The start of EMX300 – Photo ©Youthstream
It was a diverse weekend for round five of the EMX125 and round three of the EMX300 European Championships with the two day event hosting one race on a dry, hard and slick surface and the second in some of the worst mud the championship has ever seen.
Yesterday, the sun-baked circuit of Maggiora was dominated by KTM Factory Juniors Josiah Natzke who claimed his fourth consecutive EMX125 race win, while Swiss rider Killian Auberson took his first ever win in the EMX300.
EMX300
With the weather taking a turn for the worst today, the EMX300 race was cut short due to torrential rain flooding the circuit. Italian fans remained happy with one of their locals, Manuel Beconcini, claiming the race win and another Italian, Marco Maddii, stealing the overall. Meanwhile in the EMX125 it was Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Maxime Renaux who took his second race win for his third overall victory of the season.
Italian fans were instantly bought to life this morning as one of their home soil heroes Manuel Beconcini cleaned up the EMX300 race two. In conditions, which were in complete contrast to those of yesterday, Beconcini grabbed the holeshot and never looked back as he led every single lap unchallenged for his first ever EMX300 race win. Meanwhile behind him, fellow Italian Marco Maddii did a similar thing for second.
Because of the torrential rain, vision was an issue and errors were hard to avoid. The race ended up being a battle of survival before being red flagged with nearly nine minutes plus two laps still on the clock. With the race cut short, the red plate holder Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna’s Yentel Martens finished up in third ahead of Spains Txomin Arana and Swiss rider Nicolas Bender.
With the combination of results from both races, Italian Marco Maddii was able to stand on the top step of the podium at his home round while Yentel Martens and Manuel Beconcini rounded out the top three respectively.
Renaux wins in EMX125 – Photo ©Youthstream
EMX 125
After the gnarly storm in the morning, the second moto for the EMX125 was pushed back six hours which meant the youngsters had to race on a seriously chopped up grand prix circuit. It was the ultimate learning experience for every rider in contention with track demanding a vast amount of skill and technique.
Mastering the choppiness out here today was Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Maxime Renaux who got off to a great start and made an early charge for the lead. The holeshotter, Italian Davide Cislaghi managed to get the crowd involved when he led the opening laps of the race.Ten minutes in and Renaux dropped the hammer on Cislaghi, which was soon duplicated by Sahkar KTM Racing’s Jago Geerts and the race one winner Josiah Natzke. As Cislaghi dropped back to fourth, Geerts wasted no time in chasing Renaux to put in a challenge for the lead.
Geerts did manage to reel Renaux in and did take the position briefly but Renaux was quick to counter act and pull another gap. At that point, the youngsters who battling a mixture of bottomless ruts, icy areas, and square edged bumps opted to cool it and settle in their positions.
As for the red plate holder, KTM Factory Juniors Jorge Prado, the fourteen-year-old Spaniard had an extremely tough day in the office, planting it multiple times. After finishing second in race one yesterday, he only managed to get seventeenth today which was detrimental to his championship.
The red plate now belongs to Maxime Renaux who won race two ahead of Jago Geerts and Josiah Natzke. The hot starter, Davide Cislaghi managed to hold on for fourth ahead of Ruben Fernandez Garcia.
At the end of the weekend it was Maxime Renaux who topped the box ahead of Josiah Natzke as Davide Cislaghi rounded out the top three.
Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/72
