LOMMEL (Belgium), August 2015 – When the going gets tough, the tough gets going! And that was the theme of the weekend for the European Championships EMX250, EMX125 and EMX300.
Proving to be the strongest sand rider in the EMX250 class this year HF Kawasaki’s Lars Van Berkel went 2 – 1 to stand top of the box here at the eighth round of the championship. Meanwhile Cyril Genot took claim of the seventh EMX125 round while GL12 Yamaha Racing’s Brad Anderson took his fourth consecutive race win and the overall once again in the EMX300.
EMX250
Conditions for race one were already fierce and challenging which ended up working in favor of Bodo Schmidt Motorsport’s Thomas Kjer Olsen in the opening moto as he blitzed past the early season red plate holder Wilvo Forkrent KTM’s Adam Sterry and sand specialist HF Racing’s Lars Van Berkel for his first race win of the season.
Meanwhile Van Berkel was right in his element and managed to finish a comfortable second ahead of the holeshot claimer Sterry. Mafi Yamaha MX Team’s Alvin Ostlund put in a smooth and solid performance for fourth while the red plate didn’t quite deliver the performance we expected of him but managed to come home in fifth.
After being hammered by the opening MXGP and MX2 races, the track for the second moto was super rough, which made for all sorts of chaos. Luck is not something Adam Sterry has a lot of, and once again he didn’t line up with any, which was evident when he got tangled with another rider and threw away his chance of a podium. The next in line was the red plate challenger Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Damon Graulus, who was cutting a good pace before he cartwheeled spectacularly through the waves, which was followed by a mistake by Bud Racing Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Maxime Desprey on the same lap.
The head turner in the final race was Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Bas Vaessen who stormed past a bunch of riders to take over the lead but with three laps to go threw it all away on the sweeper before pitlane with a huge crash.
Race one runner-up Lars Van Berkel capitalized on the error of his fellow countryman, Vaessen, and took over the lead, which wasn’t kept easily as Ostlund made him fight all the way to the finish. Van Berkel took the checkers by less than 1 second over Ostlund while the race one winner Thomas Kjer Olsen rode smooth for third. Desprey managed to recover for fourth, which was an outstanding performance from the hard pack specialist, while another Dutch rider in the form of Freddy van der Vlist rounded out the top five.
After a tough day in the office, Lars van Berkel hit a couple of milestones with his first race win and his first ever EMX250 round victory while Denkmark’s Thomas Kjer Olsen went one better than his best for second overall. Alvin Ostlund rounded out the top three.
EMX 125
Lommel gets so rough, the holes are bigger than most of the kids that race in the European EMX125 Championship. Nevertheless, these kids are awesome and the racing they provided the fans today was epic.
After dominating race one yesterday, KTM Factory Junior’s Jorge Prado was put to the test in race two when he collided with KTM Kosak Racing’s Glen Meier and had to start from dead last. Despite the difficulty with the track being as brutal as it was and the heat, the young Spaniard put in a remarkable ride to finish sixth, which was enough to stand on the third step of the podium.
While Prado’s efforts were incredible, the stars of Lommel were Belgium’s own Cyril Genot and Jago Geerts. Both kids are no strangers to the bottomless sand and it was more than obvious as they both had the ‘hang off the back’ style down pat on their way to first and second place. Sahkar KTM Racing’s Geerts was the early leader but by time the checkers were waving it was Genot, a kid famous for his tapped out GoPro lap around another boundless sand track, Lierop, who took the win and the overall. Geerts came home in an unchallenged second while KTM Factory Junior’s Josiah Natzke used his freshly honed sand skills to finish third.
A further twenty seconds back, the Junior 125cc vice world champion Conrad Mewse took his KTM Factory Junior’s bike to fourth as Diga Racing’s Miro Sihvonen rounded out the top five.
At the end of the weekend Cyril Genot wrapped up his first ever EMX125 race win and overall victory here in front of his home crowd while Jago Geerts made for two Belgian’s on the podium with second. Jorge Prado ended up doing enough for third and has taken the championship lead by one point over KTM Factory Junior’s teammate Josiah Natzke.
FIM Europe President Dr Wolfgang Srb with Marco Maddii, new European Champion in the 300 cc class
EMX300
With the last round of the EMX300 being on a circuit that was rock hard and hilly and this weekend being at the opposite end of the spectrum, hill-less and sandy, GL12 Yamaha Racing’s Brad Anderson’s domination is about the only thing the two things have in common. In both races the wild card rider came from miles behind to take the lead on the last laps to win both races convincingly.
Meanwhile, former MX2 rider from The Netherlands Mike Kras was the early leader in both races and led the majority of the laps here in Lommel for a pair of seconds and second overall. Meanwhile local lad from just up the road, Andy Truyts went 3 – 4 for third overall. Proving that the Dutch know a thing or two about riding sand, Davy Janssens put in a mega ride for fourth overall while fellow countryman Tom Meier rounded out the top five.
This weekend was the sixth and final round of the European Championship EMX300 series which was wrapped up by last years runner-up Marco Maddi on Saturday. Great Britain’s Matt Moffat had a great season and took the silver medal while Belgium’s own Dietger Damiens rounded out this year as the bronze medalist.
Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/108
