2022 MXGP 151 Yamaha Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing 8 0 0 0 0 21 28th
2023 MXGP 151 Yamaha Cabscreens Crescent Yamaha 4 0 0 0 0 37 28th
Total 207 0 0 1 1 1507

AMA National Motocross Championship

By season

Season Class Number Motorcycle Team Races Race Wins Overall Wins Race Top-3 Overall Podium Pts Plcd
2023 450 953 Yamaha BBL Racing 6 0 0 0 0 67 20th

References

  1. ^ "Harri Kullas rider profile". mxgpresults.com. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Harri Kullas becomes Tampere Dominator after a wild finish". supercrosstampere.fi. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  3. ^ Färdig, Jarmo (16 May 2014). "Harri Kullaksen elämä on pyörien päällä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  4. ^ "CHAMPIONNAT DU MONDE JUNIOR 2006" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  5. ^ "CHAMPIONNAT DU MONDE JUNIOR 2007" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Seistola ja Kullas MM-pisteille Hollannissa". bajahill.net. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Harri Kullas Wins Ricky Carmichael MXoN Award Youngest Rider". vitalmx.com. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  8. ^ "The maiden EMX2 win for Harri Kullas in Schwedt, Germany". automobilsport.com. 2 August 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  9. ^ "KULLAS E PETROV IN SUZUKI EUROPA per GP MX2!!!". mxbars.net. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  10. ^ "HARRI KULLAS OUT PER LA STAGIONE!!!". mxbars.net. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  11. ^ "HARRI KULLAS CON HONDA GARIBOLDI nel 2013!". mxbars.net. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  12. ^ "Harri Kullas signs to Heads and All Threads Suzuki for 2015". wpengine. dirtbikerider.com. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  13. ^ "Harri Kullas secures third overall in Latvia". MX_Peter. mxdose.com. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Harri Kullas and Dennis Ullrich to Sarholz KTM!". Andy McKinstry. gatedrop.com. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  15. ^ "Kullas kilpailee viiden eri maan sarjoissa 2018". Marko Vihriä. xracing.fi. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Cab Screens Honda racing sign Harri Kullas". Andy McKinstry. gatedrop.com. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  17. ^ "Harri Kullas signs deal with Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha for MXGP". Andrew Hill. tmxnews.co.uk. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Cab Screens Crescent Yamaha closing down". Edward Stratmann. mxvice.com. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.