LOKET (Czech Republic), 26 July 2015 – Emil Weckman’s championship lead was reduced to just three points after Albin Larsen powered through to take the race two victory, in what proved to be one of the most exciting races of the season.
While Weckman was slow out of the gate, Jack Bintcliffe had a great start which saw him take the lead in the first lap. The British rider was unable to keep hold of this position and lost out early on to Larsen and Tim Edberg, who showed that he was still in good racing form after a small crash in yesterday’s race.
Edberg started to pull away from the field but Larsen was able to keep with the fellow Swede. The leading riders swapped positions many times throughout the twelve laps, and with Weckman having to make his way up the classification, the fight for the championship lead was intense with the top four positions changing every lap.
Hakon Fredrikson and Alexis Collignon both rode strong races to cross the finish line in fourth and fifth places respectively. Combined with Fredrikson’s fourth place in yesterday’s race, the result was good enough to earn him his first podium of the year with third overall.
It was an unfortunate race for the young Japanese wildcard rider Yusaku Tanaka who suffered from a small crash during the first lap, which left him in last place. However, Tanaka showed his strength and ability throughout the race and was able to come away from today with 19th in the second race, giving him an overall position of 17th.
The Honda 150 European riders have only days before their next event, as the Motocross Grand Prix paddock moves to Belgium where the talented youngsters will encounter the deep sand of Lommel on 1-2 August.
EMX300
Throttle control was tested today as the 300cc two stroke racers went to war on the hilly, stoney and super slick track of Loket for the fifth round of the European Championship EMX300 series.
There was no surprise whatsoever when Marco Maddii pulled yet another holeshot. Initially the Italian pulled a slight gap, but was eventually reeled in by yesterday’s race winner GL12 Yamaha Racing’s Brad Anderson. Anderson, a wildcard rider from Great Britain, was head and shoulders above the competition this weekend and smoked everyone in both races for the EMX300 round of Czech Republic overall. “I came out here as a one off thanks to Bob Buchanan and GL12 Yamaha Racing. I really enjoyed it, the track was really good and technical. I didn’t get the greatest starts but I came through the pack and put the British flag on top.” Anderson said.
With the championship in mind Maddii sat back for a comfortable second ahead of the local lad Petr Bartos, who was also running a fantastic pace yesterday but binned it big time at the bottom of the circuit when he hit a kicker and went over the ‘bars. South African Damon Strydom rode smooth and solid for fourth while Switzerland’s Nicolas Bender rounded out the top five.
All in all, it was a flawless weekend for GL12 Yamaha Racing’s Brad Anderson who topped the box on his EMX300 debut. Last years runner-up Marco Maddii was third behind England’s Matt Moffat in the first race but wrapped up second place today for second overall. Meanwhile Moffat managed to bounce back from a gnarly crash on lap two today which left him with a chewed up arm, for seventh and third overall.
With the championship red plate holder Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Racing’s Yentel Martens out for the season with a broken scaphoid, Marco Maddii has taken over the lead. Martens still holds onto second, two points clear of Matt Moffat in third
Full results on FIM Europe website http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/104
