EMX Open European Championship:
Clochet makes the perfect wildcard appearance in Italy to win the round in Trentino
The EMX Open Championship made its much-awaited return in Italy for the round of Trentino, which is the fourth instalment of this year’s series.
The action saw a brand-new winner in the category, as Frenchman, Jimmy Clochet took two strong race wins, on his wildcard appearance, to claim his first ever European podium as he placed first overall. Joining him on the podium was Italian rider, Davide De Bortoli who had two solid second place finishes, ahead of Toms Macuks who made his third podium appearance of the year for third overall, following two fourths’ in the races.
The opening race saw Dan Thornhill of Cab Screens Deos Group Honda take the holeshot, though Clochet wasted no time to get around the early leader, to move into the top spot. The Frenchman then checked out of the race, as he pulled a comfortable lead early on, which he maintained until the chequered flag. Though in the early stages of the race Thornhill came under pressure from De Bortoli and eventually Macuks, with the pair getting around the Brit, before he dropped down a further few positions to finish 7th. Clochet led every lap of the race, with De Bortoli behind him. Though it was the battle behind them that was heating up as Cornelius Toendel of JWR Racing pushed for his best result of the season, as he was eventually able to pass Macuks for third. Championship leader, Karel Kutsar had a tough race, as he started down in and around 16th position, to eventually pull his way through to 9th, for vital championship points.
The second race saw Clochet out in the lead once again, as he claimed the holeshot that time around. De Bortoli got another good start and so did Kutsar who was in third. In terms of the top three riders, there was no change in positions as the three maintained their spots and that’s how they would eventually finish. Martin Michek, Mike Bolink and Macuks were having a close battle for 3rd, though by the third lap, Macuks was able to pass both riders to get himself into fourth, where he also finished the race. Domantas Jazdauskas was also pushing for the top 5, as he challenged inside the top 10, though he made a mistake, which caused him to crash out of 8th and finish the race in 15th. Meanwhile, Toendel was on a charge in race two after starting the race in the top 15. He fought to make some passes on Stefan Ekerold, Jazdauskas and Kim Savaste of 137 KTM Motorsport, along with others, to finish the race in 6th, with Michek finishing just ahead of him in 5th.
In terms of the championship, despite missing out on a podium spot, Kutsar still leads in the standings by 12 points, with Savaste second, finishing 6th overall today, and Macuks third, a further 21 points behind.
There are now two rounds remaining of the EMX Open championship, with still plenty of points up for grabs, which will make for some interesting races as we reach the closing stages of the opening year of the brand-new series.
EMXOpen – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jimmy Clochet (FRA, Kawasaki), 29:05.552; 2. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, Honda), +0:19.373; 3. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, Honda), +0:21.172; 4. Toms Macuks (LAT, KTM), +0:30.648; 5. Kim Savaste (FIN, KTM), +0:33.356; 6. John Adamson (GBR, KTM), +0:39.270; 7. Dan Thornhill (GBR, Honda), +0:41.516; 8. Mathias Gryning (DEN, Yamaha), +0:43.874; 9. Karel Kutsar (EST, KTM), +0:46.144; 10. Stefan Ekerold (GER, Suzuki), +0:48.331.
EMXOpen – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jimmy Clochet (FRA, Kawasaki), 29:13.890; 2. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, Honda), +0:04.635; 3. Karel Kutsar (EST, KTM), +0:07.370; 4. Toms Macuks (LAT, KTM), +0:37.870; 5. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), +0:40.078; 6. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, Honda), +1:09.342; 7. Stefan Ekerold (GER, Suzuki), +1:14.989; 8. Kim Savaste (FIN, KTM), +1:19.316; 9. Mads Sjoholm (DEN, KTM), +1:21.205; 10. Mike Bolink (NED, KTM), +1:27.160
EMXOpen – Overall Top 10 Classification: 1. Jimmy Clochet (FRA, KAW), 50 points; 2. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, HON), 44 p.; 3. Toms Macuks (LAT, KTM), 36 p.; 4. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, HON), 35 p.; 5. Karel Kutsar (EST, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Kim Savaste (FIN, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Stefan Ekerold (GER, SUZ), 25 p.; 9. Mathias Gryning (DEN, YAM), 23 p.; 10. Dan Thornhill (GBR, HON), 23 p.
EMXOpen – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Karel Kutsar (EST, KTM), 163 points; 2. Kim Savaste (FIN, KTM), 151 p.; 3. Toms Macuks (LAT, KTM), 130 p.; 4. Stefan Ekerold (GER, SUZ), 118 p.; 5. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, HUS), 101 p.; 6. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 93 p.; 7. Juuso Matikainen (FIN, HUS), 83 p.; 8. Karlis Kalejs (LAT, HUS), 75 p.; 9. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, HON), 73 p.; 10. Domantas Jazdauskas (LTU, HUS), 73 p.
